pre-rigging for launch - how to prepare for dock type launch?

deeman

Member
I have a question about launching the laser at a public launch. I plan to use a fairly low use lake with about 8 launches, so I don't think there is a huge need for speed in terms of dumping the boat in the water to free up the dock for the next guy. I don't think there is a waiting line - I may be wrong. What is the general strategy for pre-rigging prior to dropping the boat in? The docks I plan to use are about 3-5 feet higher than the water.

It seems like It would be best to get the sail / mast all rigged up in the rigging area and then install the rudder dagger once the boat is all the way in the water before pulling the trailer out. My only concern would be the boom spinning freely around with the wind and becoming a hazard.

Any thoughts?

I will post some pics in the next day or two on my Laser. I am hoping to maiden this weekend.
Thanks as always!
 
There are about as many opinions on this subject as there are noses on faces. (c: A lot depends on how much wind you have at launch. If it's breezy, then you can expect the boat to capsize if there is any restraint on the main sheet at all. So plan your positioning with the dock so a capsize won't put a hole in your sail. My dock is about a foot off the water, and very smooth, so I actually plan on the capsize as part of the launch on a windy day. The boat's mast lays over the dock, and I can rig it all in horizontal mode. Your dock is too high for that.

A beach is *so* much easier. That being said, make sure you identify wind direction, and launch such that the boat will be downwind of the dock. Make sure the blades are not in the water and the main sheet is *very* loose. In any serious wind, you will have an issue with the boat wanting to blow off the trailer as soon as you get it halfway launched, if it's a 'normal' trailer with bunks. If it's a gunwale support trailer you might be better off. It's way easier to launch if you have help. Even some one to just catch the mast when it goes over is a big help.

I put my hull in the water, then stick the mast/sail on, then tie on the boom, normally. That works, and if the boat capsizes I don't really care, as then it's stable and laying on it's side with the sail across the dock. On the beach it's the same.. who cares if it blows over.

If you use a dolly I think a large part of these issues go away, but I don't have one so I improvise other solutions.
 
Rig up the sail, mast and control lines before you launch, but leave the clew untied while you back the boat into the water. This allows the sail to fly free without worrying about the boom hitting something or the boat flipping over. Attach the clew right before you sail off. This is a situation where the clew sleeve would be a BIG help.

You can maybe go ahead and install the rudder and tiller, but make sure the rudder pivot bolt is tight and the rudder will stay up. After all, we all know how bad it is to have a loose nut on the tiller. Probably just as easy to wait to install the rudder until after the boat is in the water. Definitely do not stick the daggerboard in until you are ready to sail away.
 
I always launch from a dock about 1 foot off the water. I rig fully except I leave the dagger board up and rudder up (but on). If there is a cross wind or i am launching into the wind (as long as it isn't too strong) if find as long as you have the mainsheet completely loose and you make sure to pick the bow up and point it into the wind as you push it off the dolly it will usually be okay and not capsize. Then its quick and easy to sail away instead of trying to hold yourself on the dock while attaching the clew (and all the other things you decide not to rig).
 
just have your boat facing head to wind and back or pull it in whichever is needed... you can rig all controls lines this way just watch the swinging boom
 
Rig up the sail, mast and control lines before you launch, but leave the clew untied while you back the boat into the water. This allows the sail to fly free without worrying about the boom hitting something or the boat flipping over. Attach the clew right before you sail off. This is a situation where the clew sleeve would be a BIG help.

You can maybe go ahead and install the rudder and tiller, but make sure the rudder pivot bolt is tight and the rudder will stay up. After all, we all know how bad it is to have a loose nut on the tiller. Probably just as easy to wait to install the rudder until after the boat is in the water. Definitely do not stick the daggerboard in until you are ready to sail away.

I agree - that seems to be the best option. I imagine I can even bungee the sail to the mast white dropping it in the water to prevent the sail from whipping around. Great suggestions from all - thanks!!!
 
Maybe a good way to deal with docks and slipways is to just rig the boat fully but don't thread the mainsheet through the ratchet block so that the sail can't catch the wind and cause problems when launching. This leaves the sail to move around freely, even forward of the mast. Kind of like the reverse process when you come in to shore with a strong wind behind you and you undo the stopper knot in your mainsheet to let the boom fly forward and then you just drift in. I've never done this, but it may work OK.
 
Geeeze, why didn't I think of that :) Gotta be easier than what I go thru.

Attaching the clew with the boat in the water on a windy day can be a real head-banger. One variant I use a lot is to attach the sail to the boom, but only run the mainsheet to the end of the boom (up through the mainsheet block and along the boom, but not down to the traveler deck blocks) and leave the vang off the boom as well.

Now the boom can swing freely 180+ degrees while you launch. Once the boat is in the water it's quick to run the mainsheet through the traveler blocks and tie a figure 8, then attach the vang.
 
Only thought on this is that if the clew is not attached, then the boom will not stay in....correct? The clew / outhaul is the only thing that holds the boom onto the mast, right? Or do you just lay the boom on the deck until you secure the clew?
 
For me.....about the only thing I pre-rig is the main sheet running through the boom. (actually I leave it there all the time.)

I launch the boat sans sail and gear. For one thing, the boat sits on the trailer higher than on the water so getting the mast seated is actually tougher. I assemble the rest of the items once tied up. Yeah, it's kinda a pain and I wish I was on a beach.
 
Only thought on this is that if the clew is not attached, then the boom will not stay in....correct? The clew / outhaul is the only thing that holds the boom onto the mast, right? Or do you just lay the boom on the deck until you secure the clew?
The vang, if tightened, also helps to secure the boom to the mast. But to hook (or tie) the clew onto the boom, one has to release the vang to a reasonable extent. If I am not really careful, my boom will drop down onto the deck. :eek:
 
For the love of this board, I will share the highlights of my disasterous launch today. I have never sailed this lake before and the public launch area is in a smaller sized bay that's sorrounded by expensive houses. The wind was whipping about 12 knots (okay, not WHIPPING) and the wind blew right accross the end of the dock - so the wind was perpendicular to the dock. I rigged the sail onto the mast, lowered the mast in and tied a knot on the outhaul line while in the parking lot. I also had the clew tie down wrapped loosley around the boom. I had the vang on and slightly loose. Keep in mind my boat is a 74' with all the 74' old school gear.

I only needed to secure the outhaul line through the clew then cleat it off and then tie the clew tie down around the boom. The main sheet was loose and run through all but the traveler blocks as mentioned here.

I dropped the boat in the water, parked and came back to perform two simple tasks. I gotta tell you, I gave the people in the houses around the bay the best entertainment ever. As soon as I approached and tried to grab the sail it must have know and played hard to get while the boat spun wickedly in circles. Whenever I grabbed the clew the boat leaned, spun and twisted violently around. I felt like I was trying to hogtie a 800lb bull. The shore was lined with big boulders and the hull smacked them 3 or 4 times whenever I tried to run the outhaul through the clew. I got the outhaul through the clew twice and the boat became nasty and I had to let go. I always tired to stand in the downwind direction to do this work and the boat spun and, I think snorted (or laughed) as I tried to wrestle the thing. It smacked into the rocks again, nearly capsized 10 times and finally capsized. I was upset and embarrassed for about 2 seconds and realized the boat was not moving that much any more lying on its side. But with the hull exposed it became a small sail and the boat still tried spinning away from me and almost drifted out into the bay. I was hip deep in weeds, muck and rocks wrestling this thing. In the wresteling match I lost the clew tie down line - luckily I had a spare line in my fat bag / inspection port. Of course the Vang was limiting how much I could adjust the outhaul and of course it was really loose. I put the centerboard in and noticed one of the clip hooks had somehow come off, so in desperation I just did a double knot with the bungee around the mast.

So, boat banged on rocks, lost clew tie down, lost centerboard clip, soaking wet and exhausted I flipped the boat over and jumped on before she took off on a run out to the lake. What an experience!!! I always try to stay positive and I learned from the experience that, as mentioned here, a self induced capsize is not all that bad. I am just glad it was not November. I was able to get everything done that I need to. I really don't know how wicked the boom would have been whipping around if I did secure the outhaul and clew on land. I don't suspect it would have been pretty.
 
Hey Deeman...everyone has been there....

How could the boat move so much if it's tied off to the dock? At our launch, the wind does the same as yours, coming across, so when tied up, the boat flags out. It will move but mostly just point into the wind.
I do use a hook for the outhaul for quick on and off.

Quite a day, but makes for a great story!
 
ya know, I don't know why in heck I untied it. I guess I thought it would whip into the dock or the boom would hit some vertical posts, but your right - with it pointed into the wind, the stern would be out and downwind of the dock with no chance of hitting it. I still wonder how it would have behaved when I tired to grab the clew and attach to the boom. I will have to look into the clew hook - I don't want to deal with that situation again.
 
With a decent breeze blowing, what I do is wait for a bit of a lull before attaching the hook. I just let the boat center itself and then at the right moment, snap on and tighten the line.
 
I don't have the sleeve, but rather just a strap. Truthfully, since I just go out and sail around for fun and never race, I don't bother with it....just more stuff to have to mess with!
 
One last thought (for those who care lol) I noticed on Youtube that Jon Emmet rigs his entire sail on the ground - vang, outhaul and all. Then lowers the completed rig into the mast step. I may have to try that the next time. The only thing was that in his video there was very little wind.

I did order the Harken clew hook with block. Looks kinda nice - clew strap and quick connect / disconnect in one small package.
 
So deeman since I just started sailing lasers this year I pretty much suck at the whole launching and retrieval thing too. Here are some techniques I have developed. At our yacht club we have a dock area for launching the lasers and the wind is almost always blowing in towards shore which makes for some interesting launches. The first few times I just rigged up everything on land and tipped it off the dock into the water. Once it was in the water I hopped into the water, inserted daggerboard/rudder and then just sailed off like I had capsized it anywhere else. This seems to work well other than you start off the day getting wet. Now I've become a little more refined and can get it into the water right side up. For this I rig everything except the mainsheet and leave the rudder and daggerboard out of the boat (actually on the dock so there isn't any chance of me messing them up). I slip the boat into the water and then tie it off so it won't be banging against anything. One big point here is that you rotate the mast the right way to make sure the cunningham and outhaul don't get twisted, i.e. if you turned the boat clockwise to enter the water you need to turn it counter-clockwise once it's in the water. Then I hop into the boat and finish rigging everything and then just sail out. I've tried leaving the clew untied but this seems harder to rig in the water than the mainsheet.


Coming back to the dock is a bigger challenge. As I suck at downwind sailing and coming back to the dock is almost always downwind things get interesting. I've developed three key strategies for this.
1. Come screaming in and when I get close enough to shore round up hard (possibly capsizing) hop out of the boat, grab the bow and walk/swim it over to the dock. This seems to work well if there is nobody else around and you don't mind getting wet.
2. A slightly more refined method of the above. I come in and round up a little bit further from shore. Then I untie the main sheet from the boom-end block, release the vang and drift in backwards. This works pretty well except I suck at steering in reverse and usually have to hop out to get over to the dock anyways.
3. Same as above method except I untie the clew of the sail. Then I can usually turn down towards the dock and sail in like normal except with the sail flapping out infront of me. I still haven't perfected my timing/aim to get me perfectly right up against the dock but at least it doesn't look like I'm going to ram the shore while coming in anymore.

After making it to the dock if people are around I have them help me get it back out of the water as is. If I'm by myself I'll tie it up and de-rig everything in the boat and take out the mast/sail before I try and drag it back up onto the trolley. This way the boom and sail aren't flying around during the delicate task of lifting the boat out of the water. Basically I take my time and don't worry about looking like an idiot. Also I've gone a few times now while the highschool team has been out practicing and it's good to launch/retrieve while they are around as all of them are better than you at it and have no problems with telling you what you did wrong.
 
Ah...that youtube video is crazy. I couldn't lift that entire rig like that each time, especially with the wind blowing. Hard enough just to pop the mast in with the sail streaming.
 
One last thought (for those who care lol) I noticed on Youtube that Jon Emmet rigs his entire sail on the ground - vang, outhaul and all. Then lowers the completed rig into the mast step. I may have to try that the next time. The only thing was that in his video there was very little wind.

I did order the Harken clew hook with block. Looks kinda nice - clew strap and quick connect / disconnect in one small package.

That's what Lasers studs do. They pick up the whole rig and maneuver it into the mast step like a giant windsurf sail. I just about threw my back out when I tried it.
 
One last thought (for those who care lol) I noticed on Youtube that Jon Emmet rigs his entire sail on the ground - vang, outhaul and all. Then lowers the completed rig into the mast step. I may have to try that the next time. The only thing was that in his video there was very little wind.

I did order the Harken clew hook with block. Looks kinda nice - clew strap and quick connect / disconnect in one small package.

Most of the Uk fleet rig that way, and indeed if you go to a major event you won't see many not rigging this way.
I struggle to lift the rig in with any sort of breeze but Lasernut is convinced its easier with breeze. Trick is to handle it like a windsurf rig, letting the wind hold some of the weight of the rig. Even us radial girls can manage it with practice. Means you can get rigged go to briefing/get changed without a sail flogging around and you're only a minute or so away from launching as only the control line handles to tie.
 
I was too old to be a Laser stud before the Laser was invented..............

I've found that picking up any part of the rig when the breeze is blowing is much easier, as long as the breeze is comming from the right direction. Sometimes it's hard for me to coordinate the orientation of the boat and the breeze by myself to take advantage of it. Thus the 'lay it down on the dock' approach discussed earlier. One particularly breezy day I was munching a sandwich while the boat lays on the dock. Wind gets under the sail, picks the mast up, and rotates it 180 degrees to a perfect capsize in the other direction.

I'm glad there aren't any highschoolers there to tell me how dumb I am (c:
 
I'm glad there aren't any highschoolers there to tell me how dumb I am (c:

Haha you're missing out man. Sailing lasers isn't that humbling until you have to ask a 15 year old girl for help getting your laser out of the water :D
 
Well I did have a much better launch today. This is still only my fourth time out on my Laser and I am still learning. In the main parking lot, I rigged the sail onto the mast, lowered the mast into the mast step, and attached the boom to the mast with the vang.

I then drove closer to the dock and once near the dock and slightly out of the water I attached the clew to the boom while the boat was still on the trailer. It was kinda windy (8 knots). I also added the rudder and tiller and ran the main sheet (actually did this before attaching the clew) through all devices EXCEPT the main ratchet block.

I made sure to drop in on the leeward side of the dock and the sail stayed downwind and away from the dock while I tied off the boat. I parked, walked a bit into the water to push the nose into the wind, slid the dagger in and tied the dagger retainer bungee, and lowered the rudder all the way and tied the rudder downhaul off. I then jumped in the boat and pointed away from the wind and zip, zam, zoom I was off with only wet feet and up to my knees!!

It worked very well but I did spend a fair amount of time taking up a dock space. Luckily the launch was DEAD and no one was waiting to come in our pull out their power boat.

This is a fantastic resource - thanks for all the great advice! I love the learning process and have a long way to go.
 

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