Laser Fleet Experiences a Wet, Wild Sailstice
We hope our Latitude readers enjoyed the Summer Sailstice, our international celebration of sailing. Over in the East Bay, a hardy band of Laser sailors celebrated the Sailstice by venturing into full-on nuking summer pressure on Southampton Shoal. It was blowing about 18 knots with gusts to the mid-twenties when we arrived at Richmond Yacht Club (RYC) around eleven in the morning. The local Laser fleet has become more active during the pandemic, and Saturday was no exception. Toshi Takayanagi and Emilio Castelli, the two most hardcore locals, were already rigging their boats when we showed up. Several others arrived one by one, small cars towing compact, trailered Lasers.
We had just returned from Los Angeles where we had purchased a Laser, the seventh one we have owned since 1973. As most of Latitude‘s readers no doubt are aware, the two most sublime moments of boat ownership are the day you buy your wonderful new boat, and the day you finally sell the damn vessel and unload the related headaches and expenses.
It seems to be a seller’s market right now for the ILCA Dinghy (the alternative name acquired recently for the Laser). Used boats were hard to find, especially in the older, lower-priced range favored by us recreational Masters sailors. We stalked the Laser forums without luck, finally locating a 2019 boat that had been used as a charter in eight regattas. Buying a Laser that’s been “borrowed” by a rock-star junior for the Leiter Cup or other championship is an economical method for obtaining a virtually new Laser at a discount.
As we watched our friends splash their boats and go blasting off into San Francisco Bay, we pondered the mysteries of six-to-one outhauls with bungee cord retractors. Attempting to figure out a pile of micro blocks, Dyneema and pre-stretched Dacron line and turn said pile into a functional boat, we watched YouTube videos.
Do We Have Enough Boats?
We also wondered how many Latitude readers are as nuts for a one-design class as we are, now on our seventh Laser. We know a few fanatics like our friend Chris Nash, who told us he once owned ten (10!) OK Dinghies. RYC member Kers Clausen recently gave a Zoom presentation about the International Etchells class and why he has owned over twenty (20!) of them. We have no idea how many Thistles our friend Mike Gillum has collected, refurbished and raced with his wife and daughter.
And how many boats are too many? Our fleet includes three El Toros, two kayaks, this new Laser and an old Plastic Classic 40. We know lots of folks who have more hulls, and longer total waterline length, than we do.
So we would like to hear from you. Have you owned, or do you own, multiple boats of one class? Do you have a large fleet of small boats? Do you know of a shrink who treats the boat-poor or a self-help group, Boat Fanatics Anonymous perhaps, for the likes of us? Leave your comments below.
As for Saturday’s Sailstice, we must confess that we never made it out onto the water, but we did get the outhaul on the new boat to work. Our friends bashed upwind in the chop, screamed downwind complete with plenty of death-roll capsize excitement, and returned to the dock with big grins on their faces. The intense conditions, with gusts over 26 knots, swept even the most enthusiastic Laser Radial sailors away in about an hour. It was a short, sharp 2020 Summer Sailstice for the Richmond Laser Fleet.
Enjoyed reading your article! I own a Laser (acquired after it was used for one week by a team for the International Laser Class races in 2011.). I also sail a Coronado 15 (same class as UC Berkeley raced for years), and a race ready Hobie 18. I also enjoy windsurfing (4 boards!) and a kayak. Would like to get more involved with the Laser class.
One Laser only! I purchased mine as used (one year old) in 1982, and have never had so much bang for the buck. Early years and learning curve were mostly at Crissy Field and China Camp. Then a couple years at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Now for the last 22 years, we’ve been favoring Tomales Bay. Plenty of wind, and my old Irish hull is still sound. Of course I’ve gone through many sails and spars in that time, but this boat and I are still in love. I’m 71 and she’s 39.
Tom, we’ve known each other for too many years.
I bought my first Thistle in 1979 and since then I’ve owned twenty other Thistles, raced twelve of them locally, regionally and nationally and currently have seven with two of those that we are able to actively race while the others wait for me to restore them or find new homes for them.
One of the current seven is a restored woodie #926 that I bought in 1993, sold in 1996 and bought back in 2017 so it counts as two boats but is really only one boat.
Two of the current seven Thistles are inexpensive older competitive fiberglass Thistles intended as junior/loaner/charter boats.
Two of the current seven Thistles are woodies looking for good homes with one that was supposed to go back to its new home in Toledo, OH the end of July on my way back to 2020 Thistle Nationals in Cleveland, OH that have been postponed to 2021 due to CV-19.
My general MO over the decades has been to find the inexpensive garage/yard queen no one else wants that needs a little TLC and after refurbishing along with a new suit of sails go race it for a couple of seasons to prove to everyone that its competitive and then sell it.
Over the past couple of years I’ve readjusted my focus to start putting young sailors into competitive Thistles by helping them out by being as “The Bank of Mike”.
I was fortunate enough when I was younger to have several older Thistle sailors help me learn how to fix and rig Thistles while pointing me in the right direction so now I paying it forward looking around for the younger people to hike on those 3-1/4″ wide wood rails of a Thistle that are surprisingly more comfortable than most think or I hear complain about.
The Thistle is one of the very best one design dinghy classes racing even after 75 years as well as a family oriented class with many 3rd, 4th & 5th generation members actively campaigning locally, regionally and nationally.
In addition to the Thistles there’s a Day Sailer my lovely wife Mardi and I have won two North American Championships as well as an older Canadian Laser for the Thursday Evening Summer Series at Lake Washington Sailing Club at the Port of West Sacramento that we’ve started racing a month ago otherwise I would go INSANE!
Have I owned multiple boats of the same class? Only barely—nothing compared to stories recounted here. I’m on my second Laser, not counting a third one my family owned in the 1980’s (that one was really my mom’s, not mine). Coincidentally, I bought my current Laser from Tom (apparently it was his sixth). Growing up in Connecticut my family was into sailing, and we ended up with two different Blue Jays and two different Fireballs.
And how many boats are too many? Over time, there shouldn’t be a limit. But at any one time, one shouldn’t have so many boats that they don’t all get used. When I was a kid, I think my family got up to 13 boats at one time–a few too many in my opinion.
Nice article, Tom! So happy you finally took the plunge again for a Laser! I want to race against you ASAP! Sorry I had to miss the Sailstice – not too unhappy to have missed the death rolls and crashes though! We gotta regatta soon!
Thanks for writing this article, Tom. Since this article comes up prominently on searches for “Laser sailing Bay Area” I thought I’d mention that we have a long list of resources for Laser District 24 (Northern California & Nevada) on this page: https://laser.org/district24.
You’ll see fleet contacts for the following locations within the Bay Area:
– Alameda Community Sailing Center
– Benicia Yacht Club
– Half Moon Bay Yacht Club
– Humboldt Yacht Club
– Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club
– Morro Bay Yacht Club
– Redwood City
– Richmond Yacht Club
– San Francisco Yacht Club
– Santa Cruz Yacht Club
– St. Francis Yacht Club
– Tahoe Yacht Club
You’ll also see our mailing list, current calendar, along with a list of websites to learn more about sailing and racing Lasers / ILCAs. Please email me (my email’s on the page above) if you have further questions. Hope to see you on the water!
– Al Sargent, Laser class District 24 secretary