Laser 4.7: All You Need to Know! A Webinar with Coach Agustin Ferrario

A Webinar to Discover the Amazingly Successful Laser of the Teens!

The Laser 4.7, the smallest of the three Laser rigs, has steadily grown to become immensely popular in Europe. In North America, there is growing interest in the Laser 4.7, with fleets emerging in locations such as Nova Scotia, Florida, Ontario and Alberta. Trends are really encouraging. There were 66 participants in the 4.7 at the Canadian Youth Nationals this past August in Kingston, Ontario. This upcoming week-end, there are nearly 30 registrations for the Florida District championships in the Laser 4.7. There is an even higher number of registrations for the upcoming Orange Bowl Youth Regatta in Miami. Globally, it's in Europe that the Laser 4.7 is the most established, with huge fleets regularly exceeding 400 participants.


With increasingly large numbers of sailors graduating each year out of the Optimist, as well as classes such as the O’Pen Skiff, the Laser 4.7 offers an opportunity for a smooth transition with a single-handed boat that is particularly suited to teenagers. While the Laser 4.7 is a proven and highly successful boat, there are still coaches, club officials and parents who remain on the fence, not convinced that the Laser 4.7 is the right way to go for single-handed sailing after the Optimist. This webinar seeks to address the concerns usually heard about the 4.7.

This webinar presents the Laser 4.7, how the racing looks like, who the Laser 4.7 youth sailors are, the characteristics of the boat, the various aspects to consider to transition in the boat, and also to transition out of it after say 2, 3 or 4 years, according to the particular situation of the sailor. The webinar presents many pictures as well as video clips, to visualize what Laser 4.7 sailing is all about.

Based on the succesful experience in growing the Laser 4.7 in Nova Scotia, the webinar addresses key questions one typically has about the 4.7, and how to grow, in practice, a fleet at the level of your club or region.

See below a more detailed outline of the webinar, which is presented by Jean-Pierre Kiekens and Agustin Ferrario.

About the speakers: Jean-Pierre is a youth sailing expert, with extensive knowledge about the Optimist, the Laser, and youth sailing in general. Agustin Ferrario is the head coach of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. He has been instrumental in successfully developing Laser 4.7 fleets in Nova Scotia. He is also regularly involved with the national teams representing Canada at the World Sailing Youth Worlds.

Laser 4.7 Webinar: Outline 

- What about Laser 4.7 racing?
- What about Laser 4.7 sailors?
- Laser 4.7: Key Information
- The 4.7 International Success
- The Laser 4.7 Produces Champions (video)
- The 4.7 as a Platform for Further Singlehanded Skills Development
- When to Transition to the 4.7
- How to Get Started?
- Where in North America?
- RNSYS Experience
- 2019 Laser 4.7 Canadian Youth Nationals and Worlds in Kingston
- North American and World Level Key Events in 2020
- How Does a World Champ Train? (video)
- How to Transition Out of the 4.7
- Sources of further information
- Questions and Answers

Enjoy the webinar. And don't forget to join the Laser 4.7 Discussion Group on Facebook!

Popular posts from this blog

Green, White, Blue & Red Fleets: What is it all about?

Image
If you were present at a prize giving ceremony for the Optimist class, you may have been puzzled by the number of categories and prizes that are involved. The reason is simple: the Optimist class is big, and there are kids sailing from age 5 or 6 to age 15, and there are some kids new to the class, and other kids with years of experience  So it's normal to recognize the efforts of everyone according to age and experience. So here is how it is organized. Green Fleet : when your kid starts mastering the boat and do short races at your club, (s)he may be ready for doing a regatta in the Green Fleet. This is a regatta where advice can be provided by the coaches during the race. And it is typically a shorter course than the white/blue/red fleets. The importance in the green fleet is to participate. So there is typically no ranking announced at the prize giving. But when your kid starts performing well in the Green Fleet, it's then ... time to move on and join the White, Blue o...
Read more

20 Reasons to Choose the Laser 4.7 (part 1)

Image
A frequently asked question is: « Why the Laser 4.7? » While the 4.7 rig is very well known in Europe, it is less so in some places elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Canada. The reality is that there are many reasons to choose this rig, which entails a sail of 4.7 square meters (1 square meter less than the Radial sail) and a slightly shorter mast. This rig is especially suitable for youth sailing. Let's take a look at the reasons - and there are many of them - why the Laser 4.7 is an excellent choice. Below are 10 first reasons. The second part of the article, presents 10 additional reasons to choose the Laser 4.7, and can be found at this link . Note: this article is available in French . Also, don't miss our upcoming webinar on Nov. 13 " The Laser 4.7 for Youth Sailing: All You Need to Know! " 1. A Considerable International Success The Laser 4.7, launched only twenty years ago, has achieved a considerable international success. For exampl...
Read more

Laser or ILCA Dinghy: Which One is Fastest?

Image
A Mix of Lasers and ILCA Dinghies at the Laser 4.7 Worlds in Kingston "There's no such thing as bad publicity." -- Phineas T. Barnum The Laser is usually referred to as a single manufacturer one design boat (SMOD). But in reality, there are 3 builders (assuming LaserPerformance will be reinstated) and possibly more to come. The ILCA Dinghies are actual PSA Lasers, rebranded to circumvent the Laser trademarks. Boats from the third, Japanese, builder are much less common, except in Japan and South Korea. So, are the PSA and LaserPerformance boats the same? As indicated earlier, only one supplier of charter boats - PSA - was promoted by the Laser class at the Youth Worlds, so that many sailors did not sail by choice on the Aussie ILCA Dinghies. The fact that many of the top competitors used ILCA Dinghies for those championships is not necessarily an indicator that these are better boats. Most of the top international competitors were sailing the ILCA Dinghies ...
Read more