Bottom Section - Banana

L

LaserBen

New Member
My bottom section just keeps bending :( It started with a bend caused by a windward capsize on a fast run, only very very slight, but it keeps getting worse and worse every time my mast hits the water. I don't use extreme amounts of kicker upwind (never more than keeping the boom at the same angle as b2b) so I just don't get it...

Should I expect my bottom section to get bent from a windward wipeout or did I just get a duff one?
 
You got a duffer. Time to get a new one as that bend will prevent you from getting enough vang on going upwind in a breeze.
 
I bent one lower section once. It was at a Midwinter Championship regatta where very sailor in the 106 boat fleet dumped at least once and only eight boats completed the course. Mine bent when, sailing directly down wind, I submerged my entire hull and did not capsize. My rig bent foreword and left a permanent sideways bend in the lower section.

Otherwise, in thousanbds of days of laser sailing, I have never bent any other lower section.

I must believe any section that bends in under about 40 knots is inferior to those hundred or so I have used.

If you are well over 100 kilos and were sailing in 40 knots of wind, it may have been reasonable for the little toy to fail to carry you... However, for the builder to reasonably avoid warranty claims, I believe a warning label should be on the craft which states its performance limitations.
 
After my second day racing my new boat in about 15 knots with tons of kicker (I'm 160lbs), my lower had an appreciable bend. I sent it back to Vanguard, and they gave me a new one without any trouble. I sailed a borrowed boat once, and noticed the lower was quite bent. I took it to a tree with a fork in the trunk, stuck it in there, and pulled the spar straight. It was fine for the rest of the day in about 10 knots.
 
Bottom sections should not bend in 15 knots, you MUST ease your vang before you make the turn at the top mark

it also sounds like a lot of you just plain have to much vang on
 
no way I had too much vang. The spar was no good, and Vanguard changed it. My new spar is just fine when I supervang in any breeze. And I was easing the vang at the turn.
 
I bent a lower in '94. The boat was on its trailer at the ramp with the rig up when a 25 knot+ gust came through. The boat was getting pushed across the parking lot while sitting on the trailer. It was not good for the sail and bent the bottom section just a little, but it was noticable. I sailed w/the bent spar for a few years before replacing it.
 
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