Laser Vago
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The Laser Vago is a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
/ American sailing dinghy that was designed by Jo Richards as a
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 ...
racer and first built in 2005.


Production

The design was built starting in 2005 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 ...
in United Kingdom and in the United States, but by 2022 production had ended.


Design

The Laser Vago is a recreational
sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...
, with then hull built predominantly of rotational moulded
polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging (plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bott ...
tri-skin foam sandwich. The hull has a sharply single chined design. It has a fractional sloop rig, a raked stem, a plumb transom, a transom-hung
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
controlled by a
tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn ...
and a retractable daggerboard. It displaces . The boat has a
draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
of with the daggerboard extended. With the daggerboard removed the boat can be beached or transported on a trailer or car roof rack. There are "standard" and XD "race" models, with the latter model equipped with sails of larger area. The boat is rated as a skill level of intermediate to advanced. For sailing the design may be equipped with an asymmetrical spinnaker, flown from a retractable
bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...
and a single trapeze. The design has a Royal Yacht Club Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 1074 and is normally raced with a crew of one or two
sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...
s. The optimal crew weight is .


Operational history

The boat was named ''Sailing World'' magazine's "Best One-Design Dinghy" for 2007. In a 2007 review for ''Sailing World'', Chuck Allen wrote, "This boat is designed to be many things; singlehander, doublehander, fast trainer, and all-around fun, planing dinghy for whoever feels the need for speed in an inexpensive, durable design. Several key design features enable this 13'9" rocketship to get on a plane sooner than similar dinghies. The hard chine Richards designed into the hull combines with its rocker, which makes the boat handle like a dream during maneuvers. Its flared gunwales provide flotation and good righting moment. The XD version, which has 30 more square feet of sail area than the standard Vago, as well as a trapeze, is, quite simply, a ton of fun to sail ... Overall, sailing the boat is a great experience mostly because of the speed."


See also

*
List of sailing boat types The following is a partial list of sailboat types and sailing classes, including keelboats, dinghy, dinghies, and multihull (catamarans and trimarans). Olympic classes World Sailing Classes Historically known as the IYRU (International Yacht ...


References


External links

* {{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Dinghies 2000s sailboat type designs Two-person sailboats Sailboat type designs by Jo Richards Sailboat types built by LaserPerformance