1980 Laser M sail rigging

MNsnow

New Member
Hello, we have come upon a 1980 Laser with an M sail and mast. . . but unsure about rigging this old style of sail, without a sock top.

There is a block at the top of the mast, and the sail has a very long halyard attached to it. (Probably installed incorrectly.) But, there is no indication of how to cleat off the halyard at the base of the mast.

I've attempted to search for images of this old set up, to no avail. Any guidance as to how to keep this sail up?

Thanks!
 
The M Rig came with a different top section.

It had an eye and a cleat at the top to raise and secure the sail as in this picture.

M Rig Top Section.jpg


It sounds as though you may not have the original top section. If you could post a picture of your rig, we may be able to come up with suggestions to help.
 

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There is a block at the top of the mast, and the sail has a very long halyard attached to it. (Probably installed incorrectly.)
As you can see from Horizon's picture, that is incorrectly installed. A picture of your mast would indeed help.

The whole concept of combining a halyard and a sleeved sail was not very smart, as you'd still have to rig and de-rig it just like a halyardless one. The best solution for you would be to simply tie the sail with a short piece of thin (but strong) rope to whatever fitting there is at the mast top.

_
 
Thank you for the responses!
Yes, the mast has an eye and a cleat at the top (blanked on my proper terms ;-\ )
The long halyard messed me up, especially since there is no cleat on the mast or deck for the halyard.
Glad to know that we can just use a short length of rope at the top of the mast and treat it like a halyard-less sail assembly.

This is just to get us out on the water. . . already got the mast-step repaired and the delaminating hull and deck seam. Next step, some new-to-us sails!
 
The long halyard messed me up, especially since there is no cleat on the mast or deck for the halyard.
Well, it has to reach all the way down if you want to operate it when the mast is up... it doesn't matter where the cleat is. But as said, the whole system is kind of pointless when you have to take the mast down anyway to get the sail on and off the mast. I guess one could argue that it makes the boat easier to operate on land, when you can "lower" the sail temporarily. But it certainly doesn't do any good for the sail to scrunch it against the boom & gooseneck, and it just looks plain awful :eek:

Glad to know that we can just use a short length of rope at the top of the mast and treat it like a halyard-less sail assembly.
Yes. Now that there is a cleat up there, you can use it with a minimally short "halyard". You probably want to pull the sail as high as possible, too.

Next step, some new-to-us sails!
Oh... what "new" sails are you going to rig on a Laser M mast?

_
 
Right-o, I should have called it a new-to-me rig - sail and mast both. My bad. I did know that. . .
Again, thank you for the tips.
 

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