Did I just not weigh enough?

C

Chris40390

New Member
Today I tried sailing a laser for the first time. I was on Lake Michigan, and the winds were blowing at about 20 mph with gusts to 29. The boat wasn't in the best condition, and I was using a full rig. I am about 5'11'' and weigh 150 lbs. I had been accustomed to 420 sailing. I was doing some crazy hiking, but the boat spent more time capsized than upright. I could barely steer (although that could have been because of a bent tiller extension). Every time I tried to jibe, I capsized. Did I just not weigh enough? I'm thinking of buying a laser, and I need to know if they're always like this, or if I just needed a Radial sail for winds that heavy. All help tremendously appreciated.
 
With wind gusts up to 29 mph (25 knots), I wouldn't want to be sailing. I'm 160lbs, and I moved down from a full rig. 150lbs is way too light for that much wind. The most I was comfortable sailing (effectively) in my full rig was about 18 knots, even then it was a lot of work to keep it flat.

The reason you couldn't steer is often called the banana effect. When your heeled over to leeward, your rudder goes to such a high angle that it looses it's effectiveness, and your basically being pushed into the wind because of the shape of the hull. If your boat was flat, you wouldn't have that problem.

I'm going to take a wild guess, but I think the reason you tipped when you gybed was because your main sheet was getting caught around the stern of your boat. If you give a good pull of the sheet as your gybing, that shouldn't happen. It could also be inexperience, it takes a long time to get used to a boat's handling.


I'd definetly get a radial rig if the wind are consistantly that high. Good luck, and happy sailing.
 
Thanks, Dave. What is the max windspeed in which I would be able to effectively sail a full rig? Would I just want a radial rig in general, or only when the winds get heavy like they were today?
 
I'm going to be using a radial rig full time, even in light winds. I don't reccomend moving back and forth between radial and standard, simply because their two different feelings, and it's very expensive to have both riggings.


If I were you I'd want a radial rig full time. Effectively, I think you might be able to handle 12-15knots, with some effort in a full rig, and that might be pushing it. To sail effectively, your boat should be flat at all times going upwind. As you get better, you may be able to handle more. I've seen very few people your size sailing full rigs competatively. I tried last year at 160lbs, and I didn't do very well. I'd just stick to a raidal ;)
 
All right. Thanks for the help. Before I buy a laser at all, though, I think I'll try the one I sailed today in lighter winds to see if I like it when it's not ridiculously windy for my weight. Just wondering, what weight would I need to be to sail full rig competitively?
 
Most competative Laser sailors are in the range of 170-190lbs. The "perfect weight" for a full rig is 176-178lbs, atleast from a historical perspective. I'll move up to a full rig if I ever hit 180lbs, which I doubt will ever happen.

There's no point in buying a boat you can only enjoy in light winds. A radial is still a lot of fun in light winds, so I'd go for that.
 
Thanks, Dave. You've been a big help. Looks like Radial for me (if I buy one) and move up to full rig if I ever hit 170
 
I had a most horrible experience racing last w/e. Wind about 20 -30knots. Forecast was up to 35 so it could have been higher...

I weigh 165lb and only have a full rig, so off I went...... Sailing downwind wasn't too bad, gybing only when necessary. On the wind though was incredibly hard. With mainsheet block to block I couldn't hold the boat down, so had to feather it up, resulting in large ammounts of luff and getting huge weather helm. This wasn't working so i had to ease main to sail at all. Plus my cunningham snapped after the first race which didn't help, which is THE control line in hi wind.

This was only my 6&7th race so my experience is low. But I needed a radial badly.
 
David said:
Most competative Laser sailors are in the range of 170-190lbs. The "perfect weight" for a full rig is 176-178lbs, atleast from a historical perspective. I'll move up to a full rig if I ever hit 180lbs, which I doubt will ever happen.

There's no point in buying a boat you can only enjoy in light winds. A radial is still a lot of fun in light winds, so I'd go for that.
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This weight range was once correct, but now with sailors being able to hike harder for longer times the weight range is down. More like 165-175. I think Sheidt's max weight for the worlds or olympics in the past few years has been about 172.

Anyway, in that much breeze, it is not just weight that is a factor. You must be very comfortable with the boat and your technique must be pretty much perfect. It just takes time in the boat in that much breeze to be able to sail it. I weigh 140. I prefer to race radials but in my area the best fleet is usually in fulls, so sometimes I get stuck racing the full in big breeze. I an not up at the top in 20+ but I can go out on the water for a days racing without eating it. It just takes time.


You should probably be doing radials in that much breeze if you weigh 150. Although, you are right on the bubble.
 
newbee- you should be dumping main much earlier than feathering up into the breeze, especially if there is any chop on the water

feathering up just stops the boat then you get into irons then it all gets messy
 
Newbee said:
I had a most horrible experience racing last w/e. Wind about 20 -30knots. Forecast was up to 35 so it could have been higher...

I weigh 165lb and only have a full rig, so off I went...... Sailing downwind wasn't too bad, gybing only when necessary. On the wind though was incredibly hard. With mainsheet block to block I couldn't hold the boat down, so had to feather it up, resulting in large ammounts of luff and getting huge weather helm. This wasn't working so i had to ease main to sail at all. Plus my cunningham snapped after the first race which didn't help, which is THE control line in hi wind.

This was only my 6&7th race so my experience is low. But I needed a radial badly.
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Don't feather up in that kind of breeze. Crank the vang on so that when you ease your sail the boom moves horizontally away from the boat. You dont want it to lift when you ease. When you have the vang on you can dump them main so that the boom is well out, even a few feet out. That way you can play the main and keep some power so you can drive thru the waves.
 
Get a radial for breeze on, lets you practice your technique more comfortably without being chaos.

If you go out in the full rig, raise the centerboard 4 or 6 inches upwind, board won't bite as hard and you will slide slip a little, but that will equal out with how much flatter you can hike it.
 
bobbyh said:
Don't feather up in that kind of breeze. Crank the vang on so that when you ease your sail the boom moves horizontally away from the boat. You dont want it to lift when you ease. When you have the vang on you can dump them main so that the boom is well out, even a few feet out. That way you can play the main and keep some power so you can drive thru the waves.
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The sea was quite flat as we were only 200m from shore, but the tip does make sense. I had too little vang on to ease the main effecientley but did this anyway, it kinda worked. But to answer Chris, yes going into irons when trying to sailing properly on the wind was certainly happening - especially when I was getting tired, due to weather helm problems (& no downhaul..!!)
 
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