V3000

Ouch, that hurt  ... all I can say is a dog is a man's best friend!  I have great fun on the circuit in my L3000, which is what it's all about for me.

Sometimes too much emphasis is placed on slight performance advantages, where tactics and boat handling is generally far more influential in results, especially at the lower end of the performance range for trapeze boats.

It's a great boat in which to learn asymmetric techniques as it really emphasises the characteristics of this type of sailing, instead of sailors having to focus most of their attention on on staying upright. Makes for good racing ... compare F1 cars with Formula 2000 for entertainment value!

The single source sails is to avoid the need for class measurers and was an inducement to the builder in his business case. Also helps Jeff keep his margins low, one reason for such a good value overall package.

A complete set of 3 sails is below £800, can't argue with that ... also makes owning a Laser 3000 a very good proposition in the used boat market ... definitely not one to be written off.

Original Laser/Holt sails and new Sobstad sails will be class legal (subject to CA member ballot).

Remember that the Laser 3000 has been a very strict SMOD for the past 10 years, absolutely no changes, no CA control. All we're doing is catching up with the Winder Fireball bandits of this world!

In relation to the "Stifling Development" topic, no class can afford to sit on it's laurels this long.

Sorry; my point is that the V3000 will have significant performance advantages over the L3000 - same standard sailor in each and I know where I'd place my money ....

Rick

.... but there's quite a wide range of standards in a fleet ... would 80-90% of the fireball fleet do much better overall in a Winder boat?

for the majority of the fleet an L3000 should compete on fairly equal terms with the Vs, with affordable upgrades available to improve the L's sailability to suit yourself

it's at the top of the fleet that the differential might start to show, if we get the much stiffer competition that i'm hoping for in the future