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So I lost the little chute (the door) on my bailer again recently. Seems to happen about once a year due to a bad launching situation, lending the boat to someone ... etc. Does anyone know why Laser Performance no longer sells repair kits with the door? Looks like the only option if you...

I've recently discovered that my boom -- bought with a new boat last summer -- has a permanent bend aft of the vang fitting. Anyone else seen this before? I do sail in windy places (the Gorge, SF), I sail several days a week, and we use a lot of vang. But I don't remember any of my...

I have personal reasons to visit Texas around that time anyway. Any thoughts on charter boats and housing?

I tie it to the back because -- while I never *intend* to let it go, sometimes that happens downwind (in super light air, or to fiddle with the vang, or because I missed a hand transfer doing s-turns, or ...) With it tied to the back of the hiking strap, if I drop it I can just reach...

I guess I'm also curious why the class rejected this in the past. I found a few old threads saying this would cost $100 in NZ but that was for a setup involving blocks and hooks. A simple tied shock cord ought to be a few bucks a foot tops?

A local club used to hold a "dinghy olympics". One event was the Laser Mast Climb: start with the boat stopped dead in the water, climb the mast vertically until the boat capsizes. Highest climber pre-capsize wins. Totally useless skill, but fun for breaking up the monotony.

I saw one at a regatta last weekend, and was told it's the same weight and has the same bending characteristics (I have no idea how those are measured but I assume the people making them do) as the current aluminum top section. Does it perform exactly the same across every wind range, every...

For a long time I thought Radial bottom sections were *supposed* to be bent because every one I saw in San Francisco was bent. They bend easily out here.

On day 2 of a windy regatta out here in SF -- and I have to imagine anywhere else where it blows really hard -- you'll see folks straightening their bent upper sections against a fencepost. It's not uncommon to break upper mast sections on a windy day, especially downwind in a capsize to...

The Zhik one with the rubber underside is awesome, even without the special Zhik shoes.

No response on the class website so far. Then again, I'm not sure why it would matter who owns the rights. Isn't the important thing here that the boats all be the same -- which the new rule seems to guarantee just as well as the old rule did?

Any GPS can do this. If you want fancy: http://www.velocitek.com/speedpuck/ ... almost certainly not legal for racing in regattas to which Laser class rules apply. Read your rulebook.

Yesterday upon returning to the dock I discovered that my new GRP centerboard has a chip out of the gelcoat on the trailing edge. The underlying glass is fine, but the white stuff has a nickle-sized chip missing. It's been used about 10 times, and I've been quite careful with it -- didn't...

Attaching the clew with the boat in the water on a windy day can be a real head-banger. One variant I use a lot is to attach the sail to the boom, but only run the mainsheet to the end of the boom (up through the mainsheet block and along the boom, but not down to the traveler deck blocks)...

Mine does the same thing -- damned new boat is so slick the daggerboard won't stay down. Still trying to figure it out myself.

It's the stock shock cord supplied with the boat. Is stronger shock cord better for preventing this? I should note also that I like to sail with the strap very tight most of the time, both upwind and downwind.

So I recently upgraded from the oldschool thin hiking strap to the nice wide Zhik one -- huge improvement! But I keep coming out of tacks with the strap twisted up (rolled over upside down, or worse). It's harder to get locked into, twists the mainsheet up, etc. etc. etc. ... Anyone else...

I bought one of these last year: http://www.intensitysails.com/farea39cafit.html Quite stiff, cheaper than the Acme. I use it to sail in waves and chop in the SF Bay Area with no issues.

Oh and ... 3. Hanging out with all the other crazy nuts who think sailing Lasers is fun.

1. Surfing in huge waves! It's as good as the Hawaii crossings I've done, but with a warm shower and a beer afterwards. 2. That feeling you get when you recover from an almost-capsize without losing any boats.