Thursday, April 30, 2015

Of the Laser Borg

Many years ago; my one and only Laser - sail no. 549.

Photo: Ellie Martin




Posted by at 3:30 PM
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5 comments:

Tom said...

And I was in the orange Laser chasing you one December day. You separated your shoulder and the RC took you in. The Northwesterly roared in and I got into serial capsize mode and became exhausted and hypothermic somewhere out by the Spider, drifting, inverted, into the Bay, holding on (for dear life) to the daggerboard.
I was pretty fuzzy headed when a Frostbite racing boat "Godspeed" hove up along side to fish me out. They had to pry my hands from the daggerboard and left the boat floating (rescued later by some kind soul). A hot shower at SSA then a long drive back up to Baltimore with the heater on full blast didn't remove the chill I feel even to this day.

May 1, 2015 at 5:52 AM
Baydog said...

Wooden blades and cockpit handrail, no doubt. Great story by your friend Tom. I'm still shivering!

May 1, 2015 at 6:50 AM
Tillerman said...

Pleased to hear that Earwigoagin and Tom had so much fun in Lasers. There's nothing quite like it!

I think I'll go Laser sailing now.

May 1, 2015 at 10:20 AM
Alden Smith said...

I like your new blog page photograph - looks good.

I was never a great fan of the Laser, I used to race an OK dinghy, but I guess the reason for that was a case of personal context (our yacht club raced them and one was for sale at the time I was moving up classes).

Having said that, my attitude over the years is that - if it gets a person out on the water sailing and enjoying themselves then I don't really think it matters what a person sails!! AT All!!

May 2, 2015 at 1:15 AM
Tweezerman said...

Tom - Actually fellow 14-er Dick White, sailing a Laser as well, had to rescue me that day as I couldn't right the Laser with one arm (the old, I think wooden, Favored End, the RC boat, had engine problems and could barely make headway in the wind).

Baydog - And a 3-1 vang that cleated on the bottom purchase, and a rectangular teak tiller that would slowly get sawn in half by the traveler, and sails that had Elvstrom's crown logo on them.

Tillerman - Yes there are some memories there.

Alden Smith - The OK Dinghy had pockets of activity throughout the U.S. and Canada when the Laser came along but was really tweaky with the wooden unstayed mast. Not only did you have to be a good dinghy racer, you also had to know how to use a plane to tune the mast (or you bought what was the going mast only to find, due to the variability of wood, it didn't quite fit the sail). I would have enjoyed racing an OK though - just wasn't in the cards.

May 2, 2015 at 10:23 AM

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