What the winners use??

Oh yes, we have rake. You can find our boat on the dock by just looking for the "banana" rig. This weekend I will back off the forestay another 1 1/2 inch to achieve the magical number 32 feet, 6 3/8 inch. But I am still concerned the back stay cascade will only have about 16" of adjustments. I just had the cascade replaced with amsteel, so I could send the cascade back to the shop to have one of it's line shortened. Also still looking for an answer on how much slack in my head stay. I have adjusted so that it's "snug" right now, but after reading these post I see that I need to back it off a little and it will give the head sail more power.

Hi Seawolf, My opinion would be to set the forestay length at 9.932m pin to pin as you've done. Set the shrouds as you've done and look at the rake and pre-bend.
Obviously you're setting it for medium conditions. The backstay adjustment will depend on how your backstay is built so you can't really go on that. We need really to put more pull into ours but I'm too frightened of the 1986 mast and will flog the main when overpowered.
Have a look at this image for the amount of "banana" we use:
http://farroutlaser28.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/mast-rake.html

Hi WarBird,

In most conditions, you want to have the water line parallel to the water. That's what we try to do except in planning conditions of course.

We race with 6 on the boat and always try to go by the rule "No more than 2 people in the cockpit". If you have more than 2, chances are your weight is too far back!

Going upwind in most conditions, we have the helmsmen and the main sail trimmer at their normal positions. The rest of the crew stacks on the rail with the first crew right on the shrouds (shoulder almost touching it) and the other crew members next to this guy and next to each other.

In very light conditions, we might have one guy in front of the shrouds since some of the crew will on the leeward side for heel and further back than normal to keep out of the way of the forward sail.

Going downwind, only the helm and spinnaker guy trimmer are in the cockpit. The mainsail trimmer is holding the boom out, the guy flying the spinnaker is standing right next to the windward shroud and the other two members position themselves to keep the waterline parallel to the water, typically sitting very close to the shrouds. In heavier wind, we might have a guy standing in the stairs looking back.

Thank you for your reply Frank. I think its very likely that the Laser will not be available until March/April of next year. I will be going to see it then in northern Chile then and will decide how to ship it back either to Europe or to north America.
I will get you details as soon as I can. Its pretty basic it hasnt had anything much done to it, but it has all the necessities.  Bear with me and I will get back to you.
Regards
Jacqui

Hey guys - I'm new to the page and also new to Laser 28's.............I may have one to sell early next year. Would there  be any interest in buying it ?    At the moment its in northern Chile and being looked after there in the marina in Iquique, but it can be exported to wherever.
Sorry to be a bit vague but its been very difficult finding any reference at all to Laser 28 apart from a page that appears to be out of date.
I dont know if this is even the right place to post this message. Some help here would be appreciated. Regards Jacqui

Hi Slipaweh,

You will need to depower the sails. Here is what I would do:

1- Set the lapper block to the position that gives you good speed and drive. Since you are only 2 on the boat, the position might be one hole behind the ideal position (full crew block position) to give it more twist.

2- Flatten the outhaul, the Laser 28 likes a flat foot on the main.

3- Put lots of backstay on. In 12 knots with 2 people, you'll probably be at maximum backstay setting. Remember that the backstay is the "Power control" for the whole boat because it flattens both sails. It flattens the main by bending the mast and flattens the jib as a result of increased rig tension which reduces headstay sag.

4- Pull hard on the main sheet to close the leech (this gives you pointing ability). Drop the traveller to keep the boat as flat as possible. If you still have too much heel, try easing a few inches on the main sheet to increase twist, you will loose a bit of pointing but will go faster if you can make the boat sail flatter.

5- Head up (feather) in puffs to keep the boat flat.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Hmmm, could be almost anything or a number of things. I'm not consistently in the winners circle but here are some things you might try, {and note that opinions vary so this is just some food for thought).
When I'm real slow, the first thing I think of is the prop. Sometimes I can feel it spinning w/ the engine in neutral and shifting into gear will get it to close. Sometimes the prop is fouled w/ weeds and needs to be cleared by hand so it will close properly when sailing.
Then I would say to make sure your lapper is trimmed smartly so the leech is not bowing out past the tip of the spreader. If the lapper is not trimmed, the driver will sail too far off the wind to find the slot and cause excessive healing.
On the main, when I sail alone, I start out with lots of twist. So, traveler up, no vang, backstay on (to depower the top of the main) then trim the main till the boom is on center or you're over powered {this much twist would not be considered racing trim... more like survival trim but I've seen a fair number of short handed crews win races w/ this trim}. From this point of trim you would want to work on flattening the main so you get a better wing shape; keep hardening the main and letting the traveler down until you get a balance of heel, control, and speed.
john

Yes, good point, we use that method also but forgot to mention it.


Edited by lucgmix - 12 June 2009 at 12:10pm

Also, remember that the mast rake length is measured from center pin to center pin. To measure it, we hoist someone in the mast with a boat chair so they can hold the measuring tape at the top center pin of the forestay and the person on deck will pull on the tape to make it tight and get a more precise measurement.

Have fun!

Hi fatjohnz,

Do you mean your rake is 32 feet 8.75 inches? If that's the case, it's a lot of rake.

As you know, playing with the forestay will tighten or loosen the whole rig but it will also change the ratio between the uppers and the lowers.

Check post 20 May 2009 at 1:11pm in this thread. The subject of mast rake and tensions is covered.

Changing the forestay length will affect the lowers more than the uppers so if you tighen the forestay, you will need to loosen the lowers more than the uppers to keep the same ratio.