Family not too thrilled

Hi, I haven't sailed a boat in 20 odd years. However I remember how much I enjoyed the "Lido 14'" that I had in my youth. I just purchased a 12' 1990 Laser on e-bay, kind of on a impulse. I'm going to be picking her up tommorow. My daughter and wife looked at me like I was out of my mind. I explained how much fun sailing is. My wife asked if it will allow 2 people to sail. I told her no this is a one person vessel. My daughter and her replied "what fun is that". I didn't have much of an answer. Can you guys help me out on this one. Thanks. Mike.
 
Hi, I haven't sailed a boat in 20 odd years. However I remember how much I enjoyed the "Lido 14'" that I had in my youth. I just purchased a 12' 1990 Laser on e-bay, kind of on a impulse. I'm going to be picking her up tommorow. My daughter and wife looked at me like I was out of my mind. I explained how much fun sailing is. My wife asked if it will allow 2 people to sail. I told her no this is a one person vessel. My daughter and her replied "what fun is that". I didn't have much of an answer. Can you guys help me out on this one. Thanks. Mike.

The Laser is nearly 14 feet long, and it's way more fun sailing than a Lido. We have both fleets at our club, so yes, I've sailed one of those, too. Not that there's anything wrong with a Lido, it's just not "my" boat. . .

You can sail two on a Laser, one on the tiller and one on the mainsheet. In fact, this is a good way to learn because it weighs the boat down and keeps you from being overpowered.

One nice thing about a single-handed boat is that you can take it out anytime. You don't have to look around for crew, which is something that is a problem for a lot of sailors of crewed boats which keeps them from sailing as much as they like. For that reason alone I chose the Laser, and I haven't regretted it.

I love the feeling of the boat. It's got a bit of a learning curve, but once you learn--it's a bit corny--you feel one with it, with coordinated movement of body, sheeting and tiller. I'm not kidding, it gets in your blood and you yearn for it.

In addition, if you join a sailing club or association, you find a whole new social scene of good and fun-loving people. Your daughter, in particular, could benefit from knowing how to sail. It's a great way to have an "in" in new social scenes, and the Laser is sailed at both the high school and college level.

Of course, if you buy two more Lasers, you'll have your own fleet and you can hold a regatta!

Good luck with your family. I hope that they'll give it a chance. Two in the cockpit and one on the bow!
 
The laser was designed by a man.

During the Summer of Love.


Yet he still made it a single hander. What more proof do you need of the mind blowing [insert newest fad word from the cool kids here] time you're about to have...

...alone.


While you're out sailing your wife will be wondering what you're up to, wondering whether the club has any women members younger than her that sail lasers and probably cooking you a roast dinner of some sort to quieten her fears.

Don't tell her that you know this.

What you will tell is how much you miss her while you sail; how cold the water is; how you're just getting in shape to keep her happy bla bla bla bla...
 
While you're out sailing your wife will be wondering what you're up to, wondering whether the club has any women members younger than her that sail lasers and probably cooking you a roast dinner of some sort to quieten her fears.

Ladies, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't roast anything for my husband if I was concerned about what he was doing. More like checking the bank statement.

Sounds like you've got a good fantasy going there, Saw--enjoy! Oh, and let's keep pretending that psychonurse's wife can't read.
 
i've sailed my laser plenty of times two handed with my nephew and i weight 120kgs and he weights 60kgs with no problems what soever.....
 
Note from Merrily: The following poem is by John Griffiths (steerrolldash), so if you use it elsewhere, give him credit.

The cut of the bow, the white of the wake
The feel of freedom, for freedom's sake.
The swish of the hull kissing the blue
The quickening pace as the gust blows through.
The white of the sail in front of your face
The certain feeling that this is the place.
The nose pointing landward on the setting sun
The aching body of a job well done.
 
Take each of them out on some warm days with wind not strong enough to scare them. The'll love it and will understand then why you are crazy. Just had dinner with some friends last night and we all talked about how we got boat fever and went out and bought at least one of our boats on a whim. Both of them did it with a newborn in the house. It is just part of the sport. My wife wants a bigger one now!
 
Little kids, say age 3+, can sit in front of the mast, holding the mast. They'll eventually slide to the high side and by 5 or so, will want to get under the strap and dip their heads in. Soon after that, they'll want to drive, and put you ahead of the mast to get you out of their way. Then they'll want their own, then they'll start talking about an Ivy League school, because their sailing teams are better...

Enjoy!
 
Thanks for all your excellent input. I was very suprised to hear it will be o.k. with 2 people. Very pleasant news. Well I'm off to pick up the boat. Will try to take some pictures and post them. I need to buy a book on the Laser. Any suggestions which is the best book to buy.
 
If it's a 1990, I'm guessing you didn't spend a lot on it. Hopefully your wife won't be too upset that you purchased something mostly for yourself and not for the whole family. I know plenty of guys whose wives would be extremely mad about such a purchase, regardless of cost.

Yes, it can sail with two people. Not race, but sail around. My guess is your wife will go out on the boat with you a couple of times, see that is harmless, and probably not take much interest in it after that. Just a hunch.

How old is your daughter. If she's young, it can be a very good father-and-daughter activity. If she's a teenager, she will very quickly want her own boat.
 
Hi, probably right about my wife going out on it a couple of times and then its a wrap. My daughter is 12Y/O. Hoping she will find some joy in it. You never know. My passion is tennis and she loves soccer. People tell me young kids like team sports. Tennis and sailing are kind of solitary.
 
You can fit more than two people on a laser, ive gotten three people on a sunfish and done just fine, not racing or anything but you are undrestimating how big the laser is.
 
People tell me young kids like team sports. Tennis and sailing are kind of solitary.

only single handed sailing is solitary

If you really want her to get interested in sailing, put her in the YC'c junior program, and get her into a CFJ or 420, girls like to sail with other girls, and lots of girls sail doublehand
 
the social aspect of a sport can really determine if you like it or not, but if you race singlehandedly, atleast to me you will have a better sense of pride if you win abut if you really dont now much about sailing than sailing doublehand is a good idea, lessons are always great to thats what go me into it!!
 
I know plenty of guys whose wives would be extremely mad about such a purchase, regardless of cost.

This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I haver only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though my wife is quite competent at reading, computers are currently beyond her!
 
This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I haver only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though my wife is quite competent at reading, computers are currently beyond her!


This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I haver only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though my wife is quite competent at computers, Laser Forums are currently beyond her!
 
This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I haver only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though my wife is quite competent at computers, Laser Forums are currently beyond her!

This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I have only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though I'm quite competent at The Laser Forum, this thread is currently beyond me!
 
This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I have only ever met one women who answers to this description. Fortunately, though I'm quite competent at The Laser Forum, this thread is currently beyond me!

This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I have only ever met one woman who answers to this description. Fortunately, though if this thread is beyond Merrily, we can safely assume that any discussion of large purchases on this thread will remain understandable only to men.

;)
 
This seems to be an unnecessary slur and unwarranted attack on all women. In my experience most women are not like this at all. In fact I have only ever met one woman who answers to this description. Fortunately, though if this thread is beyond Merrily, we can safely assume that any discussion of large purchases on this thread will remain understandable only to men.

;)

Thhhhppp!!! :p

Only thing, the Laser is a large purchase? I guess that's relative. I'm also wondering, are there many men who would like it if their wives spent $1500 to $5000 without consulting them? Consider a trip to the mall and $1500 worth of clothing.
 
Thhhhppp!!! :p

Only thing, the Laser is a large purchase? I guess that's relative.

I don't know how much money you make from "royalties" out there in Ohio, but a Laser is a large purchase for most of us, I think. Once you are spending more than the month's mortgage payment you are getting into extra-large purchases.

I'm also wondering, are there many men who would like it if their wives spent $1500 to $5000 without consulting them? Consider a trip to the mall and $1500 worth of clothing.

That would not be good.
 
Once you are spending more than the month's mortgage payment you are getting into extra-large purchases.

Yeah, it's a fair bit of change to buy a used Laser, but you can pay it off in a reasonable amount of time, unlike a car a or a house. That's what I meant by relative. My husband and I are house hunting right now, so believe me, I know sticker shock.

Sorry that this has gotten off topic. The poster wanted some good things to tell his wife about Lasers and sailing, and I think that we've been helpful there.
 
i personally think that even if he sails it by himself it is healthy for his relationship ... if both parties do the same thing all the time they have nothign to talk about so thats when you have @#% fights. :p
 
Thhhhppp!!! :p

Only thing, the Laser is a large purchase? I guess that's relative. I'm also wondering, are there many men who would like it if their wives spent $1500 to $5000 without consulting them? Consider a trip to the mall and $1500 worth of clothing.

Why would she want do that? Do they sell mens Laser sailing kit at your mall?
 
Hi, I haven't sailed a boat in 20 odd years. However I remember how much I enjoyed the "Lido 14'" that I had in my youth. I just purchased a 12' 1990 Laser on e-bay, kind of on a impulse. I'm going to be picking her up tommorow. My daughter and wife looked at me like I was out of my mind. I explained how much fun sailing is. My wife asked if it will allow 2 people to sail. I told her no this is a one person vessel. My daughter and her replied "what fun is that". I didn't have much of an answer. Can you guys help me out on this one. Thanks. Mike.
I also bought myself a laser a few months back after being away from sailing for 20+ years. I made sure that my wife understood that this was a really cheap option vs the new porsche and/or mistress ;-). Fortunately she is very understanding - though for some reason she can't see herself joining me at the lake this winter while I relearn to sail before next season's racing.
 
I piled my kids (one at a time) into the Laser with me on the 4th. It was blowing around 10, and puffy. I was thankful for such (relatively) mild breeze.

The laser cockpit feels very crowded when racing, but that's largely a consequence of sailing with the vang on hard bringing the boom down low to the boat. For daysailing with my family, I left the vang way off, buying us a lot more space to move around the boat.

Anyhow, my 4 year old would sit in the cockpit in front of me, with one hand hanging on the hiking strap. She has a tended to sit facing backwards rather than forwards, but that didn't seem to matter. Since she was sitting right at the mainsheet block, I soon adapted a technique of trimming the mainsheet directly from the boom, and ignoring the cockpit ratchet block.

My older boys (ages 10 & 13) also sat in front of me.

My 13 year old is a fair beginning sailor (he's taken some classes and has earned his Boy Scout sailing merit badge.) For a while he trimmed the mainsheet while I steered sitting aft him. Originally, I was worried that the 44" tiller extension would be in the way with two on board, but I was thankful for it as it allowed me to hike the boat flat in the puffs. Similarly, the kids were able to work the long extention without getting too hung up on it.

After a while, we swapped roles and he steered while I trimmed. The biggest complaint here was that I seemed to get in the way of the driver's view forward. I tried to convince him that he needed to sit outboard of me, as I would move in and out of the boat as needed to keep it (more or less) trimmed flat.

On his second time out, I convinced my younger son that he ought to take the helm for a while. He's much newer to sailing but he was doing a good job of compensating as puffs would tend to head the boat up into the wind. (As most beginners do, he had to be coached to avoid "oversteering.")

All day long I made light of the possibility of capsize; saying it was the worst thing that could happen but if it did all that would happen was that we'd get wet, and then right the boat. No big deal.

Well, when my 10 year old tried to steer his first tack of the day, we got to try it out. He stalled the boat going into the tack then oversteered coming out, and over we went -- *plop.* I should probably feel a little guilty about doing a "dry recovery" while he went fully into the drink, but I salve my conscience by recalling that this made the recovery much quicker than if I'd had to swim 'round the boat to right from the water, and so he got out quicker that way too.;) Cagey old guys rule.:cool:

I've often had the experience in sailing with kids of going from "boring-too-slow" mode straight to "scary-overwhelmed" mode as the wind came up. But the Laser planes so easily on a reach that I was able to get us going fast and lighting up the go-fast-grin-o-meter without setting off the whoa-I'm-scared-o-meter.
 
I just started sailing again after many moons ago on Hobies, Sunfish and
a C15. I can remember hearing "windboat do what got to have a mtr."
Well they went out with me and were stoked couldn't wait to go again!!!!
Get em out on it and they will be changed even if you flip it they will laugh
later.
 

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