when to adjust stuff

im a newb to start thigs off.


ok when sailing why and when do u adjust the vang cunningham and outhaul

also what does the cunningham even do, is it the thing that adjusts where the sail in on he boom?

also i here people saying that i should get all htis stuff so how much would the new vang outhaul and cunningham cost?


another thing is all this stuff universal ( workes on 4.7, radial, and laser)

I honestly think that if you're this new, you should be doing a lot more reading and getting advice from other sailors before you start posting questions here. An answer to your questions would fill a book - as they do - try Tillman - The complete book of laser sailing + all the web sites, Dr Laser etc.
But most of all, don't you have other laser sailors to go out with ? Talk to them. Ask them to show you what the controls do.

Oh and welcome to the laser !! Have a blast. I've really enjoyed my first year.

no i cant really go sail w/ other people there are probably 5 laser at my club that are just rotting away on boat racks, my opti coach has a laser so he might be able to help me but he never sails his laser

This is a great question for this forum. Sounds like you have very little chances to talk to other laser sailors. In my experience books are a great resource but tend to be dry. If you do not connect with the authors style then it can be very frustrating. Discussions in this group can be very dynamic and informitive with many view points/ideas expressed.
I am a very experienced sailor with little experience on the laser. My first question is where did my adjustable backstay go? Replys on this topic by the more experienced laser sailors would be helpful to myself and many people in the group.

never mind that first post.
i know i have the outhaul and cunningham tight on beats and low winds
and have them loose downwind and in high winds to depower ur sail. but how tight and loose should they be?

but what about reaches? somewhere in the middle?
and what about the vang besides controling how high/low the boom is, is it used to depower the sail too? if so how much do u adjust it?

I think that bit about "loose outhaul in strong winds" is completely wrong. The stronger the wind, the flatter you want the sail. Tighter outhaul, cunningham and vang mean a flatter sail. I've seen a suggestion that you should start tightening from "the top down" ie cunningham, then outhaul, then vang and you start to tighten when you can't hold the boat upright when on a beat.

I found a great reference summarising all the various settings at http://www.draycotewater.co.uk/Fleets/laser/rigging/settings.html
but I just checked and its moved ! - currently a broken link but I'd try to get that if you can

so the tighter everything is the less power the sail has? so tight in high winds and upwind, and looser in light winds and down wind?

To understand the uses of your sail controls you must understand what each does and how it affects your sailing. They are called sail controls because each help control your sail and trip its shape

You must understand that when you have a flat sail, you have the most control over it, because you can simply dump out all the air by letting out your mainsheet and the air will not be trapped. To flatten your sail you would have to have your sail contols on tightly. Tight sail controls are needed for upwind sailing.

On the other end, when you have a big billowing sail, air gets trapped in it and and the sail will be hard to control, the boat will not be flat and will not be able to point high. Basically it will want to flip you over. This is achieved by having loose or no sail controls. loose sail controls are needed for downwind sailing.

Cunningham -
The cunninham controls where the draft of the sail is. The tighter it is, the farther forward the draft will be. And when the draft is forward, it enables the sail to be flatter and have less of a billow where most of the air is trapped.

When going upwind, no matter the wind speed, you want your cunningham, like all other controls, to be on snug - enabling a flatter sail.

When going downwind, you want your cunningham, like all other controls, to be completely off - enabling a billowing pocket of air to form that pushes the boat along. If it's really honkin', you might want to pull it tighter, therefore depowering the sail.

On a beam reach...somewhere in between.

Outhaul -
The outhaul is probobly my favorite sail control because the affect it has is so big. The outhaul controls how far from the end of the boom your clue is, and how far from the boom the foot of the sail is. When you look at a loose outhaul, you see the huge curve the foot of the sail is, and when you have it tight, you see how flat the sail is. This makes a huge difference in performance.

When going upwind, no matter the windspeed, you want you outhaul, like all other controls, to be on snug - flatter sail

When going downwind, you want your outhaul, like all other controls to be loose, creating the billow that keeps wind in the sail. And if its really honkin', you can put it on a little to depower.

Beam reaching, somwhere in between.

Vang -
Yeah! I love the vang. The vang controls how high the boom is. And when is tight, it pulls the sail flat, and when it is loose, it makes a nice billow.

When going upwind, you want it on nice and tight...just like everything else. It pulls the sauil flat and that is good, no matter the windspeed.

When going downwind, you want it loose, the vang makes a nice huge billow in the sail, very good for downwind. And if it's honkin', this is probobly the first control you want to tighten, it will help prevent you from capsizing and give you a lot more control.


Hope this helped,

Head over to drLaser and read the boat handling section, it will explain all the controls correctly and what their effects are.



drLaser web site - boat handling

A simple guide to basic Laser tuning.

Leave the outhaul so you have 4-6 inches between the sail and the boom.

If overpowered upwind, tighten the cunningham. Make sure you pull the mainsheet all the way in until the blocks at the back meet. Take the slack out of the kicker (vang) when you have the mainsheet in like this.

At the top mark, let the kicker off early. Ease the mainsheet to 20-30cm between the blocks at the back and take the slack out. This is the approximate reach kicker setting.

Downwind always let the cunningham off.

In light winds, leave the cunningham off.

In really light winds tighten the outhaul a bit.

In light to moderate winds on flat water, a tight cunningham makes you go really fast.

As for when to adjust everything: do kicker adjustments when beating (after leeward mark and before the windward mark) and cunningham adjustments when sailing offwind (before leeward mark).

Sail controls is a really big subject, however you can most probably find a load of really useful guides on the internet (Im too tired atm to find some for you right now, however I will have a look and post some when I have a chance).

Having found a read some guides on where to have your sail controls, the answer to your next question - do the same control work on all the different rigs is yes. The new controls all are nearly identical for the radial and full rigs, as for the 4.7, they too should be the same in all but one area - the outhall. Being that the 4.7 doesnt stretch the full length of the boom, you will need some sort of "extension" to adapt a radial outhall rig to 4.7 size.

As for costs, look on the laser websites, they have some rigging packs in the online stores, however if you go for the full hog, as one complete kit, youre likely to spend at least 100-200 pounds. Whereas before ropes may wear very fast however, Ive found that ropes wear much less with the new systems, and so maintenance will be less!

The next step down would be to get a similar system to the complete sets, however make them using ropes and blocks bought separately. Thats what I did, however I'm not sure what it costed, mainly because we had some ropes already (many re-used from the previous system), however this needs some research and knowlage on how to make the system.

The last option would be to merely upgrade your current system with some extra blocks where the metal eyes currentlu go, although this helps a lot and is a very low cost option compared to the other systems, it doesnt offer the full advantages of the new rigging controls.

Again once I have the time / energy to find some good links, I willl!

Lastly, back to the first topic - controls, as a rough guide, something that istnt THAT widely known is that the cuningham basicly controls the top 3rd of the sail, the kicker the next 3rd, and the outhall the bottom, so as the top of the sail has the least area but the most moment, the cuningham is the first to tighten in heavy weather.

What A great thread!!

These are all of the things I have been reading about but too embarassed to ask. Having people put it in plain English really helps. You have helped and made this middle aged newbie mom!Why don't some of you frozen experts come to sunny Florida to teach me to sail in the winter??Will provide accommodations

I would suggest taking a sailing course. They will teach you this and much more.