Laser – A brief overview
Description
The Laser – A moderately priced strict one design racing dinghy where the competition is between the helmspersons* & not the equipment. (Ian Bruce 1970)
*Actually Ian Bruce said “helmsmen” but it is the twenty first century & I am sure he would not mind the edit! In fact I am sure that he would be delighted that more women are sailing.
Ian Bruce was the person mostly responsible for both the concept of the Laser & for putting it into production. Ian Bruce started sailing whilst studying engineering at McGill University in Canada becoming a World Champion (International 14) & Olympian (Finn & Star). Perhaps precisely because he came to sailing a little later in life he soon recognised that to enable greater participation, including his own, the sport needed a cheap(er) mass produced one design class & the Laser was his solution. Performance Sailcraft 2000 / Les Voiliers Performance 2000 was his business in (bi-lingual) Canada with Performance Sailcraft – Australia, Performance Sailcraft – Europe, Performance Sailcraft – Japan & Performance Sailcraft – San Rafael licenced to build Lasers worldwide.
Being a qualified engineer, industrial designer (Syracuse University), boatbuilder & sailor Ian Bruce was well placed to build the prototypes, work out all the necessary manufacturing tolerances, produce the construction manual & tooling required in order to mass produce the Laser rather than for it be another boat built by craftsmen with the inevitable variations. The Laser was the first SMOD (Single Manufacturer One Design) class.
Whilst perhaps not perfect, for fifty years the objective was to produce the Laser as a strict one design class at a moderate price. As a result the class grew, competition became intense, it spread to over a hundred countries becoming truly international & both the male & female Olympic single handed classes.
Then, after fifty years, ILCA decided that it needed to change the class which it justified by a somewhat less than unanimous vote of its members (61-39%). As a result the Laser was “re-branded” the ILCA, LaserPerformance (by then owners of Performance Sailcraft) were dismissed as builders, moulds were taken off existing boats & a number of independent builders engaged to build boats. Whilst ILCA may, or may not, have been acting in the best interests of its members it is perhaps questionable whether or not it acted in the best interests of the wider Laser community since the majority of Laser owners, not being members of ILCA, did not have a vote…
The problems that have emerged since are that the copy moulds do not seem to be properly matched, are not identical with skilled workers & economies of scale lost. The net result is that costs have increased & the boat that was built to be moderately priced now costs more than ever with costs inevitably set to increase further as the carbon booms, carbon masts & Mylar sails, currently under development, are introduced. ILCA itself has also become an expensive administrative organisation.
Thus the ILCA is steadily diverging from what Ian Bruce conceived the Laser to be.
Over the past few years Laser owners have bought a range of sails, spars & equipment including ILCA in order to keep their Lasers on the water but with the dilution of the one design principle.
Sail & Sport has provided Lasers & Laser equipment for many years remaining true to the moderately priced strict one design principle. Recently more clubs have approached Sail & Sport for a cooperative approach, particularly with sails, in order to return their club’s fleet racing to the Laser’s previous uniformity & more moderate cost. A growing number of Laser owners & clubs now seem to be of the opinion that if ILCA want to diverge that’s fine but they themselves wish for the Laser to continue as the Laser.
It is Sail & Sport’s belief that at fifty the Laser had become an integral & important part of club sailing, not just in the UK but worldwide, providing the best & most cost effective club racing whilst simultaneously being the best training platform which, if allowed, could well continue in that role for another fifty years… The Laser, which unlike many other boats, can be sailed on almost any piece of water, can be sailed by a novice whilst remaining a challenge for the best & fittest sailors. Simply put the Laser represents the most fun per pound, dollar, euro (or whatever) spent!
Sail & Sport’s range of Laser equipment is intended to continue the legacy of Ian Bruce by providing moderately priced one design sailing.
Sail & Sports range of Laser equipment is not the absolute cheapest because:
- Everything costs something!
- Quality materials cost.
- Quality control (or uniformity control if you prefer) costs.
However, Sail & Sport does aim to continue the Laser one design principle & support club racing by concentrating on providing the best, value for money Laser equipment available.
