Recent content by jsharp

Andy Levine at Tackle Shack watersports in Pinnellas park will help you out, He's at most of the major Laser regattas in the state.

Nate Cowan..

Yeah california rolls are fun, instead of just holding the board, try going for the rail that is in the water with one hand as soon as the boat starts to come up. You have to be quick, but if you can catch it, the boat won't go all the way over the second time and you can be back in it real...

Yeah I agree with scott, here at the naval academy we have the old style vangs, and I feel that they give me all the purchase I need, I've sailed with both and the big advantage of the new vang is not having to come in off the strap to get the vang off when its strapped. I mean sure its cool...

The faster you go, the more force is exerted on the hull the more initial stablity your boat has, of course, things happen faster and wipeouts can be more brutal this way, but you may as well go for it, if you try to slow down the rig gets loaded up and the boat gets unstable. Another thing...

Tighten the strap, so that you can sort of give the strap a sort of kick when you need to come in, you will bounce of the deck and it makes it easier to come in the cockpit, this is very useful as well when reaching in breez with gusty or wavy conditions that you steer a lot in.

I think Oscar Johansen, of Royal Canadian Yacht Club, looked into it some, he just got back from a tornadoe campaign. I remember taking some notes one time from him on mast wall thicknesses and what combinations were faster in different breeze, I think I lost the notes though, maybe he still...

I liked mine, but in college sailing you can't use them, I've found that I relied on it a little too much downwind in light air, so I'm not as fast as I used to be.

One of the guys who sailed for Royal Canadian Yacht Club actually had some notes on this for each year of mast, the thing is not old or new its when exactly it was made, as the dies that they use in the manufacturing get older, it changes the thickness of the wall of the section. eventually...

Tacking is easier, but you'll find gybing more fun... head down off the reach, that will be tought, at a certain point the boat will heel pretty violently towards you, you've got to stop it and then get back centered, keep going down until you're on a nice wave, you'll feel less pressure on the...

Getting yelled at for being outside the lifelines driving a j24 is always fun, how are you supposed to drive when your head is inside the boat?

I'm 160-175lbs depending on the day, 6' even. I tend to like the strap fairly tight, and go straight leg, but not so much just getting out as far as you can. I've found that the pressure you apply to the deck is more important than the distance you are out. Being half an inch farther in and...