Thursday, May 21, 2009

Six not quite good enough reasons to sell the Laser


Six reasons
Originally uploaded by Sadlr

6. The club harbourmaster knows someone looking to buy an old but fast Laser.
‘Yellow’ will never again be worth what she is now. It could be now or never.

5. I’ve been sailing with the radial sail so far this year and it isn’t working.
The radial sail and 67 kilo’s might go together like a horse and carriage if you sail on the sea but here on a Dutch puddle the sailor with the tallest sail gets round the mast first, even when it’s really blowing.

4. I won the club Laser championship last year.
I have to admit that I achieved this by turning up more than everyone else; the secret to Sunday series success.

3. I had a Laser in the early eighties and never really enjoyed it then.
That was back in the days of heave down the kicking strap before you start. Certainly this time around, with all the new strings it’s become an easier boat to handle and much more fun to play with.

2. It’s not a foiling Moth.
In an ideal world, sun, sea, white beaches, plenty of wind, money and time off, I’d sail a Moth. It isn’t, so I don’t, and probably never will.

1. We now have six small boats
Laser ‘Yellow’, wooden Optimist ‘Muis’, fibreglass racing Optimist ‘Kwark’, wooden 16m2 ‘Truus’, steel dinghy ‘Kees’ and inflatable dinghy ‘Quicksilver’.
How many small boats can a family have?


But... almost every Wednesday evening, after work, I drive to the club, rig in 10 minutes, sail for two or three hours withbetween 5 and 25 fellow Laser sailors, pack up, drink a beer, discuss trim and tactics and then go home and sleep like a log. No reason to sell old ‘Yellow’ yet.

[I do have a Radial sail and Australian lower mast on offer though]


I forgot to mention that this list is one of many sailing lists that can be found on ProperCourse.