The boat with no name

Peter Bentley and Gerald New take Laser's new sportsboat for a spin.

As a general rule, test sails in prototype boats are a waste of time, as any criticism is always met by the manufacturers' retort 'it won't be like that on the production boats'. What a breath of fresh air then to be invited by Laser to sail their new and as yet unnamed three man keel boat, not so much as a test but more as an opportunity to provide some feedback. It certainly provided us with some fun.

It would be easy to think that a company like Laser commissioned a set of lines from a well known and respected designer (in this case Tony Castro), knocked up a set of moulds, produced a couple of prototypes and set about selling the resultant product. Nothing could be further from the truth. Following a carefully researched initial design, Sacha Nice in Hamble built a strip-planked wooden prototype. This is the boat we sailed. Evidence of the already extensive testing programme can be seen on the development boat and there is plenty more planned before production boats go on sale in Spring 2002.

Though especially well finished for what is essentially a development hack, the prototype varies in some significant details from the intended production boat. Most notably, the lifting keel fits into a huge box that allows fore and aft movement for development purposes. By simply moving wooden spacers from one end of the box to the other, the balance and trim of the boat can be changed almost instantly. Looking around the boat, there are several places where fitting have obviously been moved during the development process. Indeed the mast sports two complete sets of gooseneck fittings to allow and assessment of the most efficient boom height to be made. Similarly, the mainsail has clearly had a big slice added to the luff in order to make it fuller.

Jib sheet tracks have been relocated from fore and aft to athwartships but are to be moved again to improve the jib sheeting through the wind range. Crew foot-braces have been resized and repositioned and a couple of foot loops added for the helm. Laser's Adrian Hart commented that they were still playing with these and the extension of the gunwhale bar further aft is also under consideration.

One of the more critical aspects of the design also still under consideration is the rudder. The Mk11 version we sailed with is substantially bigger then the first test unit and seemed to provide excellent control and balance in some quite extreme conditions. The big question according to Test Programme Supervisor (and past Olympic coach) Rob Andrews is just where to pitch the boat in the market place. A bigger rudder with a more rounded leading edge will allow less experienced helms to keep the boat 'on the rails' for longer, but at the expense of a bigger crash as and when they do finally come unstuck.

Adrian Hart is also deeply conscious of ensuring that the boat appeals to a wide enough range of clients to make it a commercial success without 'dumbing down' the design so far as to make it bland. As with all Laser's products the attention to detail is excellent. There is for example a built in stowage for an outboard motor and fuel tank even on the prototype.

Having booked in advance to avoid disappointment, our trial sail day proved marginal to say the least. By the time Gerald New and Peter Bentley arrived in Hamble it was blowing a steady 22 knots with some big gusts coming through. "We've never sailed it in that much wind before" was all a slightly nervous looking Adrian Hart could say. Rigging looked simple enough with a few detailed improvements on the way to make it foolproof. On the final design for example it is intended that the trailer winch will double-up as a rig tensioner, eliminating the need to slacken off six or eight bottle screws each time the rig is removed.

Launching proved tricky, not because of any inherent fault with the trailer (which non the less is about to be reconstituted in an improved Mk11 version) but because of the wind blowing right across the slipway. Though we didn't try it, Rob says you can run the trailer back into the water and simply motor the boat off. Stability with the keel up was excellent. Getting the keel down was a frightening process with only minimal control using the cheap trailer winch installed on the prototype. Hart is quite adamant that this will be resolved before the production boats hit the market.

Page two.... Sailing the beast
Pages three and four.... the boat in detail