I have sailed larger boats, full displacement hulls, and have spent time in the Bombardier Byte, & some on Hobie Cats (16)
I am now looking at buying a new Laser, or similiar boat, purely for fun, I don't envision racing it in organized events.
I am curious as to the speed attainable on a standard Laser, with one 170 lb crew. Has anyone ever carried a GPS & obtained an honest speed readout?
What speed wind is required to plane these hulls, & what speed would you consider the upper limit on a freshwater lake, ie no ocean swells to deal with.
Thank you for the info.
16.8 knots seems awfully high to me.
A 29er doesn't do much over 20kts, and a moth much over 25kts.
I have always guessed (but never GPS verified) a top speed of around 12-14kts.
Could be wrong, I guess on a 30+ knot day, with a big dude at the right angle you coudl do 16kts, but yeah, just seems rather high for our dear old Laser!
Well I had my GPS on board last Saturday and recorded 24.3 kts max speed. It was a nice sunny day about 28 deg C and about 26kts wind. Waves about 1m and I must have been doing well in front a decent wave at the time.
Actually saw my old post with an old gps so that old one will not be correct. the guy in hawaii was going pretty well so I will have to give it another go with a full rig. full details attached15.50 kts in 25kts wind in western australia today. results off my speedpuck