Laser 4.7 Rig?

T

Turnin Grey

New Member
I am looking for advice on when to get my kids into the 4.7 Rig. They have been racing Opti's for the past year and are pretty borred with the performance. My son's are both 80 lbs. At what point will they get overpowered. Secondly, is there a 4.7 fleet in Ontario, Canada?
 
Turnin Grey said:
I am looking for advice on when to get my kids into the 4.7 Rig. They have been racing Opti's for the past year and are pretty borred with the performance. My son's are both 80 lbs. At what point will they get overpowered. Secondly, is there a 4.7 fleet in Ontario, Canada?
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My daughter went into a 4.7 at age 11 nearly 12 and 42kg (90lb?) after a season in sabots (similar to Opti) and she handled it well, but we sail on a river so no big waves, mostly flat water. So long as your kids have the skills to dump main, depower & hike etc and are in no way timid they should be okay, but they are at the low end of the reccommended weight range (35kg+) and will sail up to 10 knots & survive up to 15 knots at a guess. See if you can borrow one for a try first, we did, the Laser dealer bought a rig over one weekend and interested kids tried it out, as no one in our club had one then. Sometimes progressing them too fast is counterproductive. In the meantime....
Feed them well!!
 
Now is a good time to be moving to Laser 4.7's... The Laser 4.7 World Championship will be in Rhode Island this next summer (2005)!

Tracy
 
Thanks for the information. I am looking for additional information from active 4.7 sailors. What are the age range of 4.7 Sailors. What weight range are the top sailors at? When are you moving to a radial rig?
 
i was 60kg's when i did the aussie nationals last year(2003-2004 nationals) in the 4.7 and placed 3rd. i thought that was a very nice weight but anything over that is too heavy(in my opinion anyway). I recently moved into radial at 64-65 kg's and have to work pretty hard in 15-20knots. Hope this is a good help, Good luck
 
Thanks for the info. This is the details I am looking for. At what weight did you start. What got me going on 4.7's is our last sail of the season. The gust were over 30 knots and the boys were having a great ride until they tipped. the Opti's are tough to bail out when with waves and they were towed in. In these wind conditions Opti's can be a pain and a bit dangerous. I pulled out of Laser race and decided to take them for a ride. The speed was amazing. Unfortunately Opti sailing will never be the same for them! Well the next generation Laser sailors starts this spring. I now need to find 2 old hulls to get them started. If any one gets a new boat it will be me. I have been sailing my old hull for 24 year. Both of us are starting to show are age.
 
mmm, i have found that at about 60kg i was just getting powered up in over 12 knots, could control it pretty easy in 30-40, started sailin the full rig in under 12 knots for a while, was fully powered up in 8-10, on sunday, i killed the full rig sail after it had survived for 26 odd years.. 10-15, gusting 20, short sharp waves, went out to start line bout 20 mins before start, everythin goin alright... bout 10 mins after start go over a wave that was just a tiny bit bigger & riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, there goes the clew, but it didnt rip all the way, just part of the way so i had a tiny bit of speed, gybed (couldnt tack) started headin into shore, bout 200m offshore, riiiiiiiiip, it went all the way, mm, sitting there going bugger bugger bugger, f***, start sculling the rudder to try & get a bit of speed... dont work to well, then rescue boat finally realises that i need help & they come over & tow me in
 
i am fairly tall (for my age 15) 6 foot or 6 foot 1 and 65kg now, i was 5 foot 9 when i was sailing at nationals and 60kg when i started i was prob alittle bit shorter and weighted around 45-50kg and i was fine with handling the 4.7 coming straight out of a sabot (similar to opti's)
 
I think I will take the earlier advice and feed them well this winter. The boys each way about 38 kg and I need to lose 20 kg to get back to my racing weight.
 
send them out in light winds to begin with, and as they get more experience slowly let them sail in more wind (i know once they sail in 8 knots they are really gonna want to sail in 15)
 
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