Which sail to use?

On the topic of weight... exactly how crucial is weight when sailing a Laser? I'm only 17 and I weigh 95kg, does this mean I'll only ever be competetive in strong winds?
 
If that comment was directed at me.... wouldn't it be obvious that at 95 kilograms i'd sail with a full rig? But i've heard that ideal weight for full rig is 69 kilograms, so I was wondering if 26 kilograms over 'ideal weight' would result in being considerably slower than those closer to the 'ideal weight'.
 
JacksonAUS said:
On the topic of weight... exactly how crucial is weight when sailing a Laser? I'm only 17 and I weigh 95kg, does this mean I'll only ever be competetive in strong winds?
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Given equal skills, the short answer to the second question is yes.

Here's my experience the past couple of years - I started at 106kg, was very competitive at 15kts and above, but suffered greatly between 6-12 knots. I have lost weight and am now at 93kg - I am now competitive at 10 knots and above, but still suffer at 6-10kts to those under 80kg.

Under 6kts of wind I always found a heavier person can be competitive, but had to work harder finding the next puff/shift and keeping the boat moving.

What I found in losing the weight is that I have lost a little upwind advantage that I prev had, but the gains offwind have more then made up for it.

I do plan to diet down more and get down below 88kg - if I could I would end up at 80-82kg, I think that would be ideal for my height and for being competitive in varied conditions.
 
Scott Ferguson won a very competitive, very light air 2003 Atlantic Coast Championships with about 100 boats and he is a BIG guy. About 6'4" (195 cm?) and maybe 200 pounds (91 kg?). He is a master, so it was even more impressive that he beat up on all the younger guys.
He is competitive in all breezes, but takes off in breeze.
I think it's worst for the big guys between 6 and 12 (as another poster noted), when smaller guys get to full power before the big guys.
There is currently a pretty broad range among the top guys. I think it's Peer Moberg who is really really big (maybe as much as 200 lbs/91 kg), Scheidt is around 170 (77 kg), as is Paul Goodison. I believe that most are around 80 kg (175 or so pounds).
So probably, Jackson, you'd be best off dropping a couple but you could do very well at your weight still.
 
69kgs ideal for a radial hey. Better tell that to Blackburn who just recently won the radial worlds (and who also won the lightest race of the meet) Actually better tell that to the top 10 guys at the worlds, if you found anyone under 75kgs I would be very surprised.
 
I was simply pointing out that 69kgs or around that area is a good if not optimum all-round weight, sailors either side of this weight also do well but may not do as well outside their optimum wind range.

in the open radial worlds, heavier sailors came out on top,being 15-20 knots most races helped quite a bit.

also the top 10 were a mix of radial and full rig sailors.

in the youths (which we had 5-15 knots in all qualifying races, one day in the finals with more wind then a very light last day) lighter sailors ruled (60-70kg)

But as dave pointed out, skill level is just as important, if not more important then weight.
 
I totally agree, the best sailor won the Radial worlds (regardless of weight) and there was a mix (even though in favour of full rig sailors in the top ten and I wouldn't think any of the radial sailors would have been under 73kgs).

What I don't agree with is that 69kgs is the optimum weight for a radial sailor. Murphs I see you even say "lighter sailors ruled (60-70kgs). If 69 kgs is the optimum weight in your eyes then why do you also clasify it in your light category??

I think IMHO that 75kgs is the best alround weight for a radial.


60-70kgs has been considered the right weight for a radial - can someone tell me when someone of this weight last won the radial worlds. I have no idea, it could have been last year for all I know, I'd just like to see.
 
i think you will find that at least half of the top 20-30 (especially the regular radial sailors) in the recent worlds were lighter than 73kgs (just an observation, if you know every single sailors' weight.... correct me if im wrong).

in reference to my comment about 60-70kg sailors being in the light category, the 'light' category was in reference to your own comments about not finding anyone under 75kgs in the top ten in the open worlds.

another factor affecting weight is the mk6 radial sail, i think optimum weight has dropped from the mk5 because of the enhanced depowering of the mk6 sail over the 5.

its all about opinions laserite, im just giving mine and my reasons for it
 
I didn't mean to get narky about it - it just seems to me that the quoted recomended weights by Laser are incorrect.

I have no problems at all about your opinions, they may very well be correct.

It seems to me that of late heavy sailors are doing better in Radials and that generally it would be better to be on the heavy side than light, that is the best full rig sailors are very competitive in a radial (regardless of conditions) , but in order for the best radial sailor to be competitive in a full rig they had better pray that it is under 10 knots.

But yet again that is just my opinion - though the recent radial worlds hold some credibility to my argument.
 
I'm 6'2" weigh in at just under 88 Kg's. In a recent regatta, (my first Laser regatta in 6 years) I found that I was very competitive in the light stuff, under 6 knts. However, I struggled in medium, 6-10 and of course did well in the 10 above range. In the light I thought I just sailed smarter, in the medium I sailed really stupid! The only time I felt my weight hurt me was in the medium air downwind where a couple of 68 kg guys would pass me or put distance on me.
 
Has anyone mentioned the importnace of height and fitness? Those are the two physical aspects that matter the most in the breeze. Schiedt is one of the fittest and tallest (if not the fittest and tallest) laser sailors in the world. You want to be as light as possible because the weihgt holds you down on reachs and runs, where gains are to be made. I know in NA at least that there is a big misconseption that upwind is where gains are made. An example of this is that the guy who won the NAs rounded the weather mark in 37th and the bottom mark in 4th. You cant do that upwind and you cant do that weighing over 185 lbs (doing it over 175 lbs is neer impossible).
 
Obviouisly height plays a huge part in all of this. However, all things equal I still think that heavier sailors (ie between 70-75kgs in a radial) are consistently outperforming those under that weight.

Can anyone argue against this? If so please advise of a radial world champion who was under 70kgs at the time they won a world title. Like I have said, I have no idea of the answer to this, for all I know the last 5 world champions werer all under 60kgs.

Mattsterett I appreciate where you are coming from and agree that some of the biggest games are downwind, however unless there is any evidence to suggest that the best weight is under 70kgs I can't accept that races can bne won by a light guy flying downwind, than a good overall performance.
 
I agree with you that in a radial 70kgs is the right weight. I didn't think that was heavy. My conception is that over 75kg is heavy. At the radial youth worlds, however, I was getting killed at 80 kg. Another guy who I was with was also getting killed at 78 kg. The breeze probably did not break 14 knots throughout the regatta (with the exception of one race). The ability for a small or large competitor to compete is determined by the breeze.

note:
The last two Laser world chamions weighed 76 kg and 70 kg
 
I sail standard rig as well and weigh in at 82 kilos! 186cm in height or 6'1" in old terms! i find that i am still beatin the lighter sailors in bout 3 knots of wind! seriosly 3 knots is no joke! we never abandon a race!
but i think its more about the sailor than weight really! im only 16 and have been in the laser for like 8 months now but am beating the guys who have been in it for years cos i am always learining!
I sail with an ex-master at my club, Andy Street, who is very good and heavier than me but was still beating me in the light stuff!
All i can say is just go out training and learn how to sail the boat fast and well to your weight, not get your weight down otherwise u'll never do enough competitive racing!
I am beating him now from practice so just learn and hang on in there even if it might be slow at first! you'll soon learn from your mistakes!
At least this is a UK sailors point of view! always optimistic!
 
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