Pointing - How high can you go?

Martz

Martz

Member
Guys,

I am new to the Laser, having sailed it alone all through winter here in Sydney, and now that spring has sprung I have started racing each Sunday with my local club...

In terms of degress to the wind, could I get some advice on how high you expect to able to point, and any advice on achieving that height...

Thanks, Martz
 
For myself it's just about time in the boat, playing around for myself and with others to get the feel for it, I also think different sailors will find that their most efficient balance might be slightly different then others.

I guess I will go highest in steady medium conditions with flat water then also with a slightly flatter sail. Top speed before acceleration.

More often it's a dance between accelerating and bringing the boatspeed towards the top mark moving and physically working with wind and waves, were the timing is just as important as the everchanging angels. This little boat is so agile, learning to use that is were I see myself getting faster to the topmark.
 
It is all about vmg,you can probably point 20deg off the wind if you want,but you would be going really slow with a lot of leeway.
It really depends on wind and waves.Flatter water you squeeze more height out of her.Choppy and light you really have to foot off.How much is hard to say,you really have to rely on the fleet and how you are doing relative to height and speed.
 
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One point worth mentioning is that although you could point a laser super high, if you wanted. It would feel like you were making loads of ground to the windward mark, if you were in powerboat 100m back down the beat; you would see that the boat would be slipping so far downwind due to leeway. You might even find that a boat pointing lower, would actually end up sailing higher overall because he isn't loosing loads of ground to leeway.
I have seen a laser getting leebowed by a solo. The laser was desperate to stay really high above the solo, and so points really high but ends up slipping into the side of the solo because of leeway.
 
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