First race... Aug 26th

pez

Member
ok... So I've finally convinced myself to see what Laser racing is all about. I'm taking my old boat to lake Wawasee in Northern Indiana with the goal of not finishing last, which I think is a reasonbale goal for a first timer...

Interestingly, it will be an experiment to prove what the laser class stands for, that a laser is a laser is a laser. My 1971-1973 laser (hard to tell for sure) with all it's wooden blades and orginal rigging will show up and hopefully propel me along to something other than bringing up the rear.

Will post here as I prep (some work to do before the boat is really ready).

How far apart are the marks anyway?
 
pez said:
How far apart are the marks anyway?

that depends on breeze, current, etc (though i don't think current will be an issue in IN)

generally... I try to run Dinghy races about minutes... depending on breeze.

so... each leg could be as long as 3/4 mile, 1/2 mile or even shorter... depending on breeze.

Each PRO will run things a little differently.

Read your sailing instructions & pay attention at the "competitors meeting". Though, if the SI's are written well, there should not be too much to discuss, except for when the keg is tapped.

Have fun & if you come in DFL, don't be discouraged.
 
I wouldn't even worry about where I finish, instead I focus on the following:
1. Have fun
2. Meet a few new people
3. Learn something new
4. Try to improve my finishes from first race to the last race.

The results tend to take care of themselves, I found when I start worrying about them before hand, it makes goal #1 really hard to achieve.

Good luck - keep the smooth side down and you'll do fine
 
rock on... thanks for the advice... are there boat inspections beforehand typically? I need to hook up a daggerboard retaining line and mast retaining line to be legal, but beyond that everything is standard as it was in '73...
 
no inspections typically except for major open championships..
Just show up, rig up and go.
 
i just reread my post & noticed that somehow the number of minutes was not there.

Generally our Laser races are about 30 to 45 minutes long.

sorry about that
 
man, races are awesome
just have fun sailin em, do ur best, and im sure ull have a good time, and i doubt ull be DFL
also, idk if u cant tell the age cuz the serial number is just wrecked, or u cant find it... if the latter, check under the bow eye
 
pez said:
ok... So I've finally convinced myself to see what Laser racing is all about. I'm taking my old boat to lake Wawasee in Northern Indiana with the goal of not finishing last, which I think is a reasonbale goal for a first timer...

So Pez, what race are you sailing in? Have you been invited for a club race? The regatta at Wawasee is Sept 16.
 
Yea, I emailed Ken Gindling guy (nice guy) about participating it what they call a "series race" He said I was welcome to join, so I figure I'll try it out.

I wanted to do a smaller one first to see if it was something I'd like because committing to the big regatta... So a buddy and I are heading up. to see what it's all about.

EE - yea, the serial number is under the bow eye... #1769, all I've been able to find out is that it's between '71-'73...

thanks again for all the advice... 30-45 minutes seems just about perfect
 
a series thing sounds like a nice intro

count on 2 races, maybe three

have fun!

let everyone know how it went
 
ok... so I did my first race. I'd made kind of a bigger deal out of it than I thought. There were about 20 sunfish and six lasers.

A friend came with me, we typically share the cottage boat and sail back and forth all the time. The YC guys were kind enough to offer him a club boat, so he got to sail with me.

The start was odd, I wasnt sure where I needed to be, and ended up tacking with about 15 seconds to go before the start, and in winds that were on the lighter side, I ended up crossing the line slow and far behind the other guys.

I passed my friend on the upwind leg, with the rest of the fleet well whaed of us... rounded the mark and was easily 100 yards behind anyone else. I found that I was keeping up, but when I would make a mistake, they would pull away and I would not gain. I ended up finishing about 5 mins in front of my friend.

The second race went much better, though the outcome was still the same. For the start I stuck to the guy that won the first race and copied what he did, and ended up starting somewhat in the mix. Saw some really nice sailing where three boats were tacking around the mark in near lockstep...was great to watch good sailors...

I had a great second upwind leg in the second race, as I approached the mark I realized that I was going to overtake the 4th place boat (1168), sure enough, I beat him to the mark by about 30 seconds... the highlight of my day... my friend was right behind the guy, and we had a nice downwind leg where we were all pretty close together and chatting back and forth... 1168 pulled ahead of the both of us downwind. My friedn and I had a pretty competitive mark rounding and back upwind to the finish line...

We were both on port tack and he had overtaken me, I tacked, passed astern of him and he satyed on port tack, I crossed the finish line 20-30 seconds ahead of him.

All in all, it was great fun, great , nice people, willing to help out and chat about sailing. I was really stoked that they loaned my friend a boat. After the race he and I were chatting and I said, "You know, my goal here was not to come in last.... I'm really glad you came"
 

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