High speed of a Laser

M

metsche

Guest
Hi guys,
I am pretty interested knowing how fast a laser can run in winds of about 4-5 bft.
Did anybody take a GBS with him when running laser at high speeds?

Thank you for your infos and greetings,

Metsche
 
You can get to appreciate how frustrated those who keep answering the same question again and again must get when there is a search facility.

Maybe admin (Merrily) should make any one of the previous threads on this an FAQ - not so much because of it is a major "How To" but because it seems to come up so often.

And the answer is 1.8 terafurlongs per fortnight.

Ian
 
One of Oregon's finest gave me a piece of paper stating he had clocked five Lasers at 84 MPH.

On the water I have repeatedly sailed the same measured two reach course for 27 years. One leg is a mile and the other leg is a nautical Mile.

I have only broken 4 minutes on either mile very few times. I believe that number is under ten. Three of those events came on the same day. The angle of the wind was just right and the wind was somewhere areound 20 to 25knots . I clocked a mile in 3:47 gybed and completed the other longer leg at some number indicating I had broken 4 on that legf as well. I have forgotten whether that overall time was 7:45 or 7:37.

I went back upwind to try again and clocked a 3:50 on the first leg but the conditions changed such that I was not even under 8 minutes by the time I completed the second leg.

On all thre of the very fastest runs I have ever accomplished, there were periods where the boat slowed a bit. I think the mile could be completes in very close to 3 minutes if the Laser could be sailed at full speed for the entire mile.

Part of the problem with speed trials for a laser is the boat slows down as the waves build. The very highest across the planet speeds would be attained at the top of a long nearly flat rapidly moving rolling wave just as a fresh wind were building.
(I went with were as I believe it was a subjunctive use)

The highest across the water speed might be on the face of a steep wave but I think the fastest across the water speed may be attained over very flat water with 25 to 35 knots of breeze coming from 130 to 140 degrees off the bow and about 190 to 200 lbs of human ballast.

The ideal full speed mile run would probably be accomplished in the very flattest wind swept place sailing in a slightly elevated ten foot wide by 1 mile long pool.
 
metsche said:
Hi guys,
I am pretty interested knowing how fast a laser can run in winds of about 4-5 bft.
Did anybody take a GBS with him when running laser at high speeds?

Thank you for your infos and greetings,

Metsche
Click to expand...

Just like President Obama saved the Thanksgiving turkey, we will forgive (and possibly forget). We realize that you are a newbie and encourage you to ask questions. But please, do use the Search function prior to posting. There's a wealth of good info on this Forum.

BTW, the Laser is a pretty slow boat by today's standards. But a lot of fun and the racing is super competitive.
 
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