The Laser Stratos is an all-round cruising and racing boat designed by Phil Morrison and built by

LaserPerformance LaserPerformance is an United Kingdom, Anglo-United States, American Sailing dinghy, dinghy manufacturer. LaserPerformance manufactures many sailboats including: Laser (dinghy), Laser, Sunfish (sailboat), Sunfish, Bug, Laser Vago, Laser Bahia, F ...

, the same company as the famous Laser Standard dinghy. It is built from fibre-glass and foam sandwich. The Laser Stratos comes in two forms, one with a

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

(similar to most yachts) and one with a

centreboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

(like nearly all dinghies). The centreboard version is red and the keel version is blue. The Stratos is quite spacious and most of the

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...

is kept out of the way. The boat can optionally be fitted with trapeze lines and an engine bracket for carrying an outboard engine. Follow Me - geograph

Dimensions

The Stratos is long, its beam is and its mast height is .

Special features

The Stratos can be reefed in less than a minute to reduce the amount of power from the

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

. The Stratos' Combi-Tec Mainsail includes short

batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

s and a full-length top batten. The Stratos also has a furling

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its forward corner (tack) is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main ty ...

, which means the Stratos can be fully depowered in less than ten seconds.

Safety

The Stratos has many features that make it safe and fun to use for family day cruising. The Stratos has a unique system called SailSafe, which floods and self-drains tanks in the sides to help recover and keep the dinghy stable immediately after a

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 ...

. There have been questions over the safety of the

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 ...

lines when a boy drowned after he was caught in a trapeze line under a turtled Stratos in Hong Kong. A similar tragic accident happened in Kielder Water, UK with two further deaths (one related to entanglement in the trapeze and one not).

Racing ability

Although the Stratos is mostly for cruising it is fairly competent at racing as well, with an asymmetrical spinnaker (gennaker) as well as an optional trapeze kit. The

RYA The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom Sports governing body, national governing body for sailing (sport), sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, Rigid inflatable boat, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurf ...

2012 Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) Number for the Stratos is 1092. The

US Sailing The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing) is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offe ...

D-PN is 87.3. The Stratos, however, lacks many of the features of purpose-built racing dinghies.

End of Stratos Production

Over the Christmas period of 2008/2009 Laser Performance announced that they are going to cease production of the Stratos Centerboard Version immediately (possibly due to the Laser Bahia), although the keel version will still be available.

External links

Laser homepageLaser Stratos Class Association homepageRYA PY Number Sheet (PDF)

Notes

{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Dinghies Sailboat types built by LaserPerformance