Ladies - Radial or not?

M

Meryl

New Member
I'm looking to buy a laser and am not sure whether to go for the radial rig or not. I've only been out on a regular rig and found if manageable, but I've only been out in light winds. I'm wondering what other women prefer. I plan to race mine at my club against almost all men and a few juniors, but they're all in full rigs.

My two questions are: how big is the difference in moderate/heavy winds and can a radial keep up with the big boys? (Granted, I need the skills to back it up, but that's just a technicality). Any guidance would be great. (I'm 5'3" and between 120 and 125 pounds, depending on the day).

Thanks!
 
Hi Meryl,

We are about the same height and weight and I sail the Radial. I used to be tempted and sail my Full rig but I've learned not to. The Radial is actually a lot more manageable in heavier air and I even have to work real hard keeping it flat going upwind. I happily sail my radial against full rigs, but I usually sail in 10mph-20mph winds. I can beat a few full rigs but not many.... I still have fun though.

Cindy
 
I don't have enough experience to comment but, a few thoughts might include:
Can you afford both rigs (i.e. best of both worlds) ?
How many others in standards and radials ?


I'm pretty well on the dividing line between what many quote as the standard/radial weight/height/etc. I started with a standard to help me get used to the harder of the two (i.e. harder to handle in a blow). However, I will probably get a radial rig this winter as in France it seems significantly more people sail radials than standards. Open meetings will often have 3 times the number of radials as standards - thus the decision for me is maybe more angled to getting more people to compete against.


Ian
 
I sail a full, so do a few other people, but the person who wins each week is a laser sailor of over 20 years and floggs the hell out of us in a radial :eek:
 
I would spend the extra money and get both. Without the full rig, you will always be the odd person out in light air. However you would defiinitely need the Radial in a breeze.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll try to borrow someone's full rig on the next windy day and see how it goes.
 
Meryl, for your height and weight you're going to definently want a Radial in anything over 10 mph. In breeze you will have the advantage over fullrigs upwind and during mark roundings. The fulls will have more offwind speed than a radial, but since you're light that might not be too much of a problem. Starting and holding a lane with fullrigs will be challenging. I do a lot of Masters events in North America where we can swap rigs and race together in mixed fleets. Well-sailed Radials can finish quite well against fullrigs in medium conditions on up.

And if it's super light, your 120-pound self in a fullrig pulling away from the 180 pounders downwind is going to make some people mad! ;)
 
Michelle - thanks for the tips! I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a radial -- at least to get started. I figure it will be easier to learn laser sailing on (I currently sail on a lightning).

Thanks again!
 
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