A laser sailboat also referred to as Laser Standard or the Laser One is a type of small sailing dinghy. It is a very popular class of the small sailing dinghy. This can be sailed by one or two people at the most at a point (according to Laser Class Rules).
This vessel is designed in a way that portrays simplicity and performance and was designed by Bruce Kirby; who is a Canadian born laser sailboat designer and runs the company called “Bruce Kerby”. This type of vessel is manufactured by a lot of companies all over the world.
The Laser Sailboat Popularity
In the year 2018, there were more than 2,00,000 of these boats in the world. The huge number does not come as a surprise as the design is a classic; the vessel is robust, simple to sail, durable and is also very fast. These attributes also make it a great sailboat to race. The deck of such a boat has underneath it, a layer of foam. This exponentially increases its strength and buoyancy.
The Laser Sailboat Origin
This boat came into being when Bruce Kirby was designing a sailboat; could easily be carried on a car roof for camping trips. The prototype was created in 1970 and was named “Weekender”. That is not all, the Weekender also had the words “TGIF” translating to Thank God It’s Friday on its sail.
It was later that year, that the boat was renamed to “Laser” and was unveiled to the world in 1971. Soon after this that racing events with the laser sailboat began. It even became a boat people used to sail in the Olympics. In the year 1996. In all the years of this sailing boat being used competitively in the Olympics; there has been nobody like Robert Scheidt who won the world championship eight times.
Design And Dimensions
While this sailing boat is manufactured pretty much all over the world, the dimensions are kept common. This boat has a hull which is 4.2 meters long. It has a waterline length of 3.81 meters and weighs around 130 lbs. Since this kind of boat is one-design or in layman terms, it has only one design. It is up to the sailor how he makes use of it and what levels of greatness he reaches with his boat.
Since it weighs so little (as compared to other boats), it can be easily carried on tops of cars; exactly why it was designed. In addition to being lightweight, this boat is also inexpensive, easy to carry around, easy to rig and easy to dock. This is what makes it a great option to learn sailing, especially fast sailing on.
While the sport of sailing of other kinds of boats has seen a decline; racing of laser sailboats has not seen any dip. It has been almost 50 years since the inception of this beautiful vessel; not much has changed in its design and this is simply due to the fact that the classic design works well and sailors don’t see reasons to deviate.
In conclusion, this classic boat might not ever have been for commercial purposes but for recreational and competitive purposes; it has surpassed many boats. If sporting or connecting with nature is what you are looking for, don’t look too far ahead as the laser sailboat will be enough.
