Survival sailing and race tips (I need help!)

Chris40390

New Member
This Saturday I will be sailing a laser full rig in my first regatta. The problem is that I am pretty underweight for full rig, so if there is any heavy wind, I'm done. In that event, I would sincerely appreciate some tips about how to make it through that regatta if there are heavy winds. The other times I have sailed laser in heavy winds, I have just cranked on the cunningham, outhaul, and vang. Nevertheless, I have to sail with an enormous bubble in the sail; and every time I try to tack, I wind up in irons, which I have trouble getting out of. Also, my cunningham snapped. I don't mean the fixture, I mean the string that goes through the eyehole in the sail and that you tie the bowline around the fixture with. That string snapped. What can I do to fix it? In the event that there are light or medium winds, what tips do you guys have for sailing well? This will be my fifth time sailing a laser, so I am not really familiar with the boat. I could use some tips. Finally, just to clarify: this is not my laser, rather it belongs to my yacht club; I am six feet tall; and I weigh 150 pounds. I know there are a lot of questions in this post, but I would really appreciate any and all help you guys could give me.
 
150lbs isn't that light for a full rig, it's on the lowest end, but with 6' on you, you should be able hike hike hike and do alright even if it blows pretty hard.

Easy thing is if you are luffing so much and can't keep it flat, raise the centerboard 6" or so, it will slide the boat to leeward a little, but you won't loose ground with how much flatter you can keep the boat.

Go sailing, DDW, or by the lee, is the most insane part when you are starting out, especially with breeze on.

Don't get discouraged if you eat it a bunch. Think things through, ask others around you. Watch what the guys at the front do, and copy that. sail sail sail.
 
Chris40390 said:
Nevertheless, I have to sail with an enormous bubble in the sail; and every time I try to tack, I wind up in irons, which I have trouble getting out of.

Also, my cunningham snapped. I don't mean the fixture, I mean the string that goes through the eyehole in the sail and that you tie the bowline around the fixture with. That string snapped. What can I do to fix it? In the event that there are light or medium winds, what tips do you guys have for sailing well? This will be my fifth time sailing a laser, so I am not really familiar with the boat. I could use some tips. Finally, just to clarify: this is not my laser, rather it belongs to my yacht club; I am six feet tall; and I weigh 150 pounds. I know there are a lot of questions in this post, but I would really appreciate any and all help you guys could give me.

I think maybe you just aren't turning far enough if you end up in irons when you tack. Don't cross the boat until you've passed through the wind and the sail flips to the new side, then get across quick. It would be better to turn too far with the sail eased, get up some speed, then head up than to be in irons.

I haven't perfected this stuff yet either, but I just read that in high winds you should tack fast. That's probably OK on a beat, but tack slow from reach to reach or you will swim.

For your snapped outhaul, is it in a place where you can tie a square knot in the pieces? If not, you should just go to a marine store and buy a new piece. It will only be a few dollars. Take the old line to show them what you need. Or maybe your yacht club can help you?

Other than that, just relax and have fun. It's hot enough to enjoy the swim. Oh yeah, I've been advised that in the first year, you can count on being dead last. Keep that in mind, and don't get discouraged. Laser sailing isn't as easy as it looks!

Merrily
 
If you are 6 feet tall and 150lbs you should be perfectly fine. I am 5'7" and 145. I only weighed 135 about a month ago but I qualified for the oday finals so I am now doing everything I can to gain weight.

I have sailed the full rig a great bit over the past 3 years because the radial fleet died where I live. Here is what I have learned:

Crank on the cunningham. As soon as you are overpowered this should be the first thing that goes on hard. Next you should get the vang on hard. Most people will 2 block the mainsheet and then crank the vang on more than that. I do this in a radial but not in the full rig. It has been much easier for me to keep up if I ease the vang slightly. I set the vang so that when I ease the mainsheet the boom goes out and not up at all. But I do not take it on more than that. Most people will crank it on more. Next the outhaul should start to go tight, but do not crank it on too tight. I like to keep it eased a little bit, maybe 5 inches off of the boom. This helps keep the flow on the sail while easing it.

As far as sailing the boat goes you need to hike like crazy. Being 6 feet tall you should be able to have a very tight hiking strap and still get out very far. This creates more righting effort than a loose strap. You will also need to play the main a lot. Hike as hard as you can and play the main to keep the boat perfectly flat.

This stuff has worked for me over the years. Good luck!
 
1) I logged on today in order to find out if I can learn the same things you are trying to learn. I am in the same stage of development that you are. I also weigh about the same, but I'm shorter @ 5'7" or so.

2) You gotta fix that cunn'm with a new "string" I'd think almost any small dia poly line will do, but if you can get your hands on some 12-strand tech line that is what is best. I noticed mine is getting worn too.

3) I find that I can trim for the lulls or the puffs but I pay dearly on the offside (faster in the lulls, rounding up to a stop in the puffs)

4) tacking is something which needs to be learned through a lot of practice, for me. I find I am geting into irons a lot less often now, but I find I just need to move bow a lot farther down that I thought at first & goes much better. Irons is not fast, I tell myself.

5) we might both benefit greatly from reading these oft quoted laser textbooks which APS offers
 
All right, I have some good news. I got the cunningham fixed. I used a line about the width of a spinnaker sheet on a 420, not a string like the original. The cunningham really cranked, I was able to actually sail the boat in some heavy stuff today. You guys were right, I just wasn't turning far enough on my tacks.
I have a couple more questions, though. Sailing downwind just didn't seem right today. Was it because the cunningham and vang were on so tight? Do I need to loosen them to efectively sail downwind? Also, I was having some trouble jibing. I would go to jibe and pull in the sail to try to get it moving across. I just wound up heeling up to the point of having to head up to avoid the capsize. What am I doing wrong? Finally, do you have any other tips for the regatta tomorrow?
Thanks for the tips on keeping the boat down. They saved me today
 
mmm, with your gybing, you have to be going as fast as you can, this eases the pressure on the sail, so if you can gybe when you are surfing a wave it is even better & you have to be sailin by the lee a bit, but the main thing is bein ddw & goin as fast as you can, but be careful not to get the mainsheet caught on the transom whilst gybing
 
All right. Thanks for all your help, guys. The regatta turned out to be a bit of a joke (at least in the laser class). There were two full rigs, mine included, and two radials; I took second on the full rigs. The wind was uncharacteristically light, so I didn't really need to worry about keeping the boat upright. Sailing downwind in the light winds we had today was nice and easy, so my only worries were the bent boom and leaky boat I had (the yacht club's, not mine)
 

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