New from Alabama...

dkfullhouse

New Member
Hey everybody,

I'm looking into buying a Laser after the first of the year, and had to come here cause I'm pretty clueless where Lasers are concerned.

Some background:
I was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Al and both my father and grandfather were members of Tuscaloosa Sailing club, so I've always had sailing in my heart. My experience has been mostly Sunfish, Flying Scot, Buccaneer, crewed a few times with a madman in an old Coronado 15, and a few cruises on an Oday 23.

I currently live in Boaz, AL and work right next to Lake Guntersville, so I've been chomping at the bit to get back on the water. I had originally thought about another Sunfish, but they're hard to find around here. So my questions would be...at 5'10 and 250lbs, am I too big for the laser? Also, I have no experience with them, so would have to learn how to rig it. Most of my rescent experience was crewing with my granddad on his Scot, and my last sail was about 3 years ago :(

My plan is: my work is right on the lake, and I usually get off just after lunch and would love to be able to just go jump in the lake and go...is that possible with the Laser? Also, could I teach my kids on this boat when they get older?

Thanks for letting me ramble...
 
Well, considering your weight, you aren't going to win the Olympic regatta, but that's not your goal anyway. I think you can have a lot of fun though with a Laser, assuming there's some wind. If you see a Finn or a Megabyte, do consider those as well since they are designed for the bigger guys.

There's a lot of info on rigging a Laser available on this forum and the Internet. For instance: http://na.laserperformance.com/images/assets/pdfs/laser/laserrigging.pdf

Getting your kids involved in sailing would be great as well. Depending on their age and weight, they can start out with a 4.7 rig and move up to the Radial and full rig as they grow.
 

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