Southampton Boat Show preview

Lynsey Thomas looks at what's on offer in the dinghy market

This year's Southampton Boat Show will be the perfect opportunity to look, shop and scrutinize almost every dinghy available, from beginners to the most experienced among you, every taste will be catered for.

The Laser Centre will be there in full force, this year with a 300 square metre stand, displaying the full range of toys, from the Pico (pictured left) to the asymmetric Laser 4000 and 5000, and the family boats, the Laser Stratos and the Laser 2000. This year Laser will also be launching their new product, the Laser 6000, a three-man keel boat. It will be on the water at the show for sneak previews and possibly a chance to try. This Tony Castro-designed craft is similar to a smaller version of the 1720, and currently undergoing sea trials, of which the boat show will be part.
Laser will also be displaying their Virtual Sailing Simulator . The device is similar to a Playstation simulator but you sit inside a Laser hull and have a huge video screen in front of you. The simulator has 2.5 years of Laser data in the software, and the idea is to try and get your boat around the race track as quickly as possible. Ben Ainslie set the time of 2 minutes and 42 seconds at the London boat show and this will be an opportunity for people to come along and challenge his time.

After the boat show the simulator will be travelling around the country for the Autumn Winter simulator championships, targeting kids aged between 10 and 14. Those scoring the top times from each championship will compete at the London boat show in 2002 for the show down final. The simulator will also be able to act as a Laser coaching device for 10-14 year olds making the switch from Toppers and Optimists.



The Laser has survived almost 30 years with no change to the control systems. However the manufacturers have recently designed a new pulleys and cleats system, named the Power Pack, with the help of Mark Littlejohn and Paul Goodison. The new pack will make the control systems very straightforward, and although it will not be available on the open market until late October this year, you can have the chance to test it and see how it works at the show - let us know what you think.