Too Big for the Laser?

D

darb

New Member
When does someone effectively become too big to race a laser on a national and international level, at 6'4" 185 am I still good for the full rig or would I be better off in a Finn?
 
I think if you are in shape enough you cant be too big. I'm 150 and not quite enough for a radial in heavy air.
 
Hello Brad,
6'4" 185 lbs..... sounds damn near made to order for the full rig... might be a touch tall (couple of inches) and that's not a bad thing...more weight further out = better righting movement I believe. Also from what I have read 178 lbs to 182 lbs is the "ideal" weight for the full rig Laser.

For the Finn I've heard approximately an athletic 210 lbs is supposed to be pretty good. But I haven't read much about Finn sailing. I am assuming that there is a bunch of things to adjust when playing with a Finn. Mast bend is one of them, I know very little about it. Finn masts (Carbon fiber) are fairly expensive tha taper to a very skinny (looks easy to break) tip top section of the mast...
Here is more about the Finn... http://www.finnclass.org/... I may do some reading up on it too... but for my sailing future I am sticking with the Laser... it is what i can afford...
I'd love to give the Finn a whirl sometime in the future, but there are no fleets around here that would give me the opportunity to excel at racing them.
Best regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157
 
I think Zach Railey is about 6'4", he was a top competitor in the Laser at that height for 2004 . He has since moved into the Finn for 2008. You might want to contact him and get his thoughts. You can email him z.railey at umiami dot edu

NA finn class is at http://www.nafinnclass.org/
They also have an email group on Yahoo at [email protected] (You need to join the group on Yahoo before mail will be accepted, it's free and it's more active then the nafinnclass web site.) You can ask any question relating to the Finn via the Yahoo group and will get straight answers. They are trying to grow the class in the US right now.
 
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