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PeterG View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote PeterG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: RS aero
    Posted: 04 Jun 16 at 8:38pm
I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

I hope you explained to him how wrong minded and mistaken he was Wink
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 16 at 8:53pm
Of course. I told him he was a deluded fool, and only the purchase of an Aero would save him. At the time I was putting the cover back on my Lightning, wishing that I too was sailing the boat of joy and fulfillment, having spent the day coaching a poor man who had bought a new Solo, who cried all day, having not bought a lightweight bringer of happiness.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 16 at 12:02am
The lightening was the forerunner of the supernova, the current iteration of which I sailed and really liked for several years. The Laser has been set in concrete for years whereas the Supernova has evolved. I was a long time Laser sailor at club level and have no issue with anyone sailing one where there is a fleet. However its appalling lack of development is a joke and the Aero, D-Zero and Supernova are all much nicer and faster boats to sail. So, if your club has any of the latter, then get one of those! If buying new and you don't have a Laser fleet, why would you buy one....... 

Oh and Rupert, the Solo is a great boat, but has evolved..



Edited by SimonW99 - 05 Jun 16 at 12:04am
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Medway Maniac View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Medway Maniac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 16 at 5:29am
Originally posted by SimonW99


If buying new and you don't have a Laser fleet, why would you buy one....... 

Well, as I've mentioned before, the guy on the Minorca Sailing stand at the Dinghy Show said that their punters generally preferred the Laser to the Aero. More stable and easier to find somewhere to sit downwind.
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Chris 249 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Chris 249 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 16 at 9:59am
Originally posted by SimonW99

The Laser has been set in concrete for years whereas the Supernova has evolved. I was a long time Laser sailor at club level and have no issue with anyone sailing one where there is a fleet. However its appalling lack of development is a joke 


The Laser has not been set in concrete for years - it got a new big sail very recently.

To see the Laser as suffering from an "appalling lack of development" is a very one-eyed, UK-centric point of view. That is, of course, fine on a UK forum in some ways, but it's also reasonable to point out that it's a parochial viewpoint.

In most places, most people don't really see any need for development in the way the UK does, because dinghy sailing has a different structure. To many of us, development in a one design boat is appalling because it destroys the very nature of a SMOD.  Why on earth would I want a "better" Laser when the main reason I sail them is because there isn't really any such thing? Any international class has to come to terms with the basic issue that there is a different (and I do mean different, NOT better or worse) attitude to development in other countries.

One may as well say that the Supernova is a joke. The old boats are now significantly heavier and yet the class is still ridiculously small and parochial, the new boats are still appallingly slow and still appallingly uncomfortable from some points of view. But what is the point of us sitting here and slinging c**p at other people who dare to have different needs, desires and tastes?  It's all relative - to some of us the idea of rating this sort of boats according to their speed is like rating a bonsai tree according to its height.
And what is wrong with merely allowing other people to like the boat they like?

Sorry to continue the thread diversion, but it did start with someone choosing to have a got at Lasers in a topic about another boat.










Edited by Chris 249 - 05 Jun 16 at 10:08am
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Oinks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 16 at 10:43am
Well, I did say it was my point of view, that implies others may have - and are perfectly entitled to - a different point of view. And my POV is the result of what I see and hear. Perfectly valid. I moved on from Lasers years ago and I consider the class I sail now is a more refined and more rewarding boat to sail. Others hold a similar view. Indeed, some years ago an ex-Laser European Champ said to me along the lines ... "don't understand why I didn't change classes years ago". The Laser remains one of the most active, popular, competitive classes on the planet - for perfectly good reasons - but in much the same way that a Ford Fiesta is one of the best selling cars. And compared to other cars I'd say it is less refined and less rewarding to drive. Again just my POV.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote zippyRN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 16 at 4:05pm
Originally posted by Oinks

Compared to other boats Lasers are unrefined and unrewarding to sail. If you can find a club fleet where there are enough boats to constitute a decent race, fair enough. Twenty years ago, we'd have 15-20 Lasers out racing on a Sunday. Not now, and people are starting to look more modern singlehanders that give a better sailing experience. Just the way it is from my POV.

I think most people  can  put arguments  that SMODs  are unrefined in some  nature 

I wouldn't call the laser unrewarding  by any  stretch ofthe imagination, yes it;s hard  work at times ,  it rewards  good technique  ( i.e. becasue of it's lack of rudder authority ) 
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Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:49am
Originally posted by Rupert

I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

A Laser can be very rewarding to sail especially in a good fleet. However there are lots of boats that give a better sailing experience but none of them have the worldwide critical mass of the Laser.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 10:37am
He was just poddling around, no fleet, no racing.

On the other hand, we had a couple of Aeros out racing yesterday, with a skilled sailor in the 9, and it was flying along. Looked like he was having fun, too!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote bustinben Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 3:25pm
Originally posted by jeffers

Originally posted by Rupert

I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

A Laser can be very rewarding to sail especially in a good fleet. However there are lots of boats that give a better sailing experience but none of them have the worldwide critical mass of the Laser.

It all depends on how you define rewarding after all.  In some ways the fact that the laser is an utter pig to sail is its strength.  It's very difficult to get it to sail well, and learning to do so is what can give you that sense of reward.    There's nothing that your sailmaker can tell you, or a bunches of settings you can tweak to make the boat go.  It's all about you and how you interact with it.
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