Special Edition Lasers

There were two versions, blue and red with a floral pattern and "Centennial Olympics Games" lettering. I don't recall if they also said "Savannah", but they certainly didn't say "Atlanta".

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The "Atlanta" is clearly a PSE-built boat and has therefore nothing to do with the "Centennial" by Sunfish Laser. (Besides being also a Laser and built around the same time :rolleyes: )

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I think It's 157459, which would mean it was built in 1995. Now that you mention it, I remember seeing several other "Techno" boats in the past, and they didn't seem any "special" in any way, besides the text itself (just like with "Graffiti"). What does the other sticker on the back wall of the cockpit say?

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My club has just been given this one, its 15704. Any one know what the version is called?
 

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That was a Laser S - special edition. They also did a blue striped one. I will see if I can dig out an advert or some more photos.

I would think the sail number is most likely 115704.
 
Here is the advert for the Laser S

I think it comes from late 70's early 80s/ I have seen Laser S boats with 88k and 113k/115k sail numbers so I think they might have done two separate editions of it.
 

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Brilliant, thank you. This will be number 5 in our club fleet......All Red hull and cream deck (just like my first one in 1979, wooden tiller)

Red topsides white bottom "Classic" (with white spars) and brilliant white deck (my least favourite due to glare from the deck)

Vela grey (soo dull and leaks a little)

Pale blue (much repaired and loved and no leaks)

and now a stripey Special.

I just have to organise the racing.......The Special came with 2 radial rigs so we should now be all able to race Radials.

The problem with organising racing is that I don't get to sail. On our start line we might get all five of the Lasers and then possibly 2-3 Picos and a couple of Wanderers and a Quest.

My solution is to run gate starts. Is this possible with 10 boats? We would all then get to race as the gate boat would time it's own run and signal to the others with a whistle at 1min, 30 secs, 10 secs and go.

We sail on a tidal river, large variations in wind speed and direction. Many obstacles, so beat to windward would be about 200m max, on some days only 100m, depends on the wind direction and tidal flow.

What do you think?
 
Gate starting different classes at the same time is a bit problematic: if the gate boat is slow, the fast boats want to start early, and vice versa. A gate starting area also extends windward at least 0.5 times the combined boat lengths, so I don't think it would work in the described area.

(Should be a different thread really.)

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My club has just been given this one, its 15704. Any one know what the version is called?

'Horizon' is right: it will be 115704, from 1982-ish. The plate will originally have had the '1' printed on, with the following 5 digits stamped into the plate. I think the orange ones might have been called Sunburst, and they had a striped sail to go with the hull - not inconspicuous. In 1983 your ex-District 9 secretary, Chuck Williamson, was Charles Williamson and still living in the UK. He was at the UK Nationals at Plymouth with one of these boats, and overnight someone nicked his entire rig from the boatpark. In those days spar breakage was routine, so it was standard practice to carry spare booms, top-sections and sails. I think he was reequipped from loaned kit in time for racing.

On a separate point, in the late 1980s a couple of experimental waterline Lasers were made with panels of Liberty print fabric behind transparent gelcoat, between the waterline and the gunwales. They looked dead smart. What became of them I do not know, but they were unique. Jeff Martin competed with the red one at the 1988 Masters Worlds on Falmouth, and that's the last I saw of it.
 
I remember the Liberty print boat. I must have seen it at the '88 UK nationals at Mounts Bay. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me then, so I never took a photo. I think I was talking to Richard Simmonds from PSE about it when somebody came up and asked if it was illegal because it made the hull stiffer....

Was this the orange sail you were thinking of - this one was called a Mardi Gras:



Mardi Gras sail .jpg


Or this one - I don't know the official name for it:

Laser-sailing-boat-20160721125939.jpg

Or even this one

Boat show 1986 .jpg

All of the above had blue versions of them

This was the Polar

Polar Sail.jpg

And here are the other two:

Blue Striped sail.jpg
Other blue striped sail.jpg


Also, see post #20 in this thread here for some original brochures and more coloured sails:

 
I like the idea of the Liberty print boat, it's a shame Laser don't regularly do interestingly coloured boats. I know Vela grey is best for OD racing but I also want it to look good when I take the cover off and it's nice to have people ask about your boat.

Here's what the OK dinghy class can do:
 
I remember the Liberty print boat. I must have seen it at the '88 UK nationals at Mounts Bay. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me then, so I never took a photo. I think I was talking to Richard Simmonds from PSE about it when somebody came up and asked if it was illegal because it made the hull stiffer....

Was this the orange sail you were thinking of - this one was called a Mardi Gras:
View attachment 35520
I think Chas's boat was a Mardi Gras. Saw it only briefly before the sail and rig were nicked!

At the 1988 World Masters in Falmouth Jeff was ribbed that his Liberty print Laser was bound to be heavier, but it didn't stop him beating me.

If you were at the Mounts Bay Nationals you'll remember we got four races in, just enough to make it a championship. I remember it only too well, because I'd been responsible for organising it. The only real success of the week was the beach games halfway through.
 
I like the idea of the Liberty print boat, it's a shame Laser don't regularly do interestingly coloured boats. I know Vela grey is best for OD racing but I also want it to look good when I take the cover off and it's nice to have people ask about your boat.

Here's what the OK dinghy class can do:
I couldn't think of to much worse. Far to busy, not necessarily districting but definitely something might miss seeing something critical. I like my white boats with white decks.
 
Here's what the OK dinghy class can do: Art On Water - OK - Dinghy in combination
Oh my, the :eek: "stamp boat" is truly crazy... both in good and bad ways. Full points for creativity and execution, of course. I wouldn't mind the visual "busyness" either, but that deck will probably look nasty when damaged or even worn, and impossible to restore! I'd say it's the all-round practicality of a plain and pale surface that's driving the boat colour evolution more than the (perceived) ability to "hide" on a starting line. Even in traditionally "colourful" classes like the Lightning and 505, more and more new boats are all-white.

Although the new builders may change things at least temporarily, I doubt that we're going to see new "special edition" Lasers like we did in the past decades.

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Now I have seen that Techno photo I think I have definitely seen one in Dubai quite a few years ago.

That Aussie one looks interesting, I suspect its just a custom job though?

They should also bring back coloured sails, I like the old radials with the two stripes of colour. I still have 2 for heavy messing about days which are pink/purple and red/black.

Still loving this thread!
 

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If you were at the Mounts Bay Nationals you'll remember we got four races in, just enough to make it a championship. I remember it only too well, because I'd been responsible for organising it. The only real success of the week was the beach games halfway through.

I was at the Mounts Bay Nationals..I've still got the t-shirt (and sweat shirt) and I thought the whole event was brilliant. So let me say a very belated "thank you" for organising it.

I could probably write a whole thread on this one event but the memorable moments which stand out for me were:

  • Starting in a fleet of over 200 boats on the one start-line. An amazing experience.

  • Being at the top mark 25th in one of the races. It didn't last due to a windshift and re-start but in a fleet that size and calibre, that counts as a highlight of my sailing career.

  • We might have sat on the beach for two days - but with great company, hot sun and Cornish pasties and ice-creams and views of St Michael's Mount - what was not to like;

  • Sailing with the World's best Laser sailors. Who were always happy to give help and advice;

  • The games night on the beach was brilliant fun. My first introduction to "boat races" and I ended up in the sea at the end of the night!

  • Finding a "hand" floating in the water, only to discover, with relief, that it was just a fisherman's glove!

  • Nearly losing the passenger window into the door as it slipped uncontrolled downwards as the winder broke and having to drive holding it up with one hand whilst steering and changing gear with the other for at least half an hour on a very hot A303 until I could get to a layby to fix it!....Sailing road trips - everyone should do at least one :)

And I found a photo and a (very British) write up of the event too...
 

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Now I have seen that Techno photo I think I have definitely seen one in Dubai quite a few years ago.

Here is a blue decked "Techno" from the 80's. I like that as a deck colour, as it reduces glare from the sun so much better than a white deck.


TechnoAll.JPG

That Aussie one looks interesting, I suspect its just a custom job though?

Yes, it probably is - could even be a wrap. Like this one:



They should also bring back coloured sails, I like the old radials with the two stripes of colour. I still have 2 for heavy messing about days which are pink/purple and red/black.

I agree about coloured sails. Unfortunately, I think hoping for a return of class legal coloured sails will be in vain. Although, perhaps they could be persuaded to do a special 50th anniversary coloured sail - old style (pre full rig radial). I would buy one.

I think your black and red one would have been supplied for the 1998 ISAF Worlds in Dubai. Like this one?

616042_5.jpg

Oh, those were not only aesthetically questionable but the sail numbers were impossible to read!

Whilst I like the colours ( I think the yellow and green radial sail was the best) I do agree that the sail numbers could be hard to read. They could easily have just used different coloured numbers on the dark sail cloth areas though.
 
Another special edition:

The Robert Scheidt Laser


 
Agree! I loved the yellow and green.

Interesting about the red/black being from the worlds. It must have been! It is exactly like that one. Am trying to find a pic to get the number but cant find one right now. I thought it was 161XXX but will check. If they were from the worlds I dont know if I agree with that combo and the decals they had on the hull. I have posted a picture of the hull design earlier in this thread :).
 
Another special edition:

The Robert Scheidt Laser



Oh I quite like that actually...even has a customised toe strap by the looks of it!
 
And if you can't get new colored sails, then some people make their own for various reasons:


 
And this one features a sail which I think was class legal and supplied by LP but a definite home paint job. I like it
 

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And here is a green sail on a yellow hull. This was special one-off sail made by LP for the 1991 UK Laser Nationals which were sponsored by Sol beer. The boat wasn't sailed at the nationals but was just used for advertising. I wonder what happened to it.

(I apologise for the poor exposure of the photographs)

IMG_20200107_0002.jpgIMG_20200107_0003.jpg

As the Nationals were sponsored by Sol beer, they made special marks in the shape of beer bottles. They were so high, that you had to be very careful going too close or else the top of the mark could easily sway into your sail as can be seen in the photo in this report:
 

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I think your black and red one would have been supplied for the 1998 ISAF Worlds in Dubai. Like this one?

View attachment 35855
Interesting about the red/black being from the worlds. It must have been! It is exactly like that one. Am trying to find a pic to get the number but cant find one right now. I thought it was 161XXX but will check. If they were from the worlds I dont know if I agree with that combo and the decals they had on the hull. I have posted a picture of the hull design earlier in this thread :).
The 1998 ISAF Worlds boats had 163xxx numbers but those were the colours. Looks much better when the non-white panels almost don't interfere with the numbers...

1_16a084b675b.2181966_1808265901_16a084b675b_large.jpg


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Wow you are right!! I had not seen that photo. I cannot believe I forgot about that, I clearly remember seeing them with the Le Merdien hotel stickers growing up. They must have removed all the stickers afterwards.
 
The 1998 ISAF Worlds boats had 163xxx numbers but those were the colours. Looks much better when the non-white panels almost don't interfere with the numbers...

Interesting with the sail numbers, the radial picture I posted came from a boat for sail advert, which had a full rig as well with the same number and definitely had the Dubai graphics but I should have looked back at photos of the event to see that the numbers didn't tally.

616042_1.jpg
 
Thats a shame! Quite a few still downunder.

I remember awhile ago NB Sailing in Sydney had one for quite a high price but I dont think it had been used since the games! Very good nick.
 
Nice thread!!

Does anyone have pictures with the hull decals or other details of the savannah edition?

I have one (I think!?) number 158149 and the ancients said she´s a savannah edition.

Some decals are gone and I intend to make new ones, recovering the original savannah visual. And the only that I´ve found, so far, is that inside the cockpit in the begening of this post.
 
Congrats on the new boat!

Yesterday I saw one on Facebook market place. I think the only decals specific to this version are in the cockpit. Sadly I cannot find it now sorry!
 

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