Laser Intro
Today I was supposed to sail with Kelly, but she sent me text saying that she had to stay late at work. I arrived at the club and since nobody was looking for crew, I decided to sail a Laser. I was quite excited about it because a Laser is a single-handed boat that you don’t really sit in, but on it. It puts you into more contact with the water and by many people is considered a basic boat with very specific accessories/parts. This means that you cannot really have a good or a bad boat. A Laser is the same like any other Laser, more or less. So, skill is what counts.
Unfortunately things were a bit more complicated. The club Lasers’ sails, centreboards, rudders and tillers are in a garage that is all in a mess and you cannot find anything. Anyway, it took me a long time to find them and in the end it turns out that the kicker was not there.
A kicker is a combination of pulleys and ropes that holds the boom down.
Eventually I had to improvise and use a rope to hold the boom down and forget about it, because all the time I would be thinking that it will fail and I wouldn’t enjoy it. It actually worked, most of the time. Today’s sailing was quite good. At some point I was sailing along the boats that were racing and I was going faster than someone who was racing, and I was going at the some speed as someone else. This means I was doing something right, at least once. I consider this a progress. A couple of people commented about the lack of the kicker, but I could really see the funny side of it.
I think I like the Laser. It makes sailing feel more like a watersport even in the Welsh Harp. I didn’t sail for long, but it was a good “introduction” to Lasers. After sailing, in the bar, I was promised a brand new kicker worth £130 for Sunday, and I was also promised an introductory talk to racing. In the same time I was told that I am too heavy for crewing in a Merlin. I don’t mind that actually, at least someone was honest with me and I appreciate that. I am even heavy for a Laser, but at least on a Laser I am not affecting someone else’s racing performance. Unfortunately, I will not be able to race on Sunday, because I don’t know even how the starting procedure works, and “the talk” is going to take place on Sunday afternoon after racing.
So, I don’t know what I will do on Sunday, but most probably I will sail a Laser. Watch this space.