The Laser 4000 (now "4000") is a racing

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

Phil Morrison Phil Morrison may refer to: * Phil Morrison (yacht designer) (born 1946), British yacht designer * Phil Morrison (director), American film and television director * Phil Morrison (driver) (born 1977), British race driver * Phil Morrison (basebal ...

crewed by two people. Its

one-design One-design racing is a racing method which may be adopted in sports using complex equipment, whereby all vehicles have identical or very similar designs or models, avoiding the need for a Handicapping, handicap system. Motorsport One-make racing ...

weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, particularly the UK,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The 4000 is a fast, planing skiff-style dinghy with a

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

for the crew and trampolines for the helm. Upwind, the boat does not point especially close to the wind, but its fully battened

sails A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

give enough power to keep up with similar-sized boats. Downwind, however is where the boat excels due to its

asymmetrical spinnaker An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing between about 90 and 165 degrees from the angle of the wind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", "A-sail", or gennaker, it can be described as a cross between a genoa (jib) and a spinnaker. It is ...

(a.k.a.

gennaker A gennaker is a sail that was developed before the 1980s. Used when sailing downwind, it is a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is not symmetric like a true spinnaker but is asymmetric like a genoa, but the gennaker is not attached to ...

). In a force 3 the 4000 will

plane Plane most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface * Plane (mathematics), generalizations of a geometrical plane Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane ...

and the crew will make full use of the trapeze wire. However, force 4-5 is when the boat performs its optimum. The 4000 is fast enough to make use of the

apparent wind Apparent wind is the wind experienced by a moving object. Definition of apparent wind The ''apparent wind'' is the wind experienced by an observer in motion and is the relative velocity of the wind in relation to the observer. The ''velocity ...

to reach the bottom of the racecourse sooner. In lighter winds, many crews make use of the

jibing A jibe (US) or gybe (Britain) is a sailing maneuver whereby a sailing craft points of sail#Reaching, reaching downwind turns its stern through the wind, which then exerts its force from the opposite side of the vessel. It stands in contras ...

pole when

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

downwind. This allows them to show a larger part of the spinnaker to the wind whilst sailing further away from the wind direction.

Features

The Laser 4000 was designed in 1994 by

. It is a sloop rigged

constructed from

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

. It features a single trapeze as well as an open, self-draining

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

. Instead of a conventional

kicking strap A boom vang (US) or kicking strap (UK) (often shortened to "vang" or "kicker") is a line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as ...

it features a gnav system, which pushes down on the boom from the top, instead of pulling from the bottom. This allows greater space for the crew to move from side to side. Boat manufacture is well known to be of a very high quality and durability, thus hulls from the very first molds are still competing effectively. However recently Laser has handed over the rules and administration of the class to the Laser 4000 class association and thus there is significant scope for boat improvement. Many people want to see the addition of carbon spars and lighter hulls (nickname = 4 tonner!). However, the class is adamant that it will stay a one class design and not a class open to unlimited modification such as the International 14 class.

Friendly competition

Over the years Laser 4000 events have given the fleet a reputation as competitive but friendly, with the day's racing followed by lively evening socials. The equalisation system coupled with relatively low sheet loads mean that a good variety of people are able to sail the boat. There are currently 3 very populated and active classes in Italy, France and the United Kingdom. The 2023 Eurocup will be held in France and the 2024 Europeans will be in Riva del Garda.

Equalisation system

A long-running problem in

racing is that light sailors are faster in light winds due to their lesser displacement and heavier sailors gain speed in stronger winds due to their increased righting moment. In the early 90s Laser addressed this problem with their equalisation system for both the Laser 5000 and Laser 4000. When racing one of these boats, lightweight crews are required to carry up to 4 lead weights in their boat (securely fastened in the centre). To compensate for their lack of

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is Turtling (sailing), upside down in the water. The act of reco ...

-preventing leverage, they are also allowed to extend the boat's rack outwards, effectively making the boat wider. Conversely, heavier crews will carry fewer weights, but must sail with narrower racks. Thus each team's total weight and leverage is equalised. The Laser 4000 equalisation system accommodates helms and crews weighing from each. Beyond that range the traditional wind strength advantages and disadvantages come into play. Years of competitive racing have proved the system to be effective with all sizes of crews winning in all wind strengths. Several other racing dinghy classes have adopted a similar equalisation systems. As with many modern racing dinghies, the Laser 4000 is

, meaning that strict rules govern the modification of the boat, its sailing and equipment. This is to prevent an expensive competition of "modification racing", where only those who could afford the latest gadgets would stand a chance of winning.

References

External links

4000 UK Class Association 4000 Italian Class Association4000 French Class Association
{{Sailing Dinghies and Skiffs Dinghies 1990s sailboat type designs Boats designed by Phil Morrison Sailboat types built by LaserPerformance

Features

Friendly competition

Equalisation system

See also

References

External links