Video Probably posted already, but...

Riv

Active Member
Excellent "laser origins" video, probably been posted before but well worth half an hour, a coffee and a brownie.
 
Yeah, this was posted by the class a few days ago. I thought of providing a direct link, so here it is: The Boat that Ian Built ;)
Watched it last night and damn it's interesting! Some notes:
  • the narrator says, "it's 1974". Well, the footage is actually from '73 as no one has 5-digit numbers yet.
  • the unnamed Lake Ontario island is (as Andy Roy points out on the ILCA site) Association Island in New York state, which was a major regatta centre in the 70s. I'd be interested to know why that didn't last.
  • the regatta with "hundreds of yachtsmen" was most likely the 1973 US nationals.
  • practically no one had a trolley back then!
  • once upon a time, race courses included a gybe mark... where a lot of interesting things happened :D
  • just the 40-second part from the "America's Teacup" would make this worth watching! Looks like the boom was higher on the prototype than the production boats.
  • there once were multiple trucks used solely to transport new Lasers, with graphics to match :confused:
  • the PS workforce was visibly multiethnic and audibly French-speaking... nice to hear Ian address the crowd in that language :D
  • the long Japanese section at the end was unexpected. The start of PSJ appeared much more organized than I have been told. The weather looked pretty cold for those latitudes, so it was likely shot in the winter of 73/74.
A big thank you to Andy for bringing this for all of us to see! It's a true "culture deed" as we'd say over here :)

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I loved the fact that PPE looked to be a factory suggestion in the '70's. It was an awesome video. Loved it!
 
I agree with Lali that the boom in the Teacup section looks higher, must be about 200mm/8". This would make a great deal of difference now that I'm not as flexible as I used to be. It's been ticking over in my mind to make a mast extension to do this.
Also the videos show very loose travellers. I suspect that if this is done then the mainsheet won't wrap around the corners. I'm going to try it soon:)
 
the videos show very loose travellers. I suspect that if this is done then the mainsheet won't wrap around the corners.
The advantages of a tight traveller hadn't been discovered yet :D Also, the high-stretch (by today's standards) cordage and plastic Clamcleats were a factor. Tiller protection wasn't explicitly allowed yet, either.

The corner-catching is essentially a function of the distance that the sheet crosses over the water. Simply letting the traveller loose won't change that very much.

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