Some old Laser history on the board subject. When we started sailing Lasers, in the early 70's, a number of us in Seattle(Rich Hladky, etc) had been sailing I-14's that had true jibing centerboards that jibed automatically to windward as a result of the location of their centerboard pivot.
We applied that idea to the new Laser by jamming a hard rubber door stop on the aft/windward part of the board, switching it each tack. It probably angled the board 1-3 degrees. My memory is that we were very fast to windward for about 3-4 months until the practice was outlawed by Laser Class. I think the last time we used it before it was banned was the 1974 LA Midwinters, John Bertrand, Don Trask and I were 1,2,3 and very fast in light winds to windward.
Received on Fri Jun 6 14:15:43 2003