Bought a Laser Bahia!

Merrily

Merrily

Administrator
My husband and I drove over to the sailboat show at Annapolis to buy him a Vago, and ended up buying a Bahia instead from the good folks at APS. The Vago, which looks like a blast, was a little (or maybe a lot) more boat than we felt we could handle. The Bahia is a stable boat that can seat up to 5 people. The boom is quite high on it, which is an issue for my husband. His knees don't want to bend like they used to. 300 sq ft of sail area with the spinnaker, main, and jib. It should be a good time. I'm shopping for a trapeze harness for it tomorrow at APS. Woo hoo! :D So I've got to keep on my husband's good side so he'll let me sail with him. :rolleyes:

http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d15000/e12615.asp
 
Today John and I are driving to APS's storefront to load up our new boat. We brought my Laser trailer along to trail the boat home. The plan is to load the Bahia onto the trailer while on its dolly. Yes, the Bahia, a plastic rotomoded hull, is even more sensitive than the Laser as to its method of transport. It MUST be suspended under the gunwales, especially on a hot day like today. John brought tools to modify the trailer as needed. So wish us luck, and we expect to get home this evening. :)
 
I was at the boat show this weekend and got to take the Bahia for a spin with the folks from Vanguard. Looks like fun and surely a versatile boat Merrily.
 
WestCoast said:
I was at the boat show this weekend and got to take the Bahia for a spin with the folks from Vanguard. Looks like fun and surely a versatile boat Merrily.
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George, you sailed our boat before we got to! We bought the boat that was demoed at Severn. We're getting most of the options--storage chest, trapeze wires, oarlocks and oars. We'll wait and see about the motor mount and acquiring a motor. We won't need that on our little reservoir, but if we travel with it, we might.

We safely trailed it home. The guys at APS helped us reconfigure our trailer and load and strap down the boat. I was gofer at the beginning of the process. I even held the end of a measuring tape once. Then I went shopping in the chock full APS store. My best moment was noticing that our tool bag was still on the ground just as we were about to drive away. Did I mention I went shopping?!

We're going to have rigging guide in hand this morning while looking over the boat. We have other stuff to do this afternoon, so it's not likely we'll get it in the water today. :(
 
No kidding! I was only on your boat for a brief time, but the gennaker/spinnaker system is just like the 29er/49er set up and the boat is very roomy and comfortable.

I'm sure you'll have a blast with it.
 
We got the Bahia on the water for the first time today. The wind was only 5 to 10, and we decided to skip the spinnaker for the first outing. The boat was comfortable and fun, just what John was looking for. We plan to sail it again tomorrow, this time with the spinnaker. We're going to rig it for our club's second race on Sunday, which is a handicap race. I'll sail my Laser in the first race, then crew for John in the second.

The guys at APS are sailing the other Bahia that they had today and they have 20 to 25 knots. Can't wait to hear about that.
 
Hi, I was wondering how you are enjoying the new Bahia. I am considering purchasing one. I plan to sail it on our lake. My family currently sails on a Big Fish and a Sunfish. I would like something faster and more exciting that can also be taken out for an enjoyable day sail with a friend or two.

Is your husband happy he picked the Bahia over the Vago? Would he make the same choice again?

Finally the laser website indicates the hull weight for the Bahia is 286 lbs / 155kg. 155 kg actually converts to 342 lbs. This seems like a big mistake. Could you venture a guess as to what the hull weight actually is?
 
lunchcut said:
Hi, I was wondering how you are enjoying the new Bahia. I am considering purchasing one. I plan to sail it on our lake. My family currently sails on a Big Fish and a Sunfish. I would like something faster and more exciting that can also be taken out for an enjoyable day sail with a friend or two.

Is your husband happy he picked the Bahia over the Vago? Would he make the same choice again?

Finally the laser website indicates the hull weight for the Bahia is 286 lbs / 155kg. 155 kg actually converts to 342 lbs. This seems like a big mistake. Could you venture a guess as to what the hull weight actually is?
Click to expand...

We haven't had the Bahia out yet this spring because hubby doens't have a wetsuit, so can't answer your questions. That is the first I've seen of the weight discrepancy, so I'll have to get back to you on that, too.
 
Hi Merrily,

Im a newbie to the forum and since my wife looked quite askance at the idea of a tandem (just kidding), I thought it might be about time to get back in to sailing.

As a kid I learned to sail in a leaky aluminium canoe with a home-made outrigger and a sail made from a bedsheet. That was on Southampton Water. Time passed and my best school friend's father bought a Merlin Rocket - oh joy.

Some time later my wife and I lived in Vancouver and I kept a Sunfish on False Creek. What fabulous sailing days they were!

Several years on and now with a family of our own, we moved to Montreal and we bought a Topper. Then for the last 20 or so years, nothing. Zip. Until last month when we had a holiday in Jamaica (Shaw Park Beach Resort) where I became re-acquainted with the dear old Sunfish. After so long, I had forgotten what enormous fun it is to sail a dinghy which brings me to here and now.

I won't bore you with my criteria, but a boat that can be single handed, carry 5 adults if needed (and we now have grandchildren), motored, rowed, trapezed (is that a word?), the Bahia seems - at least on paper - to have it all. But scour the internet as I have, I have yet to find a sail test report so what gives? Does the great idea on paper just fail to translate in to an exciting ride? Nobody seems enthused. Where are all the owners. There must be more than just you Merrily. And even you have yet to be heard from with the "exciting ride" report!:rolleyes:

So would you please buy your husband that wet suit and put him to work! Laser sales of Bahais may just depend upon it!:D:D

And if not a Bahia, then what suggestions for Ontario lake sailing (not necessarily on Lake Ontario). The Flying Scot looks a little long in the tooth but it may be a possibility - any suggestions, or a positive tip in the Bahia direction would be most appreciated. I am ready to sail again, so the big question is IN WHAT???
 
I tried to get him to go out today. The water is about 60 degrees F or 16 C, which is tolerable even with just polyester fleece. He was too busy. :(( I'll tell him that internet contacts are waiting for him.
 
Hmmm - I doubt I would go without a wetsuit in to 16C water:eek:,so perhaps we should be kind and not blame his reluctance on sloth.

But of course we still would like to have that sailing report! Last Fall, you mentioned that you were about to go in to a club event, and also that the "guys from APS" were also planning to go out in 20-25 knots. That should be plenty to get the juices flowing!!:) Did either of those things happen? If so, can we hear about it please?

Has Mister Laser built us an uterly brilliant all-rounder as they claim, or is there still work to be done to get this one up to scratch?
 
Has Mister Laser built us an uterly brilliant all-rounder as they claim, or is there still work to be done to get this one up to scratch?


The boats a bit of a beast - tries to do to many things and ends up doing neither particularly well IMHO. Better options out there but it's an OK daysailor if thats what you want...
 
Thank you for your honesty - any owners out there who want to defend? Is WPB perhaps too harsh?

Door is closing but not yet closed. Yes I want a daysailer, but if it is boring it will never get used so that would be a big mistake. I love lee rail under and me hanging out :)), and a favourite was downwind in Sunfish with the nose (and the rest of the hull) 6" under the waves. Never laughed so much in my life. Perhaps it is bluewater that makes the difference?
 
It's a blast in over 15 knots, has a couple of planing speeds. We were going 11 knots downwind, in about 25 knots.
in 7-12 it seems ok, and at least it moves in lighter winds. The line for dousing and hoisting the gennaker is small, you'll need gloves.

Karen who sails at the Cal Sailing Club
 
khuie said:
It's a blast in over 15 knots, has a couple of planing speeds.

Hi Karen,

Many thanks for the comments you have made. It is good to get an opinion from an actual owner. I saw the Bahia today for the first time "in the flesh", and I was also able to see the Vega alongside it. Like Merrily's husband, I am definitely inclined toward the Bahia because of versatility and it looks like it might be slightly less of a handful single handed.

I am graduating (rather late in life) from a Sunfish and the Bahia looks intriguingly complex so I look forward to the learning curve - probably a wet one!:eek:

In addition to seeing the boat, I have found a dinghy sailing club quite near (18K) our new home (well new to us) which will allow us to store the boat on land, with all standing rigging in place, not 50 feet from the slip. It is full of very nice folks, lots of Lasers of various stripes and a school full of Wayfarers and a small race program for all comers. And the price is right!

So all the jigsaw bits seem to be in place. Decision time is this week! All that is required are some more words of encouragement from Bahia owners - please :).

Thanks also for the heads up about the need for gloves. The genniker (try spell checking that!) halyard does indeed look like a bit of a finger ripper!

Almost there . . . . . .
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Almost forgot, does anybody have experience with the Bahia "box"? It seems like it will be useful in day sailer mode for picnic stuff, cooler etc. But can the boat still be worked in a blow? Also, does the box stay with the boat in a capsize? (Not that I ever would of course) :D:D:D
 
I've gone sailing in 15-20 winds, without a wetsuit in 50 degree water, not fun. But with a wetsuit it's awsome with a bigger boat then a laser it might be hard righting it if it capsized but don't let cold water keep you from sailing. But a wetsuit is a VERRY good thing to invest in.
 
Trillium said:
In addition to seeing the boat, I have found a dinghy sailing club quite near (18K) our new home (well new to us) which will allow us to store the boat on land, with all standing rigging in place, not 50 feet from the slip. It is full of very nice folks, lots of Lasers of various stripes and a school full of Wayfarers and a small race program for all comers. And the price is right!
Click to expand...

Did you consider the Wayfarer? Given all those at your club, I would go with that one. But then again, I enjoy racing one-design.
You can probably pick up a second-hand Wayfarer for a whole lot less than a (new) Bahia.
 
Wavedancer said:
Did you consider the Wayfarer?

Hi Wavedancer,

I sailed a Wayfarer many years ago and while I enjoyed it a lot, I think the Bahia (especially in a blow) will prove to be a whole lot more involving . . . . . and since you can't take it with you (so far as I am aware) then cost is less of a consideration than function at this time. But thanks for the thought, only time will tell if I have figured this out correctly!
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Ooops! I seem to have silenced the thread! Hey Merrily, did you get the boat out yet? I have a Bahia test sail set up for tomorrow and the afternoon forecast is for 15-20 Knots out of the North. With sea temp a mere 8 degrees (C of course) is will be a full wet suit job I fancy! (And it will be a beat back to port but you can't win em all).

If the sailing comes off, I will report here.
 
We were adding the trapeze wires and had an "uncontrolled descent" of the mast and broke a plastic fitting on the vang. :( So no, we have not had the boat out. We have ordered the part through APS and are waiting to see how service will be from the UK.
 
Bad luck with the vang fitting - I hope you get the part soon. Is there a lesson for the rest of us here? Let us know how that goes.

Here is today's forecast. The sea is only 8 Deg C so wet suits are the order of the day, and I hope I get to test sail the Bahia this afternoon.

Temperature
9°CPressure
101.2kPaWave Height
0.5mWave Period
3secSea Temp.
8°CWind
N 17 knots

Forecast:
Wind northwest 10 knots increasing to 15 early this morning then veering to north near midnight. Fair. Waves 1 metre or less.
Outlook..Light northerlies backing to southwesterlies.

And that will do me just fine! Now if only the sun would shine then life would be just about perfect.:)
 
Ahhhhhhhrgh!!!!!:confused::(

I have spent the better part of 2 hours writing a long and detailed description of my test sail of the Laser Bahia. For just a moment, I skied off piste when asked to find a hotel . . . . blah blah blah. Bugger! The whole report has vanished - and I was nearly back to harbour!

OK. This is the abbreviated report. We are in Toronto (north shore of Lake Ontario). Wind is blowing from the North at 15-20 Knots and close in is very flukey thanks to the city.

Rigging takes almost an hour because the expert is teaching me as we go. I reckon you would be hard pressed to do it under 45 minutes unless the standing rigging is already in place. (It will be at my dinghy club). Even the technology is impressive to such as me who has not seen a modern boat since the early 1950's! We had cam cleats, but jam cleats are new (and easy) as are ratchet blocks, reverse boom vangs, kickers, downhauls, outhauls, cunninghams, in mast halyards - hey, this stuff is fun for the technogeek (I might be one). You even use the forestay as a temporary rigging device and then bin it once the roller furling jib halyard is in place. Things have changed!

My wife has just looked over my shoulder and asked if this has meaning. Well OK, perhaps all I should have said was that after about an hour we had the mast up and properly supported (stays), the jib in place and furled, and the main flapping happily in it's proper place.

Launching is a one man job on the simple supplied dolly.

Sailing out of harbour is a couple of broad reaches (main and jib) and then a full on downwind effort until you hit the US of A (OK, we didn't go quite that far). First impressions are that although this is a relatively heavy dinghy, it is quite tippy and twitchy and you need to pay attention. Sailing downwind puts very little side pressure on the boat so you discover that the hull is naturally unstable within certain limits which in turn enforces a certain discipline in terms of crew positions. This will certainly make me a better sailor. I can't blame all the moves on the flukeyness of the wind! After getting to the point of "heel nervosa", the boat seemed to decide to give you some breathing space and let you get sorted out. At no time did I think we were about to capsize despite my clumsiest efforts!

My expert captain, still reaching and doing a gazillion knots suggested that we launch the genny. I came back with a request to drop (sorry -furl) the jib first. So a ham fisted minute later, there we are under main and genny and a furled jib. Now doing a gazillion and two knots!! Wow!! What I learned was not to bring in the genny too much. Let it fly to the point of luff and the surge of power is quite remarkable. No kidding, you can actually feel the boat accelerate - I never knew that was possible. Awesome! I am actually sitting here at the keyboard and smiling as I think of it!

Tried a couple of gybes. Nothing easier except that it will take me loads of practice to move at just the right moment. I think (but am not yet sure) that I moved too quickly. As the boom flicked by my head (no danger, it is quite high), I leapt in my agile 61 year old way to the new weather side. Bugger, the boat is now leaning in to wind. Funny feeling - not what was expected. Never mind. Time will give me a debonair insouciance:).

Are you still with me? Her indoors says that I am no longer making sense!

Well by now we are almost hitting America and it is time to beat back home. Skipper (and company president - er sorry - President) asks if I would like to take the helm. Yes please!

Sailing in to wind is the same in a dinghy or the Queen Mary, lots of spray, lots of bumps and lots of fun. This is something that even I understand. Mind you, I have glossed over the bit where I had to drop the genny before turning in to wind. Something got stuck. Not sure what but my 225 lbs was needed in full to retract the wee beasty in to the clever bow tube. Genny down, now under a relaunched jib and main.

With the strong fickle northerly as it was, the main was best handed (as opposed to setting it with the jam cleat). My mentor tried to teach me to hold the tiller extension in my forward hand - along with the main sheet, thus freeing my aft (other) hand for serious shorting the sheet manouvers. It probably works for professionels but mostly gave rise to a whole lot of laughs at my implausible ineptness! More practice required.

(Wife says this is incomprehensible gibberish and I should come to bed).

Anyway, as I tacked back home, I gained confidence in the boat and even a little confidence in my ability to handle it. As we approached land, the wind got flukey again and I had a choice between developing my six pack and working the mainsheet. I went for the sheet! Still havn't got that forehand tiller jazz!

OK Honey - I'm coming! (She still reckons I am not making sense).

Bottom line - I placed my order for a Bahia this evening. I hope to get it within three weeks. I hope to single hand it sometimes but will use the Dacron mainsail rather than the Mylar that I sailed today. I have a whole load of learning to do. Like a race car or a fast jet, it is not quite comfortable yet, but eventually, I will take the grandchildren out with confidence and I can't wait!

Before committing this to a post, I have re-read it. Honestly, I am not a salesman for the company. This is not a hype. I am certainly not a racer or a professional sailor. I just bought a Bahia! Whoopeee!:):):)
 
This is good news for us that you found the boat so enjoyable. We suspected it was so but have only had ours out in light air. I will tell my husband to aim for debonair insouciance when tacking. It makes perfect sense to me!
 
We just purchased a Bahia also, we take delivery sometime this week. Basic plan is (relatively) stable trainer for young kids/family and something fun(ish) to race beer cans. Yep I'd love to race OD, but getting the kids hooked right now is a priority :)

I'll post a sail report once we get it out on the water.
 
Hi Hat,

I have been reading the postings and am also just about to make a Bahia investment did you buy your boat? how did it go?

Everyone seems to be looking for a day sailer that will also give them some real fun did the boat live up to this?

Ian S
 
Hi Ian,

We have had a Bahia since July 4th and it is a total blast. In gentle condidtion (less than 15 Knots and steady) it is an excellent daysailer and family funboat. My 2 year old granddaughter has been on it together with 4 adults. Also, up to 15 knots it is great for single handed (but single handing the genny is quite a handfull)!

Above 15 knots, up to say max 25, it is a total 2 to 3 person blast. I opted for the "normal" Dacron sail and the other day I was glad of the reefing ability as the full mainsail overpowered the boat on beam reaches in about 20+ knots. The result (until we reefed) was to turn the boat up in to wind (weather helm) and there was nothing we could do about it. (That is two heafty guys over 400 lbs total).

There is a google group called the Bahia Owners at

http://groups.google.com/group/bahia-owners-group?hl=en

There you will find a couple of minor problems and their solutions - overall, I'd say the boat is great. I am certainly very pleased with ours. It takes us between 30 and 40 minutes to rig it and be on the water. I have the dolly on a trailer and car launch it at our club ramp. Easy to do single handed. I hope all that helps. Feel free to contact me through the Bahia owners group if you have further questions.

Cheers,

Dave
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply.

I had read your previous posting and it was after reading it that I actually settled on the Bahia.

I will check the owners web site out.

I was looking for a modern dinghy that would give me and my freind some fun and thrill sailing but at the same time allow for my wife and two children to come out on other days. Not easy to find something to do all and I was a little worried that the Bahia might let me down on the fun side.

I will collect the boat next week and hope to be out the following week end.

I will let you know how it goes.

Ian
PS I live in Ireland very near the central lake system on the river Shannon plenty of room for sailing.
 
Just noticed that there are 2 round rubber seals on the bottom of the hull on either side of the centre board. What are these seals for? When in storage they remain wet. How can i seal these if they are seeping in water when sailing?
 
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