Ballast for Upwind performance?

Quote: Originally posted by JFG104 on 19 March 2009

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I've heard that mast foot on early models was not at same location as later models. Can anyone confirm this? JF

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The single biggest improvement I made to my boat was replacing the stock traveler system with the harken windward sheeting system.  It’s expensive but I believe it’s the best bang for the buck.

Our lapper goes on the inboard track; I’m pretty sure with the cars almost all the way forward.  When you are fully sheeted the clew of the lapper should almost touch the block on the car.  I’ve never tried the outboard track but I suppose if you had big waves it would help. 

The stock lapper sweeps the deck.  I believe it’s a 106% (maybe 108%?) overlap.  I thought seriously about changing my rating to lapper only, but we sail in a lot of light air and spend too much time reaching.  In any event, once the wind’s up to 12-kts you can switch to the lapper.    

We are in Tampa, Florida.  Our typical wind is light which explains our higher PHFR rating of 132.  We rate even with S2 9.2s and J-30s.  There are a few Soveral 30s who rate within a second.  The J-27s owe us 9-sec per mile.

But when the wind is up around 18 we have no problems beating the J-27 boat for boat if we sail as I outline above.

Jez rees says, "Short courses over an hour and half, heavy weather and in a mixed IRC fleet is maybe not the best place for a Laser to shine. "

I'm not sure about IRC; we sail PHRF. But in those conditions we are untouchable provided we have at least 6. (Eight's even faster!) Here are some pointers for these conditions:

Up-wind:

1. Lapper and full main should be fine up to at least 22-kts.

2. All hand s except skipper hike. Hike hard. All asses almost falling off the boat.

3. Outhaul, cunningham, back stay on... a lot!

4. Absolutely whale on main sheet. Sheeting the main hard flattens both the main and lapper. I only have a 5:1 main-sheet so in these conditions I actually set the tiller down for a second and tighten the sheet with both hands. (I long ago left my “fine trim” on the dock.)

5. Vang: just pull slack out after number 4 above.

6. Skipper works traveler constantly with the tiller to keep the boat flat and moving. Target speed is in the high 5-kts range. If you fall below 5-kts you are probably pinching too much. Don't worry that the competition seems to be out pointing you. Learn how to work traveler and steer simultaneously – you can't afford the body inboard to help the skipper with the main.  If your traveler doesn't work well, fix or replace it. (search this forum for “traveler” for suggestions.) I can't stress enough how important the traveler is.

Number 6 takes practice but it is the key to winning with the laser 28 in anything over 12-kts. (And many other fractional rigged boats for that matter.)

Down wind:

1. Hand mainsheet off to one of the crew. They don't need to be out on the rail now and having the extra hand back there helps tremendously.

2. Vang off 3-inches or so. Use the leach at the top batten as a guide. It should be parallel with the boom or slightly twisted off.

3. If it's really windy designate a crew member to keep the vang in their hand. Their job is to ease (read “blow-off entirely") the vang if the boat starts to roll out.   My vang line reaches back to the cockpit.

4. Ease cunningham, outhaul, and back stay. Do not forget to put them back on before you get to the leeward mark. Particularly the outhaul.

5. If you are sailing dead down wind set both the windward and leeward tweakers so they're about even with the lifelines. This will cut down on the rocking.