Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

The Aussie C5 rig, supported by the Laser class president and a variety of interests, but seen as totally unnecessary and counter-productive by most, arrived in Europe, as can be seen on this picture on Garda lake taken on Sept 29. Is this the beginning of the end of the Laser 4.7? The C5 rig, like the 4.7, is intended for those sailors out of the Optimist, Open Skiff, etc, and is therefore a direct competition to the 4.7 rig. Note: this article is available in French / article disponible en français. It has taken 20 years of hard work to establish the Laser 4.7 in Europe. Today, the Laser 4.7 is highly popular and attracts more youth sailors than the Laser Radial at most European regattas.  At the Europeans this year in Hyères, France, there were 397 competitors. It has been several years now that European Laser 4.7 regattas attract huge participation. In North America, there are encouraging signs of growth of the 4.7 rig, despite too many years of neglect.  For example

The confirmation by World Sailing of the Laser for the 2024 Olympics relied on " proposed arrangements" by the Laser class and is not without problems, to say the least. Among the issues are new boat shortages that are now again appearing in Europe and are expected to grow, as there are no signs that LaserPerformance will be re-instated soon. Afterwards, in one or two years, a flooding of the market is expected with a production over-capacity resulting from the appointment of at least 3 new builders. Also, among the issues, is the acceptation by World Sailing of a "debranding" of the boat (previously known as the Laser) ... A key document produced by World Sailing for its Council members has been brought to our attention. It outlines the recommendation by the World Sailing board to keep the Laser Olympic for 2024 and served as a basis for the unanimous vote by the Council. We largely covered this previously, including in our post « Lasers or « ILCA Equipment »

There was a surprise registration at Fall CORK in the Laser 4.7 fleet: Cort Snyder, from the Lauderdale Yacht Club in Florida, who won the prestigious Orange Bowl regatta in the Optimist in December last year, and who placed 4th overall at the Garda meeting in 2018, with over 1000 participants. Canadian Laser 4.7 sailor Noah Adler in action The Fall CORK regatta (CORK stands for Canadian Olympic-training Regatta, Kingston) was a 2 day event, held this year in summer like conditions. First day were light winds, and only 2 races were possible. For the second day, there were sustained winds of 12 to 15 knots, and 3 races were completed. Snyder won the regatta in the Laser 4.7 with 3 bullets and 2 second positions. Second in the Laser 4.7 was Noah Adler from Nova Scotia, the 2018 Canadian Optimist champion.  The Laser 4.7 fleet had 19 boats, versus 12 in the Standard and 68 in the Radial, which was won by Canadian sailing team sailor Coralie Vittecoq, from Québec. The standard flee

Lasers, ILCA Dinghies or other "ILCA Equipment" at the 2024 Olympics? While the World Sailing Council  unanimously confirmed the Laser for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Laser class announced that « ILCA Equipment » got approved by the World Sailing Council, thereby continuing the saga regarding the future name(s) of the boat. « The Board recommended to World Sailing's Council to confirm the appointment of the Laser as the Equipment for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy under the normal arrangements for an electronic vote » states the World Sailing communiqué. The communiqué by the Laser class ILCA st ates for its part that « World Sailing Council Unanimously Approves ILCA Equipment for 2024 Olympics. » There is only one mention of the Laser in the ILCA communiqué, but it’s in relation to the class, not the boat: « In May 2019, the World Sailing Council approved the re-selection of the Laser class for both Men’s and Women’s single handed equipment. »