Identifying sail size

Aflowers230

New Member
Hi all,

I've looked through 16 pages of posts and can't find any info. I just bought a Laser that the previous owner never sailed. It was his project. Now it's my project.... I got it for a hundred bucks and almost everything is there except the boom vang and the lower mast.

Is there a way to tell which sail I have so I can buy the correct lower mast?

Laser Sail.jpg
Any help would be much appreciated..
 
It's a Standard MK I. It doesn't have seams radiating from the clew, and it has a vertical seam right behind the window.

The measurements are here: Laser Standard Sail & Mast Bottom Section | www.laserinternational.org

The tack patch (the red one on the left on the picture) looks a little strange though. Can you post a close-up of it? In any case, if the number is correct, it means that 1) the boat is very old, and 2) the sail is much newer than the hull.
 
Thanks for the info. The boat is old. A 72 based on the HID. Here's the patch. Also, I'm not familiar with sail numbers and hull id's. I suspect they are not matching. Does that really matter? The HID is PSL32267276.
 

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I read that id as boat number 32267, built in February 1976 in California.

Boat number 6618 would have been built in 1972 0r 73.

The sail number should be the hull number. Because it's the Laser.

Thanks for the tack patch picture! The "computer cut" and the Haarstick logo look quite exotic (to my European eyes at least). My understanding is that "New numbers" points to the bi-coloured numbering that started in 1987, which makes that sail more than ten years newer than the hull.
 
I had one of those Haarstick sails. I bought it around 89'. They were in circulation only for a year or two before going away. Not sure why they went away. Seemed a little heavier cloth than the North cuts at the time, (yes, there was a time when we had a choice of sail makers!) and seemed to perform better in heavy air. However, given the age this one is probably best suited for practice and light club racing.
 
New numbers referred to sails made from the 3.8 oz cloth, not the dual coloured sail numbers that come in a year or two later.
 
New numbers referred to sails made from the 3.8 oz cloth, not the dual coloured sail numbers that come in a year or two later.
Ok, you probably remember this one much better, but that doesn't really make sense, does it? I mean, wouldn't it then say, "New cloth" or "Heavy duty", or something similar? It already says "3.8", so it's more logical that the text points to something else. I think.

(I actually sailed my first Laser regatta in 1987, and the dual-coloured sail numbers were a brand new thing then. No memory what people's tack patches looked like, though.)

Anyways, we can agree that the sail pictured in the first post was made in the late 1980s.
 
Slightly off-topic.

So the old original Elvstrom sail was a different material from the "new numbers" 3.8 oz sails. Was it a different cut too?
 
Ok, you probably remember this one much better, but that doesn't really make sense, does it? I mean, wouldn't it then say, "New cloth" or "Heavy duty", or something similar? It already says "3.8", so it's more logical that the text points to something else. I think.

(I actually sailed my first Laser regatta in 1987, and the dual-coloured sail numbers were a brand new thing then. No memory what people's tack patches looked like, though.)

Anyways, we can agree that the sail pictured in the first post was made in the late 1980s.

The 3.8 referred to the cloth weight.
 
Slightly off-topic.

So the old original Elvstrom sail was a different material from the "new numbers" 3.8 oz sails. Was it a different cut too?

The cuts of the panels have been the same from first built until the recent introduction of the MK II full rig sail. The cloth weight was the same from inception until the 3.8 weight in the late 80's early 90's. The 3.8 weight was made until the latest MK II.
 
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The 3.8 referred to the cloth weight.
Of course! What I'm saying is that since "3.8" already took care of that, it would make sense if "New numbers" referred to something else.

I have a vague memory that the cloth changed in 1986, and that the Australians were ahead in that, much like with more recent equipment changes.

Steve Haarstick, who quit sailmaking less than two years ago, says they started making Laser sails in 1974. Their logo was apparently on the sails only during a short time, probably only at a time when their production overlapped with North's in North America.

Haarstick Sailmakers: End of an Era >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News
 
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I've just read back through the 1993 Laser Class Handbook and it seems you are correct LaLi. "New Numbers" was an aid for measurers to identify sails that needed the bi-colour sail numbers.
 
I don't think we're really ahead in the changes. PSA will put in large initial orders for our market and often because rule changes come into affect on Jan 1st, the northern hemisphere winter/off season, but half way through our regatta season, so people want the new gear early to train with it before they can officially use it.
 
For what it's worth, I suspect the previous owner of the boat purchased a second hand sail and removed the first two digits to prevent confusion with the competitor who sold him the sail with that number ie. 136618 ---> 6618
 
I don't think we're really ahead in the changes. PSA will put in large initial orders for our market and often because rule changes come into affect on Jan 1st, the northern hemisphere winter/off season, but half way through our regatta season, so people want the new gear early to train with it before they can officially use it.
Yeah, the seasons explain most of the cases. With the GRP foils though, PSA was selling them years before anyone else.
I suspect the previous owner of the boat purchased a second hand sail and removed the first two digits to prevent confusion with the competitor who sold him the sail with that number ie. 136618 ---> 6618
I don't think that is what happened here, as the numbers start right from the leech on the starboard side.
 

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