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 »
How did you get involved with sailing? My father, who has been sailing too, took me to a sailing course at my club when I was 7 and I really liked it. What made you decide to sail the Laser Radial and what has kept you sailing it since? I wanted to sail single-handed and
Interview with Tuula Tenkanen 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 »
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 »
by Jon Emmett Downwind, there are fewer shifts than upwind because we are sailing away from the wind (not towards it). Still every shift counts and sailing the optimum angle to the wind and waves is crucial to get downwind as fast as possible. Sometimes it is not always obvious why one way works best,
By Jon Emmett One of the beauties of Lasers is just how well they tack—if tacked well. Races are anything but a boat speed race to the corner in most venues and conditions, which means those who have their head out of the boat and good boat handling can gain on every small shift and
Tacking for Lasers Read More »
by Jon Emmett Starting is undoubtedly an extremely important part of the race: this is why we practice it so much. There are many articles written about the techniques involved in starting, so in this one we will examine starting from a rules perspective. This is extremely relevant to Laser racing where everyone is lined
Starting for Lasers Read More »
