New Laser Sailor!!!

Hi guys,

I am a sailor looking at moving into the laser class and possibly attending youth worlds next year and for this I will need a decent boat to qualify. For this I Have 2 options:

Option A-Buy a laser now. The boat is 14 sail number boat and I am told is very competitive this will allow me to start training ASAP

Option B-Buy a laser from 4.7 worlds charter boats in January next year and start training then which is obviously not ideal as I need to train.

What are your thoughts? Will option A be fast enough for me to use at the qualifyers? And also what should I look for in a used laser?

Cool.

Imagine if the sport were baseball.

I am thinking about buying a glove and attending the Little League World Series next year.

That would never even possibly happen.

In sailing??

Taking up the sport and attending the worlds in the first year is a reasonable goal.

Guess you won't know if the 140000 boat is fast enough to qualify in until you do it. It could be in great shape if it has been well cared for. I would think the extra 2 and a half months of practice would be more valuable than getting a nearly new charter boat later. Good luck!


PS. What Fred said. Do regular golfers get to play Tiger Woods that often?

And to further that analogy:
Planning on attending the world series next year and buying a glove in January is not such a good idea
In sailing:
Not such a good idea either.

Whatever, buy a boat now. Take a look at the for sale pages on this website. It includes a pretty complete guide on what to look for in a used boat, such as soft spots, mast base and so forth.
Good luck!

Georg

Personally I think it is important to set oneself reasonable and achievable goals. Aim high, but has to be reasonable possibility of achieving it of you just end up pissed-off and disappointed. Important to be realistic.

Ian

i say .... the chances of getting into the worlds in one year is like my icecream staying cold here in TRopical Cairns for more than 5 minutes. I say wait for the new boat. 140000 compared to 190000 is a big jump.

im thinking about going to worlds but im gonna have to start training really hard. Have you ever sailed a dinghy or are you completely new to sailing

gouvernail said:

Cool.

Imagine if the sport were baseball.

I am thinking about buying a glove and attending the Little League World Series next year.

That would never even possibly happen.

In sailing??

Taking up the sport and attending the worlds in the first year is a reasonable goal.

Click to expand...

I didnt say i was starting sailing. I have had alot of racing experience mostly in dinghys and sailed optimist worlds and I have just been keelboating it this season but I want to have closer racing.

At the moment i sail 420s and I trim on an IRC 40 keeler

The reason why Im aiming for worlds is because in south africa there are only 4 youth sailors aiming at qualifying for the worlds next year so i have a reasonable chance.

I will probably be going to look at the 14 boat this weekend

ChrisRSA said:

The reason why Im aiming for worlds is because in south africa there are only 4 youth sailors aiming at qualifying for the worlds next year so i have a reasonable chance.

I will probably be going to look at the 14 boat this weekend

Click to expand...

Hey Chris you go for it - I had a great vacation sailing at Zeekovlei a few years ago and it is a superb venue especially for strong wind training. I gather they got the Hippo out in the end - not a problem likely to be encountered at the Worlds wherever they are due to be held!

ChrisRSA said:

I didnt say i was starting sailing. I have had alot of racing experience mostly in dinghys and sailed optimist worlds

Click to expand...

If you've already done all that sailing then you ought to know that time-in-the-boat is *waayyyyyy* more important than the difference between hulls.

Buy the boat (assuming it's in good condition, not trashed) and start sailing it. The extra three months of traing will more than make up for a difference between boats.

Thanks i was just wondering if when I have my boathandling right how fast the 14 will be because the 3 other guys who are going to go to the selections are using 16s and 18s

BE CAREFUL! make sure the boat is stiff! and in good condition. there are 14's in our club that are completely worthless while others are fine. Good luck