Laser Cheat Sheet

by Doug

When I was 20 and living in my native Montreal, I bought myself an unusual $1,800 present - a one-way ticket to Sydney. Yes, I was restless and yes, that's what it cost back in 1971. One of my goals was to crew on one of Sydney's famous 18-footer skiffs. But the skipper that I was introduced to talked me out of it. He said, "For every hour on the water, you'll have to spend three hours working on the boat." I asked, "What would you do if you were me?" He paused and then said, "I'd call a gentleman by the name of Frank Bethwaite."

2012 with Frank in North Sydney

Thus began a 40-year friendship with the most remarkable man that I have ever met. Frank was the father of the NS-14, a very simple but wicked fast development class with a small sail and no trapeze. Yet it planed upwind. Every high-performance dinghy in the world can trace its roots back to the NS-14 and, of course, Frank's son Julian went on to design several classes including the 49'er.

2012 Pam with Julian at Bethwaite Design

So at the ripe old age of 20, I became the race secretary of the NS-14 association and a protégé of Frank Bethwaite... talk about luck!!!



1971 Frank and Julian sailing their NS-14

[I took this picture in at Northbridge SC. There's an interesting story behind it that helps explain why jibs are so efficient, and will be the subject of another post. Frank used this picture in his first book High Performance Sailing.] In spite of its high performance, the NS-14 was actually designed for husband and wife crews. So one of the challenges was finding a simple way to set up the controls. Frank had a brilliant solution. For the three wind settings (light, medium, and fresh) he had "datum marks" of one, two, and three red dots on all of the controls. Every NS-14 Frank built had these so that anyone could set up the sails perfectly every time.

Fast forward 38 years and Pam is interested in learning how to race a Laser. We would talk for hours and she would always say, "Make it simpler." So I would write things down - how to set up the controls, the strategy for starting, playing the competition, etc. But it seemed that every time we talked about it, she would say, "Make it simpler." The result is the cheat sheet in the right column which I laminate and give out at clinics. Much of what I know is here.  The purpose of the cheat sheet is to allow anyone to set the controls correctly for all lake conditions and simply focus on boat handling and tactics.  The controls should be the easiest part of sailing a Laser.

A disclaimer: The settings I recommend are basic and have served me well when sailing on lakes in Dallas.  There may be variances that others use that work but these settings should be competitive enough to keep you at the front of the fleet.  Major events like world championships tend to be in open-water and these settings are different.  Coincidently, Brett Beyer has written about this in Frank's upcoming book and he has generously agreed to give his perspective of settings in a future post. Describing my cheat sheet will take several posts - we'll start with the three columns that, not surprisingly, can be traced back to Frank's datum marks.

When you buy a boat, you're really buying three for the price of one, but only one of them has to be fast. For the one that you sail in light air, you have to be smart. Speed without smarts means you'll go quickly the wrong way. For medium conditions, you need absolute speed so you need to be fast. For above a certain wind strength (15 for me), boatspeed goes out the window and its all about conditioning, so you need to be fit. Setting up and racing a Laser is all about being smart, being fast, and being fit.

Your weight determines your strength and weakness. If you do not weigh much, you need to be smart and win the light races. If you're weight is average, you have a chance of winning in all conditions but you'll need boatspeed. If you're heavy, you had better be in shape.

I do not know of any single person who is the fastest in all conditions, so it's best to perfect your own conditions and then be reasonably competitive in the others. For example, a race in Laser world championships will not start in very light conditions (darn!) so I need to be really fast in medium conditions and hopefully fit enough to hang on in windy conditions. My finishes in a 72-boat fleet at the 1999 Master Worlds made this really clear - in conditions under 15 they were 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3 but over 15 were 7, 8, 9, 10, 10. I have worked hard to improve my heavy-air sailing but sailors from countries that produce great heavy-weather sailors (AUS, NZL) are now getting really fast in the lighter conditions, as we saw recently in Brisbane. Laser sailing will continue to evolve.

In another post, we'll look at setting up the controls before the start and then going upwind.

NS-14 Photo Contest

By Doug

I've used this picture on a few posts and would like to add a little more about its story.

It's from way back in 1971 when I jumped into a small runabout and took pictures of Frank Bethwaite sailing with Julian at Northbridge Sailing Club. Most sailing pictures are boring because they're taken too far away, so my goal was to get some close-up shots.

The NS-14 (which stands for Northbridge Senior) is an amazing "development class" because, as you can see in the picture, they're planing upwind with no trapeze and the boat has just 100 square feet of sail. In fact, its DNA can be found in many other classes including Julian's 49er.

Frank commented at the time that the pictures were the best he had seen for NS-14s and he later used this picture on page 254 of High Performance Sailing. 

Thirty years later told he how this picture changed his thinking about how rigs work. 

So, who can tell us what Frank saw and why it changed his thinking?

Malcolm Eggins

By Doug

It's a sad day for Aussie sailing with the passing of Malcolm Eggins. I met Malcolm in 1972 at my first NS-14 regatta at the NSW State Championships. He won the event in a way that I will never forget. 

Every high-performance dinghy can trace its roots back to this class that was started by Frank Bethwaite. As a development class, it's rules were simple - 100 square feet of sail, no spinnaker, and no trapeze. You could build your own hull and sails in any way you want. And the innovation and refinement resulted in the speed that has been passed down to all high-performance classes. 

I had just built my first NS-14 based on a Mark II kit designed by Frank and it was launched at this state championship. Being brand new to the class, I was not competitive. Malcolm's boat was memorable for two reasons: it was the most beautiful woodwork that I had ever seen, and it was the first boat to plane upwind in the conditions at Jervius Bay that weekend. Remember - 1972, no trapeze, just 100 square feet of sail, and planing upwind! Malcolm won in a really competitive fleet on pure boatspeed - it was a pleasure to watch. 

It was great to hear Frank's comments on Malcolm's design. While whey had worked independently, their resulting designs had many similarities. They were true sailing pioneers that, in my opinion, helped put Australia on the sailing map.

Thank you Art Mayer

By Doug

The Aussies dominated the recent Master Worlds with Gavin, Brett, and Mark each winning their divisions. I've had a 40-year connection with Australian Laser sailors, but that was never the plan. I went to Sydney to learn how to be a better crew, not how to be a better skipper.

As I mentioned in this post, I arrived in Sydney as a 20 year old kid out to see the world and to crew on one of the famous 18-footers. My first stop was Double Bay that had one of the two two skiff sailing clubs. After some very strong beers (12% alcohol!) I was introduced to Art Mayer (related to Louis B Mayer) who owned one of the older skiffs. We went to his boat shed and I saw something that I had never seen before - lots and lots of controls on a low, sleek hull built for speed. 

After a few minutes of chatting, Art looked at me and said, "this is not what you want to be sailing."

I was crushed. "Why not? This is why I came to Sydney."

"You see, for every hour on the water, you'll have to spend three hours working on this boat."

"What would you do if you were me?"

Art paused for a moment and then said, "I'd call a gentleman by the name of Frank Bethwaite."

It turned out to be some of the best advice I ever got, and began a 45-year friendship with the remarkable Bethwaite family. Within 2 weeks of arriving in Sydney, I was helping Frank in his factory and taking pictures of him and Julian testing different settings.

Used on page 254 of Frank's High Performance Sailing. Years later, Frank told me how
this picture changed his thinking about how rigs work.

At Frank's invitation, I became the race secretary of this development class, called the NS-14, and today its DNA can be found in every high performance boat in the world. Frank, Julian, Nicky, and Mark have all been at the leading edge and have all won world championships. Their friendship and mentoring changed my life.

So without Art's suggestion, what would skiff sailing have been like? And what would I have been doing as crew? I found this vintage gem made by Art perhaps featuring the boat I would have been sailing...

Of course, my path would have crossed with the Bethwaites because of the huge impact that Frank and Julian had on skiff sailing. Here's what it looks like today.

This looks like a blast, but it's not something that I could have physically done for very long. I could well have ended up crewing on bigger boats. For me, staying on as a skipper in smaller boats like NS-14s, then Moths, and then Lasers was definitely the best option for me. I treasure the pure competition that Lasers offer, the travel to events around the world, the sharing on this blog, and many friends that Pam and I have made.

Thank you Art Mayer. 

Centerboards

By Doug

Some of the recent comments on Pam's cheating post focused on centerboards. I have some very strong opinions on this.

When I first arrived in Sydney more than 40 years ago, I was fortunate to meet Frank Bethwaite and was able to assist with some wind tunnel testing and NS-14 class management. Frank's company at the time was called Starboard Products (now Bethwaite Design) and one of its specialties was making rudders and centerboards. Frank started with raw lumber, used an ingenious routing machine to get the rough shape, then shaped by hand, and then painted them with 2/3 resin and 1/3 thinner. The results were spectacular, and all of the high-performance boats in Sydney used them.

One of Frank's first overseas clients was a Tornado sailor in Hawaii. Frank made a beautiful set of CBs from alternating light and dark wood, and the craftsmanship would have put most cabinet-makers to shame. They were beautiful, but the best part came later. The Tornado sailor was so pleased that he wrote Frank explaining that they were so fast that he had to de-tune the rest of his boat just to make it fair for the other sailors. I learned that, yes, CB shape is really important.

The Starboard Products logo (drawn from memory) shows Frank's belief that sailing is really about two foils - one in the air and one in the water. It was a great logo because it showed the importance of what very few people at the time knew - what's under the boat is just as important as what's on top.

Sadly, wooden foils were phased out in the late 80's. At the 1992 US Laser Masters, one of the competitors brought along wooden foils that were in pretty bad shape. But I knew that Frank could restore them, so I traded my new white foils for the old wooden ones (the guy thought I was nuts). Off they went to Sydney, Frank restored them (with notes assuring me that the shape had not been altered), and Mark brought them to the 1993 Master Worlds in New Zealand. Call me old fashioned, but having beautiful, legal, wooden foils from Frank was like owning a piece of history.

And then someone objected, saying that this would give me an unfair advantage. I thought, how can this be? Everything was from an authorized builder and the foils were restored to their original shape. Jeff Martin's decision was that he could not prevent someone from protesting me, so I decided to sail the Worlds using the rudder and CB supplied with the charter boat. My gorgeous wooden blades have a sentimental value but have never been used at a national or Worlds competition.

People must have had some pretty strong feelings because after the Kiwi Worlds, the class added a rule stating that a wooden rudder or CB could not be used on boats manufactured after a certain date. I have never understood this because they perform the same and its easier to alter painted blades.

Fast forward to another national championship, where a good US sailor and I went out to practice. This fellow had the most amazing trick - going upwind in waves he would sail with his bow one foot behind my rudder... and stay there. Like, I could not shake him loose. It was like he was drafting behind me upwind. I thought, that's a trick I have to learn because it would be like a get-out-of-jail-free card off the starting line if I was pinched off by the boat below me - I'd just slip behind and then draft. But when we switched places, I could not and have never been able to make this drafting work.

On shore, I asked this fellow how he did it. He just smiled and said, "it's the centerboard." He explained that he had borrowed this tricked-out CB from a very well-known NA sailor and it made all the difference. This was my first exposure to altered CB's. All I know is there appears to be more than one way to make them faster and it costs at least $500. I have since seen them used at national and Worlds events, but people don't like to talk about it. The closest explanation I ever got was "if you want to win, you have to have one."

The Aussie Laser that I bought 3 years ago came with the brown CB and rudder (these now come painted white). While I do not understand the reason the manufacturing process was changed, I liked the brown boards  because they would be nearly impossible to alter.

And I disagree with those who think that you need a cheater CB to win. I've won two Master Worlds and, with some hard work and a little luck, look forward to maybe doing it again.

Aussie Success - Another Perspective

By Doug

Korean Master Worlds - Aussie debrief beverages

Having lived in both Australia and the US, I have a pretty good feeling for what makes Aussie sailors so competitive. Where do I begin? How can a country with less people than southern California produce so many great sailors?

A major factor is the passion that the Aussies have for all sports. They play Aussie rules football and in Melbourne alone there are ten teams that play each other. Imagine an NFL city playing five games at the same time!  Here are some examples of the Aussie sailing passion that come to mind.

Aussie sailors have many classes to choose from. If you're a speed junkie, you can sail a skiff with more than 1,000 square feet of sail. If you like to tinker, you can design and make your own hull and sails and compete with other NS-14 sailors. If you're a competition junkie, there is nothing as pure as the Aussie Lasers.

In the mid-70's I was fortunate to be a part of the Balmoral Beach Laser fleet in Sydney. It was amazing and had some of the best sailing of my life. There were no facilities and no dues - it was just a beach where everyone met. Heck, you were lucky if you could even find a nearby parking place. But the sailing was world-class, and the sailors in that fleet went on to win more than a dozen world champions in multiple classes. The format was simple - show up, sail, and then talk about it over a few beers. 

The Aussies know how to work hard (at sailing) and play hard (after sailing). They take their sailing very seriously, but they know when to kick back and enjoy. Consider yourself lucky if they invite you to join them after a hard day on the water. At one Master Worlds, the hosts had trouble hooking up the beer keg. After waiting patiently for 30 minutes, the Aussies left and the party was over.

They encourage and welcome competition. Before the Master Worlds in Terrigal I wanted to practice on Sydney Harbor with friends and was supplied with a really good Laser. After several days of hard practice, I was charged the "mate rate" charter fee - a bottle of wine. I made sure that it was a good one.

While Aussie mateship is strong, they expect everyone to know the rules and they do not cut any slack when on the water. I remember one Master Worlds race where we were sailing the outer trapezoid course. At the bottom of the run, an Aussie was in first, jibed, and went screaming off on the lower reach... instead of heading back upwind again. No one called him back. They expect everyone to know the rules.

For the recent Master Worlds in Brisbane, I arrived early to get used to the conditions that were sure to be different than the little biddy waves we get in Dallas. I was there for nearly three weeks and every single day a lone 470 went out to practice. It was Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page. Some days it was windy and lots of fun, and other days it was very light and boring. But out they went on their own every day to practice. And they won Olympic gold.

So, it's really simple: have a passion, work hard, know the rules, love competition, and practice, practice, practice. The best example of this I have seen here in the US is Paul Foerster preparing for the Athens Olympics. And yes, he too won Olympic gold.

The Aero – My First Thoughts

By Doug

This is my 40^th year sailing a Laser and we have seen many new classes challenge the Laser without success. I recently competed in a new RS Aero for the first time.

Things I liked

The Aero reminded me of sailing an NS-14 in Sydney, which is the highest compliment I can give. It’s a skiff hull with a fine entry that loves sailing upwind in waves and anything that comes over the bow goes through the cockpit and out the open back. However, the fine entry makes sailing downwind a little tricky compared to a Laser because it’s easier to bury the bow.

The Aero loves these conditions

An Aero comes with three sail/bottom sections to choose from: a 50, 70, and 90 (indicating the size of the sail). I sailed the 90 on the first day that was breezy and the 70 on the second that was less (with more experience I would have done the opposite). Both rigs are beautifully balanced which is a real compliment to the designers.

The curved deck is comfortable for hiking but next time I’ll wear hiking pants to get my butt a little higher.

The attention to details is really impressive. I liked having a halyard and there’s a pocket in the sail for its storage. There’s lots of carbon fiber to keep the weight down, the control lines automatically retract, liner in the trunk to hold the centerboard in place, and there are many more examples of good design.

Here's a short video of the racing, with first-time sailors  right up to national champions.

Things that surprised me

The biggest problem is that for many people the Aero will not be self-rescuing. After tipping, it's easy to get upright but getting into the cockpit from the water is a challenge because the boat just tips to windward. There are tricks like letting off the vang, or grabbing the mainsheet, or climbing in over the transom but these are difficult in a breeze. I tipped in one race and it took several minutes to get going - enough time for two rescue boats to circle me and ask if I needed help.

Many people have told me that sailing a Laser is hard on their knees - something that has never been a problem for me. But the Aero's double bottom (to drain water out the back) means that there is little difference in height between the side deck and cockpit floor. For this reason, most moved around on their knees which for me was uncomfortable.

In some circles, I'm called the barefoot sailor. The Aero cockpit floor has a rough non-skid finish, so being on your knees means that the tops of your feet take a beating.

There will be no barefoot Aero sailors!

To sum up

From a design perspective, the Aero is a worthy challenger to the Laser. The Laser politics and the lack of dealer support in many countries could not come at a worse time. If the Laser does not get its act together, we'll continue to lose many of our good sailors to Aero fleets.

Thanks to Rob Zedric for the videos and some of the pictures.
Thanks to KO Sailing for the charter.