Has Laser dropped the 4000?

Originally posted by 49erGBR735HSC Say you knock at least about 30kg off the weight of the 4000, add further more weights to the boat for class racing which would complicate issues further, what's to stop people taking all the weights out for club racing and having an unfair advantage.

(hypathetically speaking) a move to a new builder is a not to be missed opportunity for a major update ... the new builder would want to make changes anyway, to suit his facilities, pricing, preferred suppliers, etc, so you can't stay SMOD ... if a weight reduction would significantly improve the boat, i'd say go for it while you can

we went over and over the "corrected for class racing" debate for 3000s and decided to allow the lighter boats uncorrected ... who'd want to ballast up a flier, it could discourage people from class racing ... we've retained the existing National trophy for "Mk 1" Laser 3000s and have a new overall trophy open to L3Ks and V3000s

Originally posted by yellowhammer from (little) experience to date, the front runners go for the better performance (lighter) Mk 2 boats, and get top draw racing, but further down the fleet the Mk 2 boats are burried in amongst the Mk 1s ... there's still good racing in the Mk 1s

Mk1 and Mk2? I thought it was a one design. What's the difference?

 

from (little) experience to date, the front runners go for the better performance (lighter) Mk 2 boats, and get top draw racing, but further down the fleet the Mk 2 boats are burried in amongst the Mk 1s ... there's still good racing in the Mk 1s

i recon if you can bring the full potential out of a design (balancing performance against longevity) you're on to a long term winner ... settle for second best and you'll be bettered

Knocking weight off would mess up the weight equalisation which is why the lighter 800 are/were only semi equalised.

£6k compared to £8k is still quite a difference. I'm making my point about not knocking any weight off due to the fact that the 4000 still has a relatively strong class and doesn't need to take that action to generate more interest in the class. Say you knock at least about 30kg off the weight of the 4000, add further more weights to the boat for class racing which would complicate issues further, what's to stop people taking all the weights out for club racing and having an unfair advantage. Not all the racing is done on the circuit and it would get down-heartening being stuck behind faster 4000s because they are lighter. I'm playing devil's advocate here because our club used to let us sail 5000s without weights and reckon that if the 5000 went the lighter route as is being suggested, they wouldn't have minded us knocking the correctors out if we had a lighter boat. If we still owned a 5000 and the class was pushing towards lighter boats being built by another builder, forgetting all other facts, the prospect of lighter boats being brought into the class would be enough to push us out into the 49er or I14. You can parallel the same sort of line of thought to Laser 4000 sailors jumping ship from the class to either the RS800 or the 29erXX. Future planning, do you buy a new 4000 which is slightly lighter or buy a faster boat for the same price (second-hand)?

Edited by 49erGBR735HSC