Media Laser's in 40kts in the 1970's!!!

haha i just saw that the other day...they really suck at starting...they capsized a few time each just leaving dock. They all have their sails reefed...is that bad for the sails?
 
good LORD that looks ridiculous.

old vangs, wood tillers, reefed sails. We're spoilt sill now it would appear huh?

thanks for the video!
 
40 knots? How cool and what great sailors! It's the jeans and the guy in the oxford shirt that look ridiculous. SF Bay never gets more than mid-50s either.
 
Great video, great sailors, great spot. About reefed sail I tried it once but it looked like I couldn't depower it enough because cunningham and outhaul wasn't working OK.
Anybody has any experience with this?
Thank you rock steady for the site.
Paolo
 
Yeah I'm not convinced it's a solid 40kts either, it was most likely the maximum gust on the day.

I'd love to see a 2006 version - come on San Fran sailors, run the slalom race again in 30-40kts and film it for our pleasure !!!
 
WestCoast said:
good LORD that looks ridiculous.

old vangs, wood tillers, reefed sails. We're spoilt sill now it would appear huh?

thanks for the video!
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LOL... was funny, I was watching this thinking, hey, that looks like my boat, except newer...

I'm prety sure some of those sails were reefed 3 times around the mast and they were still all over the place.
 
I recognize a few of the faces - a couple of the young looking ones in the beginning are Craig Healy and John Bertrand (The US JB, headband and gyping backwords grabbing the two parts of the mainsheet)

Not sure, but one of them looks like the late Carl Van Dyne and another looks like Chris Boome...

The winter 06 copy of "The Laser Sailor" has some good stories about the event.
 
Just saw this thread, what a kick! I remember watching that video when I was a kid. I just sent the link to Boomer, we gotta get the scoop from him. The rest of us here in D24 are having a field day with this thread, that's for sure.

I agree, it doesn't look 40 knots to me... Of course, I'm well known for underestimating the breeze.

I think if you want to make a new version of that movie, you should film the end of the Gorge Blowout. Conveniently, it is this Friday!
 
Don't let SFBay fool you. He is a heavy air specialist :eek: and would come running if someone suggested another race like this. All hail the new US Master Champion....:)...you are so awesome it makes me sick...hehehe.
 
Darn, I cant get it to load! I just keep getting a "we're adding some new features" page! Anyone got a different link to it?
 
Chris Boome says the film is actually of the second Laser Slalom (which he won!). It was made by Dick Enerson whose company filmed it on VHS (which is in the very early days of that technology). Chris says Dick loaned him a copy of the video when he was doing his research for the article in The Laser Sailor.

John Bertrand is the guy with the headband in 7815, Steve Jeppeson, who Boomer says was the best downwind, was in 7816. Oh yeah, Chris is the guy capsizing on the dock in the beginning of the video.

He suggests that Gorge Blowout participants might want to try a reef for the final bit into Hood River...

His parting comment: "It sure doesn't look as windy as it seemed"
 
Thanks Tracy, thats some great insight. I'd love to see "The Laser Sailor" article, will it be available on-line or in the international version?
 
rock steady said:
Thanks Tracy, thats some great insight. I'd love to see "The Laser Sailor" article, will it be available on-line or in the international version?
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I appear to not be able to upload the pdf here...
I will see if I can make "old" issues available at www.laser.org and then put the link here.
 
SFBayLaser said:
Chris Boome says the film is actually of the second Laser Slalom (which he won!). It was made by Dick Enerson whose company filmed it on VHS (which is in the very early days of that technology). Chris says Dick loaned him a copy of the video when he was doing his research for the article in The Laser Sailor.

John Bertrand is the guy with the headband in 7815, Steve Jeppeson, who Boomer says was the best downwind, was in 7816. Oh yeah, Chris is the guy capsizing on the dock in the beginning of the video.

He suggests that Gorge Blowout participants might want to try a reef for the final bit into Hood River...

His parting comment: "It sure doesn't look as windy as it seemed"
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From my experience of seeing photos and videos of regattas I have sailed in they always make it look lighter than it really was.
 
By the way... near the beginning of the video is a shot of boat capsizing on top of the dock, with the sailor wearing a big thick wool sweater (common around here at the time). That is Chris Boome, showing that even regatta winners can have bad moments. Right after this shot is another of two sailors standing on the dock, the one on the left is Chris, the one on the right is John Bertrand.

Now you know what they looked like when they were younger.

I was in high school at the time (and didn't sail in the slalom) and when I would go to Laser regattas there was always this "old man" who would beat us. As most of you know, high school Laser sailors do not like to get beat by old men since, well, they are old. Chris was that "old man" and he was something like 27 or 28 at the time which, of course, put him one foot in the grave as far as we were concerned (interesting how I have a slightly different perspective now!).

30+ years later I have finally gotten to the point where I can beat him... in the right conditions... sometimes... when he is not in his Radial... and not trying...
 
Looking at those reefed fullrig sails makes me think thank God for Radials!

Why isn't there a Slalom anymore?

PS. Congrats on the win, Tracy, and thanks for the rudder loan, Ralfeez!


(i dropped mine in the Bay. Duhh )
 
Man that looks so fun. look at the old wooden foils and tillers! Some of them try gybing facing backwards thats crazy
 
I stole one of their moves a few days ago. It was going off! gusts of 40 knots the coastguard said. So I decided I might as well take out my laser. None of the other people new to lasers went out only me and a whole bunch of guys that been sailing lasers for years. It was when I was zooming downwind I had the bright idea to try gyping backwards. I didn't mind it. It worked out and got me on the other tack. Its also handy when you only have a tiller and a bit of rope... :rolleyes: My extension broke off when I missed the hiking straps... two hours upwind later and a whole lot of bitching I got back. It was a great day. I only lost about 3 inches off my extension and learned how to survive hell. Lets hope I never have to go though that again.



GBR141010 said:
Man that looks so fun. look at the old wooden foils and tillers! Some of them try gybing facing backwards thats crazy
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Greetings from 11 years in the future! I've been looking everywhere for this awesome video. It just says "video unavailable" so it could have been blocked because of the music. Did you compile the footage? Does anyone have the original video? Is there any chance someone could re-upload it to something like peertube or dailymotion? Please?

rock steady said:
This is our folkore, pay homage to our forebears, and if any of these people are still rocking a Laser - give them respect!


An all time classic Laser movie.:D
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