loctar
New Member
Hi all, this forum is amazing. I have been reading it for months to try to teach myself to sail a Laser.
I'm in a weird situation. I'm spanish, I live in France, but I don't speak the language. I managed to sign up in the local club only to find out that they have a zillion catamarans for 2-3 people but a single poor old Laser.
The point is that it seems that catamarans are more popular here. But... one day I took a Laser and I capsized like... 7 times at least and I thought "this is not for me, I'm too old, big, fat..." (I'm 37, 185 cm (6 ft I think?) and 87 kgs (187 pounds?) and I have done sport for my entire life).
Fast forward 2 years and I'm trying again with sailing, with catamarans, and I'm not enjoying it much. I ask my instructor, in very broken french, if there's an alternative for singlehanded sailing in the club, and he pointed to my biggest fear, the poor old Laser in some dark corner.... So I tried again... and here is where the problem comes: I had a blast!
I hit my head twice, but I didn't capsized. Since then I have gone to sail it around 30 times, capsized maybe a zillion of times (lol I'm even looking forward for it when it's really hot). But I'm alone, the people in the club are all about catamarans and I have no one to ask for tips in a language that I can understand. Don't get me wrong, the problem is mine, the people on the club are amazing.
I have many questions but there are a couple that I'm struggling to find an answer:
- How to know the rig that a Laser is using without looking at the sail? The sail is totally custom, provided by the French Federation, and the seams are different. It doesn't even have a window. In the club they told me once that it's a standard. But I don't need to hike when wind is under 10 knots and I don't know if that's normal with a Standard sail with my weight.
- Roll tack: How the heck do you learn to do this? I have watched a zillion of Youtube videos and I understand the concept but... I don't know, it's like the physics is this area are different, lol. Is there a drill? Like "try this first, then this, now both together"?
Apart from that, as a newcomer to this sailing world, there's a lot to swallow. Like the issue between LP and ILCA, from the outside it looks super weird. I also found some books very useful and I'm still reading most of them. Youtube and this forum is super helpful too.
TIA!
I'm in a weird situation. I'm spanish, I live in France, but I don't speak the language. I managed to sign up in the local club only to find out that they have a zillion catamarans for 2-3 people but a single poor old Laser.
The point is that it seems that catamarans are more popular here. But... one day I took a Laser and I capsized like... 7 times at least and I thought "this is not for me, I'm too old, big, fat..." (I'm 37, 185 cm (6 ft I think?) and 87 kgs (187 pounds?) and I have done sport for my entire life).
Fast forward 2 years and I'm trying again with sailing, with catamarans, and I'm not enjoying it much. I ask my instructor, in very broken french, if there's an alternative for singlehanded sailing in the club, and he pointed to my biggest fear, the poor old Laser in some dark corner.... So I tried again... and here is where the problem comes: I had a blast!
I hit my head twice, but I didn't capsized. Since then I have gone to sail it around 30 times, capsized maybe a zillion of times (lol I'm even looking forward for it when it's really hot). But I'm alone, the people in the club are all about catamarans and I have no one to ask for tips in a language that I can understand. Don't get me wrong, the problem is mine, the people on the club are amazing.
I have many questions but there are a couple that I'm struggling to find an answer:
- How to know the rig that a Laser is using without looking at the sail? The sail is totally custom, provided by the French Federation, and the seams are different. It doesn't even have a window. In the club they told me once that it's a standard. But I don't need to hike when wind is under 10 knots and I don't know if that's normal with a Standard sail with my weight.
- Roll tack: How the heck do you learn to do this? I have watched a zillion of Youtube videos and I understand the concept but... I don't know, it's like the physics is this area are different, lol. Is there a drill? Like "try this first, then this, now both together"?
Apart from that, as a newcomer to this sailing world, there's a lot to swallow. Like the issue between LP and ILCA, from the outside it looks super weird. I also found some books very useful and I'm still reading most of them. Youtube and this forum is super helpful too.
TIA!