Laser 3000 - A Pocket Rocket

Laser's new 3000 had Shirley Robertson begging for more, despite the freezing winter day

The Laser 3000 is an adrenaline-inducing little boat for lightweights. The boat is really aimed at the youth market, where she is small enough to be manageable for those graduating from Optimists. But Laser’s pocket rocket almost has the performance of her bigger sisters - the 4000 and 5000 - without the drama.

Olympic sailor Shirley Robertson (sailing with an equally accredited crew, Sally Cuthbert) put her stamp of approval on the Laser 3000. Shirley demanded to carry on sailing for a bit longer in the freezing, windy conditions of the test, when the rest of the MadforSailing team (including reviewer Peter Bentley) were ready to call it a day.

The 3000 is constructed to Laser's usual tough standards, using some of the proven elements from the Laser 2. The 3000 could be regarded as a modern incarnation or upgrade of this popular boat. Inevitable comparisons will now be made with the more recently produced 29er, and the truth is that the 3000 is easier to sail, while the 29er is quicker. This boat is a good stepping stone to Bethwaite’s youth boat.

The scores on the MadforSailing test doors reflected that view. Rigging is as easy as it can be on a spinnaker trapeze boat. Laser has paid special attention to keeping things obvious, with the newcomer in mind, and the instruction book is easy to follow. The balance is excellent upwind, with the helm feeling light and positive. The gear mostly helps rather than hinders with the sailing, the partially battened Hyde sail is shaped for straightforward handling. The Proctor Mast is easy to adjust and stable. A furling jib can be rolled in or out at any time, and the ability to reef the mainsail is an advantage to the learner. It should enable them to concentrate on the spinnaker and trapeze.

There were a few less starry features, including a conventional kicker that hinders crew and lacks purchase. Although not slow upwind, the 3000 is more MGF than Ford Escort downwind, providing a blistering ride with reasonable control. But her narrow width means the 3000 is sensitive to gusts, heeling more quickly with increasing breeze. Decisive helming is required to keep the boat moving at maximum speed, especially downwind. If you bear away too late as a gust strikes, the increased heel may mean you can’t bear away at all. All the controls - other than the mainsheet - are operated by the crew from the middle of the boat, but there’s no chance of getting anything done from out on the wire.

Overall, with her balance of performance and ease of handling the Laser 3000 is suited to a wide market. The boat should get more people into performance sailing, when they might not think it within their skills. Sailing schools are replacing the enduring Laser 2 with the 3000. Sales remain consistent with over 350 boats afloat in mid-2000. An active open meeting circuit throughout the year is sponsored by Crewsaver. The Laser 3000 is well within the capabilities of almost any crew looking to improve their skills for more thrills.

Rants Too short to fly upwind
Raves Sports car performance downwind

Photo by Peter Bentley

The Nitty Gritty

Ease of Sailing

There’s no big drama to getting off the beach. Once sailing upwind the balance is excellent, with the helm feeling light and positive. It’s important to resist the temptation to drag the sheets in too hard - keep it fast and loose and genuine upwind pace is easy to find. As with all serious trapeze boats, once the boat is moving the apparent wind will give you height. The jib, with its 2:1 sheets is especially easy to over-trim. Similarly, the helmsman must resist the temptation to luff more than a fraction in the gusts, much better to ease the mainsheet and keep the boat on her feet and moving fast. Balance proves excellent in every respect. The helm is light yet positive, with increasing amounts of heel sending a distinct message to the helmsman without ever overwhelming them. Fore and aft trim is clearly a factor in getting the best from the boat, and it pays to keep close together.

Turning downwind - as with virtually all bowsprit boats - a small degree of heel is required to keep the rudder neutral. Controlling this angle precisely is the key to maximising speed. Too much heel sees the rudder dragging to keep the boat straight, while too little leaves things feeling very neutral. With a tight turn to the bilge towards the aft end, the hull form is perhaps more sensitive than it need be in this respect. Lacking the width of her bigger sisters, the 3000 is more sensitive to gusts, heeling more quickly with increasing breeze. In itself this presents no problems, but decisive helming is required to keep the boat moving at maximum speed. Leave the bear away too late as a gust strikes and the increase in heel means only a limited response from the rudder - you may even need to flog the spinnaker to get her to turn. But overall, this is sailing in a cloud of spray at its best, and all in a small easily managed boat.

The furling jib also makes for easy handling, both ashore and afloat - and not just between races It may not be quite so efficient, but the ability to furl the jib makes things altogether easier for the novice spinnaker trimmer. Not only is it possible see the whole sail, but there is one fewer set of sheets to worry about in the gybe. The ability to reef will also be welcome to many. For those learning to deal with a spinnaker and trapeze for the first time the attraction is obvious, while for the more adventurous, the smaller main makes single-handed sailing a very real possibility.

Although we managed to capsize on several occasions during the test, recovery was never anything but fast and trouble free. Showing little propensity to invert, even a relatively small crew (59kg) on the centreboard was enough to maintain a stable position, while the spinnaker was gathered away. This done, a short walk down the centreboard produced rapid results in the mast raising department, with the helmsman’s weight more than enough to stop the boat from flicking over into the capsize-recover-capsize routine. The light loads, easy capsize recovery and essentially vice-free handling all conspire to make her a confidence inducing boat. Un-intimidating to sail, she is well within the capabilities of almost any crew. Simplicity, speed and forgiving manners make her a perfect introduction to genuine high performance sailing.

Systems and Layout

Rigging is about as easy as it gets on a spinnaker trapeze boat. Recognising that this is the kind of boat that will sell to first-time owners and those moving up from una-rigged single-handers, Laser have paid special attention to keeping things as obvious as possible. For those attempting to rig the boat for the first time, there is also an exceptionally clear and well laid-out instruction booklet, with a diagram of every system. Supported by both upper and lower shrouds, the Proctor Mast is both easily adjustable and highly stable. The forestay attaches above the hounds, and is fixed temporarily to the bow eye until the jib is up. Once that is done the forestay comes aft, taping off to the base of the mast for sailing. That eliminates the risk of both spinnaker tangles and getting the forestay wound in with the furling jib. While it would be perfectly possible to use a trapeze wire in place of the temporary forestay, the simplicity offered by the system Laser have chosen is very much in keeping with the general concept of the boat.

Getting afloat demonstrated that the same values had been maintained. With the jib furled, the partially battened mainsail hoists easily, and all the halyard tails stow in a pocket on the side of the spinnaker sock. All that remains is to drop in the centreboard and you’re off. The rudder stock is adequate for the job, but the downhaul rope does require the complication of a rope-loop, double-purchase to make it really effective. That’s simple if you know how, but not as simple as some of the click-and-lock designs found elsewhere.

In the back of the bus, the helmsman has little more to worry about than the mainsheet. All the other controls are very much in the crew’s department and though they are easy enough to adjust from the middle of the boat, there’s no chance of getting anything done from out on the wire. Set and forget, at least for the duration of each leg, seems to be the order of the day. The possible exception was the kicker, both Shirley and Sally reckoned that a slick helmsman could reach and adjust this control on the move. But of all the systems on the boat, this was the only one really lacking purchase. There were plenty of times when it would have been nice to get a bit more on.

Narrow by the standards of most modern rack boats, the distance from one side to the other is just a single step. Although there is a conventional kicker to hinder the crew, the cockpit layout is so clean and tidy that moving around presents no problems. Windy or light, the deck layout is a tremendous improvement on what went before on the Laser II. It’s clean, simple and uncomplicated, and the wide cockpit and narrow side decks provide plenty of space for both the helm and crew.

With the single line hoisting system led forward, getting the big sail up is definitely crew’s work. Largely friction free, the system works well with the pole extending and the kite popping up with just a couple of big pulls. Getting the kite down is no harder than getting it up. But with the crew in off the wire, it’s essential to set up to run deep while actually getting the thing away. A neat elastic keeps the halyard from dropping back into the cleat once it’s released, and with a couple of big pulls the sail’s back in the bag ready for the return trip.

Performance

There are few things that will keep Shirley Robertson on the water for long on a cold winter’s day, so her unexpected request for another sail in the Laser 3000 when the rest of us were ready to bag it, says something pretty serious about Laser’s pocket rocket. In a breeze, this is 80 percent of the performance of her bigger sisters with just a fraction of the drama. Far from slow upwind , the 3000 shows her quickest turn of heel in the other direction, here it’s clip on, sheet in and hold tight; acceleration is in the sports car class. Downwind it will undoubtedly prove necessary to sail big angles to make good progress. But we suspect that the opposite will be true going the other way. Height, not speed, will almost certainly be the key to maximising windward ability before the little boat starts to plane.

Having only sampled the boat in light winds for the briefest of moments as we left the river, it’s hard to predict how she will perform in less windy conditions. But given that the hull form is derived from the Laser II, it served well across a range of wind conditions in its previous life. So there is no reason to suggest it should do otherwise now. The Laser 3000 is small enough for those graduating from Optimists to cope with, but still lively enough to provide a training ground for those aspiring to move on to bigger high performance boats. She’s a perfect introduction to genuine high speed sailing.

Build Quality

Construction follows the usual Laser bullet proof philosophy with both the hull and equipment designed to absorb the harsh rigours of life. The hull and deck are a single-skin, polyester glassfibre laminate, while the foils and rudder stock carry over from well proven designs on the Laser 2. As might be expected from a team as experienced as Hyde and Laser, all the sails including the spinnaker are well developed and soundly put together. They are an interesting hybrid of technologies and materials. The Mylar mainsail looks suitably specified and with two full-length top battens it should keep its shape for quite a while. These two battens give a stable and well supported roach, delivering plenty of power from the top of the rig. The transition to shorter battens further down the sail makes the whole thing easier to handle both ashore and afloat.

Anticipated Durability

A solid Laser product, it shouldn’t give you any trouble.

Quality of Race Circuit

With an open meeting circuit sponsored by Crewsaver in 2000, there was a meeting about every fortnight during the main season. The boat has also been adopted by a lot of sailing schools, unsurprisingly seeing it as the next step along from the Laser II.

Value for Money

Still a going concern on British race tracks, and should hold the resale value.