Elvstrom Laser sails

calicosine

calicosine

New Member
i've been reading a lot of the old posts and i've never sen any mention of the elvstrom sail for the laser, does anyone know how old these sails are? are they still or were they ever legal sails? are they any different from the north and hyde sails........lighter?.......heavier?????
 
Hi,
Hans Fogh was the designer of the first Lasersail. This was in 1970. He worked at Paul Elvstroem's Sailingloft at Canada. So, the first Lasersails have been made by Elvstroem-Sails.
The very first series of this sails not had a window. I have one of the Elvstroem-Sails, that perhaps was built in 1971/1972. It has the typical Elvstroem-"Crown"-Sticker (in blue) in the near of the Cunningham-grommet and already a window. So, it is not one of the sails of the very first production series, but perhaps produced some months later then the first ones.

At TLF, in 2004, there was already some discussion about this sails (in general to the issue: who owns the oldest Laser and drLaser did some information about that at TLF and also at his fomer webside, but that latest infos of him in summer 2004 unfortunately have been lost with going offline of his famous website in January 2005).

The history of the Elvstroem-Sails is told in Dick Tillmans " The Complete Book of Laser Sailing".

Aft Elvstroem, Sailmaker Harstick made the Lasersail for a long time. In the early 90ties the Saildesign changed and Hyde-Sails (UK) and Nothsails (North America) made and still make the sails for the Laser under license of the ILCA and the original-out-of-the-box-boatbuiders (f.e. Vanguard).

In my opinion, the old sails are legal if this sails are sailed on an originally old hull AND if this sails follow the actual rules and there especially the measurement diagrams. BUT, most of that sails are worn out and slow. So, it makes no real sense to use them on any big refgatta. (perhaps, without oldtimer-races).

If such an old sail is in good condition it eventually is worthy, because fans of oldtimer-Lasers perhaps pay much for it (I don't know really).

Ciao
LooserLu
 
so it would be ok for a practice sail and purely nostalgic reasons.cool for 26.00 i guess i'll pick it up for a spare........thanks for the info....terry
 
calicosine said:
so it would be ok for a practice sail and purely nostalgic reasons....
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Yes :) But, be aware of strong winds, perhaps such an old sail can tear in such wind conditions. My old Elvstroem Sail did cost me a few used new Hyde (Standard) in a worth of ~ 400 to 450 Euros here and this was not expensive I investigated. Like all real oldtimer-goods, they sometimes have an imaginary worth (the real worth is maybe 50 to 100 Euro ( / US-$).
Ciao
LooserLu
 
yeah i agree, but for 26 dollars us i figure it would be worth it so as not to wear out my new 500+ dollar sail and for a beginner such as myself it will probably work fine on those light wind days....terry
 
calicosine said:
not to wear out my new 500+ dollar sail and for a beginner...
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Yup. Threre are enough old Harstick sails out there (or stored at someones roof/cave...) that work very fine for practice sailing and beginners. The reason I "payed" with my "Sunday-going out"-Hyde is, that this Elvstroem-Sail is really nearly "unique" in Europe. Here such an Elvstroem-sail is exrtemly rare here.
My practice-sail is a Harstick-sail of ~ 1989 and did cost me 70 Euros (that would be in North-America 70 US$) at Ebay. It luckily was low used and still is a fast sail for low winds and faster (we have tested this) than a Hyde. But, in reason of the class rules, I only would be allowed to use it at an official race (I guess) if I sail it on my old GER 46438, but not at my GER 171000.
Ciao
LooserLu
 
I have a brand new Elvstrom Laser 1 sail ( maybe I should say never used). Anyone know what weight it would be? Or what year they stopped making them?
Thanks.
G.
 
I don't have a source at hand right now, but I think that the original cloth weight was 3.2 oz.

The Elvström crown was changed to a generic "Laser" patch at some time before the 1974 Worlds.

And unlike LooserLu says in this thread, there is no rule that prohibits racing with an old sail sail and a newer hull.

_
 
Thanks for the info, LaLi. This sail also has the Blue crown.
LaLi said:
I don't have a source at hand right now, but I think that the original cloth weight was 3.2 oz.

The Elvström crown was changed to a generic "Laser" patch at some time before the 1974 Worlds.

And unlike LooserLu says in this thread, there is no rule that prohibits racing with an old sail sail and a newer hull.

_
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