persona non grata?? force 5 purchase

Sunray

New Member
Well, I might as well come right out with it. As money is a little tight, and I wanted to get sailing......My brother and I bought 2 older, re-conditioned Force 5's yesterday!!!
The current NA champ in the class took us to a good friend of his, and showed us the '2-boats-on-a-trailer' setup he had for sale. His friend really did a fine job of repair, e.t.c. and I think working to get better fitness and sailing technique on this inexpensive "Laser-alternative" for a year, will put me in good shape when I get a Laser....maybe in a year or so......

I was wondering....since the Force 5 does not have a large fleet here in Miami (there IS a 10-20 boat regatta every month, I believe, at the upper keys sailing club) Do you think local Laser club regattas would let us race with them? I understand that there are real similarities between the boats, and that ultimately, the Force 5 ( with its 15 pound heavier--but slightly larger sail area combination) would be a little slower than the Laser..."Sure, you slow boats...come join the race" It would be cool to pass the Lasers..one at a time....

Sorry about caving to the Force 5, but it was cool that 2 came up, and it will allow my brother and I to learn single-handed dingy sailing/racing...no doubt we'll have a lot of fun match racing......

Any thoughts, tomato throwing, e.t.c.???

Ray
Miami Beach
 
Sunray said:
I was wondering....since the Force 5 does not have a large fleet here in Miami (there IS a 10-20 boat regatta every month, I believe, at the upper keys sailing club) Do you think local Laser club regattas would let us race with them? I understand that there are real similarities between the boats, and that ultimately, the Force 5 ( with its 15 pound heavier--but slightly larger sail area combination) would be a little slower than the Laser..."Sure, you slow boats...come join the race" It would be cool to pass the Lasers..one at a time....

Sorry about caving to the Force 5, but it was cool that 2 came up, and it will allow my brother and I to learn single-handed dingy sailing/racing...no doubt we'll have a lot of fun match racing......

Any thoughts, tomato throwing, e.t.c.???

Ray
Miami Beach

Just ask the Laser folks nicely and have the Portsmouth handicaps ready to provide some data to back up your request. Also offer to help out with RC duties, filling up the cooler, etc.
Alternatively, you can "sail behind" the Lasers. Just start a minute or two later with your brother and stay out of the way. But hopefully, it won't come to that.
 
Thanks for your kind replies. I AM looking forward to begin sailing...They are stored, as we speak, at the U.S. Olympic Sailing Center in Coconut Grove...I am at the computer now and I'll be seeing if I can download any info on rigging the boat!! It is cool that all lines lead to the cockpit, so it won't be too hard to get used to the lines....

I thanks you for the 'portsmouth' advice. I have seen that word several times on a few sites recently. I should download the pertinent data and always keep a copy in the glove compartment----just in case......

Thanks again all..I still will be getting a Laser in the future...get myself in shape, e.t.c........

Ray
Miami Beach
 
another thing to consider for practice purposes, sail side-by-side (assuming the boats are realitivly the same, and you and your brother weight near the same). While sailing side-by-side, experiment with differant adjustments and such, while the other remains the same. In a perfect world, if the adjustment was a good one, the boat will accelerate, so the other boat should make the same adjustment. keep going like this, it's amazing what you can learn. I used to do it with my brother and later on in college I did it with two Farr 40's, now that was a trip!
 
Thanks again for the replys. That sounds like a really good tecnique for tuning the boats..We will try it.
 

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