New Zealand Laser Association

Commercial problems with the Laser trademarks mean that the Laser classes are being renamed.
With the new logo shown above.

New Name	Previous Name
ILCA 7	Laser Standard
ILCA 6	Laser Radial
ILCA 4	Laser 4.7
ILCA 7 Masters	Laser Standard Masters
ILCA 6 Masters	Laser Radial Masters

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Laser class. Over that time the class has become synonymous with single handed dinghy sailing worldwide, from mucking around off the beach to the absolute peak of competition, the Olympics, and pretty much everything in between. While the hull and the basic design of the boat has remained unchanged for 50 years the class has progressively introduced new rigs; the Radial and 4.7, and developed an extremely strong worldwide Masters division to widen its appeal. It now has a worldwide following of sailors from under 12 to over 80 years of age. About 220,000 Lasers have been built and it is a measure of the success of the design that most of these are still sailing.

 

In spite of all this success there have been many changes to the commercial background of the class over the years, with a litany of manufacturer changes, trademark ownership changes etc, but through all that turbulence the fundamental brilliance of the boat has seen its success continue and its status as the preeminent dinghy class in the world grow.

 

Unfortunately, one side effect of the latest commercial ruckus is that there has been what has proven to be an unresolvable dispute between the owner of the Laser trademarks in most of the world, excluding Oceania, and the international class and World Sailing. This now requires the class to change its sail logo and rig identifications as listed above. While this problem does not apply directly to New Zealand (or Australia) we have made the decision to move with the rest of the world and change to the new logo and naming conventions.

There is absolutely no need to change any existing class legal equipment but all class legal sails and equipment sold from now on and all future official class correspondence will use the new logo and conventions. You may have already seen the new ILCA logo appearing on sails and from now on will see that and the new rig naming convention on boats and at regattas around the country. Its only a name and logo change, there is no change to the boats. The new naming conventions use the new class name and approximate sail area of each rig.

 

Its still the boat we all know and love, it will just have a different symbol on the sail and a different names in the headlines. So don't worry, its still the largest adult dinghy class in the world, its still the mens and womens single handed Olympic boat and the World Youth single handed boat for both boys and girls. It will still have the most World Championships of any class with the largest number of sailors and you will still see lots of them at pretty much every regatta in New Zealand. 

 

It's just got some new names.

Nick Page

The Wellington ILCA / Laser Champs were run as part of the Wellington Centreboard Champs, a total of 114 boats making the most of the fantastic Worser Bay 'stadium racing' venue and typical Wellington winds. 

 

Saturday 27th

Breezy NNW 15 ~ 20 knots with 25 knot gusts.

15 Lasers (9 x Standards & 6 x Radials) lined up to start as one fleet.

For the Standards, Albert Stanley (Open) aced Day One with four bullets, followed by Matt St Armand (Master, Worser Bay) and Simon Beck (Master, Muritai).

Staying up the right way on the downwinds was a challenge for some of us at the rear of the fleet with a few powerful gusts sweeping down the course.

In the Radials, Edmund Tam (Master) lead the way, also with a clean 1-1-1-1 record.

He was chased by Holly Curtis (Women) Chris McCarthy (Master) & Steve Harris (Master).

 

Sunday 28th

Day Two, 18 ~ 20 knot NNW with gusts up in the high 20's.

Some Lasers (and the entire Paper Tiger fleet) decided that Saturdays hard slog was enough and stayed away from Sundays racing.

But with Race Officer Shayne Priddle having sent us out for an extra race on the Saturday, it was good to know that we only had to survive two races on Sundays even breezier day to get a total of six races sailed for the championship.  

For both fleets the order remained much the same, Albert continued his winning Standard ways with two more wins, followed by Matt and then Niall Pearson (Muritai).  

In the Radials, Edmund 'gained' a UFD in Race 5 but bounced back with a another win in Race 6, Chris & Holly chasing behind. 

 

Overall results from the two days were: 

Standards - Albert, Matt then Simon.

Radials - Edmund, Chris then Holly.

• Standard
• Radial

• Standard
• Radial

NO COBWEBS LEFT

After loosing day 2 to 40+ knot gales we were all hoping the forecast was correct and wind would moderate by the 1pm start time today. And it did, a little. So today all fleets completed 2 races in a strong northerly Wellington “breeze” which gusted over 30 knots at times through the afternoon, accompanied by a 1 to 2m waves churned up by the incoming tide. There were plenty of swimmers and a bit of  broken gear but at the end of the day the club was buzzing with tales of survival and recovery. The stadium racing concept, sailing in the bay immediately in front of the club, absolutely came into its own today, allowing spectators a great view of the action and some, like GGM Mike Keeton, the ability to pop into the beach to recover from a wee swim and grab a cup o’ tea between races. 

 

The conditions certainly did not faze the top sailors. In the Standards Sam Meech again nailed both starts and landed 2 bullets, with George Gautry always in hot pursuit in both races. The two Luke’s; Deegan and Cashmore, Eroni Leilua and standout Masters Andrew Dellabarca were again in touch as the chasing bunch, with a gap back to the rest. Rob Woodward and Tony Nicholson had a great battle for the second Masters slot while only 3 points now separate Owen and Doug Anderson at the head of the GGM field, with Owen suffering from getting a bit keen at the start of the first race.

 

In the Radials, Youth sailor Thomas Mulcahy really stamped his authority on the contest with 2 more bullets. Nearest rival Caleb Armit (Y) was unlucky to collect an OCS in race 2, while 3rd placed Matthew Rist handled the conditions exceptionally well to secure a second and third today to stay in touch with the leading pair. His days results were matched by the leading woman, NZL squad member Olivia Christie, who consequently opened up a useful points gap on fellow squad member Annabelle Rennie Younger. Other standouts in the fleet were Blake Wood (Y), who’s 4th and 6th gets him up to 7th overall going into the final day, and Greta Pilkington, who had two top 10 finishes to secure her position as leading female youth.

 

In the Radial Masters today saw the top of the leader board tighten right up. With local Ed Tam winning the first race and Dunedin’s Jenny Armstrong the second only 2 points now separate the top 3, with Phil Wild just holding on the lead. These 3 are followed by a group of GM’s led by Pete Thomas, while 5th placed Mike Knowsley was a touch unlucky to fit in a quick swim while completing a penalty turn for touching the top mark while near the front in race 2.

 

Racing is scheduled to start early on the final day tomorrow, which looks to be fortunate with another gale warning coming into effect at lunchtime tomorrow. Hopefully we will squeeze in some final day racing and complete what has to date been an extremely successful, if rather challenging, regatta.