{"id":134,"date":"2006-05-03T22:54:00","date_gmt":"2006-05-03T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yiannis.co.uk\/captainslog\/laser-intro\/"},"modified":"2006-05-03T22:54:00","modified_gmt":"2006-05-03T21:54:00","slug":"laser-intro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yiannis.uk\/captainslog\/laser-intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Laser Intro"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/span><\/span>. I was quite excited about it because a Laser is a single-handed boat that you don’t really sit in, but on<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately things were a bit more complicated. The club Lasers’ sails, centreboards<\/span><\/span>, rudders<\/span><\/span> and tillers<\/span><\/span> 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<\/span><\/span> was not there.<\/p>\n

A kicker is a combination of pulleys and ropes that holds the boom <\/span>down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eventually I had to improvise and use a rope to hold the boom<\/span><\/span> 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u00a3130 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.<\/p>\n

So, I don’t know what I will do on Sunday, but most probably I will sail a Laser. Watch this space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… <\/p>\n

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