A Life That Launched a Movement
The International Laser Class Association has lost one of its true pioneers with the passing of Don Trask, aged 92.
In the early 1970s, Don founded Performance Sailcraft – San Rafael, the first Laser production facility outside Canada. Under his leadership, the factory produced over 11,000 Lasers carrying the hull code PSC — Performance Sailcraft Corporation — though those who worked alongside him suggest the true number, including boats built before factory codes were standardized, may have been closer to 30,000. Whatever the exact count, what matters is clear: Don did not just build boats — he helped launch a global sailing phenomenon.
As Don said in a recorded interview in 2021 when asked how it began: “I didn’t set out to start a movement. I just figured… why not build a few boats here and see if people wanted to sail them?”
People did. And what grew from that simple idea helped transform the sailing world.
More Than Manufacturing — Creating a Culture
Don’s influence extended far beyond just building boats. He understood that fleets are not built in factories — they are built in friendships.
With his wife Nancy, he helped shape a community culture that defined West Coast Laser sailing for a generation. Among their most memorable contributions were the now legendary Laser Baskets — beautifully prepared picnic baskets filled with bread, cheese,wine, glasses, napkins, and a corkscrew, awarded not as trophies but as invitations to sit together, share food, and build friendships. “Nobody ever took home any wine,” one sailor remarked, “but everyone left with stronger friendships.”
This spirit ran through everything Don touched — from the early regattas run not from yacht clubs but docks and parking lots, to the infamous Jim Reeves scorecards for the San Francisco Bay Laser Slalom, hand-drawn and comedic, celebrating joy over formality.
The Alameda Island Challenge — Adventure as Community
Among the most beloved creations was the Sir Francis Chichester Circumnavigation of Alameda Island, a 15-mile race where sailors could choose to round the island in either direction. The bridges were too low for a Laser mast, so competitors capsized to duck under, or — in Don’s case — famously picked up the entire rig like a windsurfer and walked it under, to the astonishment of the fleet.
Stories from Alameda became part of class folklore: masts stuck in bridge grates, sailors grounding in the narrow tidal channels, and Don — already over 40 by then — showing what Masters sailing could be, decades before the term was even formalized.
Heavy Weather, Big Personalities — The San Francisco Bay Slalom
Then came the San Francisco Bay Heavy Weather Laser Slalom, held in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club in full summer breeze, spray blowing off the tops of whitecaps. Sailors who had been knocked out of the competition crowded the observation deck to cheer the finals just yards from the club wall, where Don and others turned sailboat racing into a spectator sport.
Laser sailing on the West Coast wasn’t just competitive — it was alive, welcoming, and always fun. That was Don’s signature.
Don was also a gifted sailor — a Star champion who placed third at the Star World Championship in Sweden, finishing just behind Paul Elvstrøm and Lowell North. That regatta sparked a personal friendship between Don and Elvstrøm, which led to one of the Laser class’s defining moments: Paul Elvstrøm flying from Denmark to San Francisco to race Lasers at Don’s invitation, having never sailed one before.
That regatta, now known simply as The Elvstrøm, endures to this day. Each time the trophy is lifted, it carries the DNA of that moment — when the world’s greatest sailor stepped into a Laser fleet built not just by a manufacturer, but by a community-builder.
A Legacy Written on the Water
From John Bertrand, who became the first two-time Laser World Champion in 1976 and 1977, to future Olympians and America’s Cup sailors, a generation of world-class talent emerged from the culture Don helped build.
As Chris Boome wrote: “Don was as competitive as they come, but he never lost sight of what our sport is really about, which is building lifelong friendships.”
And from Bill Kreysler, Don’s partner in the San Rafael factory: “Don will be missed but not forgotten — an example of what friendship, hard work, and commitment to a passion can accomplish.”
The ILCA dinghy has continued Don’s legacy in this simple yet challenging little boat. Our class is not only about competition, but camaraderie — something Don understood from the beginning. He built boats, but he also built community.
Fair winds, Don. From the entire ILCA family around the world — thank you! You will be missed.
View video of Don speaking at the 2021 Masters Pacific Coast Championship in Alameda, California.