As most of us Laser sailors are at home for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ILCA and SailCoach are teaming up to bring you free Zoom coaching webinar classes starting in April 2020. The SailCoach coaching classes by remote learning hopes to provide Laser sailors with free coaching input over the […]
ILCA Presents Free Laser Sailing Webinars Hosted by SailCoach Read More »
By Brett Beyer The top mark is a hot spot for rule infringements. While most of the yelling and bumping rarely results in a penalty turn (even with a jury present), care needs to be taken because the consequences of a penalty turn or two during a chaotic rounding situation can be a massive distance
By Brett Beyer The pre-start period is probably where the most protests occur, most often as a result of windward/leeward situations. Most of these protests end with leeward boats being disqualified. The main things to note are: Rule 11 applies — on the same tack and overlapped, the windward boat must KEEP CLEAR. There is
by Jon Emmett The medal race is, as the name sounds, often the race which decides the medals at the end of a World Sailing (previously ISAF) Championship such as the Olympic Games. It’s a double-point-scoring race that you have to count in your overall series. Not only that, but with approximately half the usual
by Jon Emmett Sailing in big waves is not only a lot of fun, but one of the most rewarding conditions for good boat trim. Just small differences on each and every wave can add up to huge differences in speed both upwind and downwind. The key thing upwind is that you are trying to
by Jon Emmett It is easy to think that people win races and indeed regattas simply because they are faster than everyone else, and whilst this is often part of the truth, it is not the whole truth. It is about avoiding mistakes. This is rather like everyone is going upwind on an escalator but
Avoiding the Danger Zones Read More »
by Jon Emmett Firstly, you may find it useful to read the two preceding articles to this, so as to get the full picture: Lasers in Light Wind and Lasers in Medium Wind. You can easily have days or even weeks when the wind is consistently strong, but there will likely be changes—medium wind increasing
Lasers in Strong Wind Read More »
by Jon Emmett The exact wind range that you would consider medium winds of course depends on your bodyweight. After all, the Laser 4.7, Radial, and Standard rigs all cater to a wide weight range of sailors. The point is, medium wind may be considered your perfect wind, like the story of Goldilocks and the
Lasers in Medium Wind Read More »
by Jon Emmett Before we even go on the water, we need to think about what sort of day it will be. Will it be a shifty day and we need to tack on every shift? Or will it be a persistent shift or strong current day and we need to get to one side
Lasers in Light Wind Read More »
by Jon Emmett Laser sailing is most definitely a sport. Assuming equal levels of technical skill, the fitter you are the faster you will go in medium-to-strong winds, and you definitely don’t want to be let down by your fitness. Very broadly speaking there are three areas of fitness: Core (The inner muscles that support
Fitness for Lasers Read More »
via SportVid “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” “You cannot score without a goal.” “Aim before you shoot.” There are a lot of quotes about goal setting. And the reason is: GOAL SETTING IS IMPORTANT. This goes for everybody, but for sailors in particular. Sailing has a lot
by Jon Emmett Modern Laser races are finished at the bottom of the course, where they’ll be ready to start the next race. In fact, for today’s generation, the long beat to the finish that we used to do is unthinkable. Rather, we tend to have a reaching finish at World Sailing and other prestigious
Downwind in Lasers Read More »
by Jon Emmett Although we now have less reaching in modern racing (gone are the days of the Triangle Sausage course), reaching is still very important. On an outer-loop course, it allows the leaders to extend their lead on their way to mark 2 and have more clean wind for the first run. Even on the
Reaching in Lasers Read More »
by Jon Emmett Light Wind It’s about getting your head out of the boat because every slight increase in wind speed translates into a big difference in boat speed. Sailor-positioning in the boat is well forward, with the bodyweight just behind the centreboard so as to keep maximum water-line length. Not only is this faster,
by Jon Emmett When boats come together, especially in a tightly packed Laser fleet there is a huge amount of opportunity for place changing. Whilst the leaders may have been able to get away slightly, because they spent most of the 1st beat in clear air and in phase with the shift rather than struggling
Mark Rounding for Lasers Read More »
by Jon Emmett The modern format often results in an exciting medal race where there is a battle between two or more sailors for the medals, and far more boat-on-boat action. Like it or loathe it, the medal race is here stay. So good boat handling and boat-on-boat tactics become more and more important at
Covering in Lasers Read More »
