The Laser 2, or Laser II, is a

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 ...

that was designed by New Zealander

Frank Bethwaite Francis Dewar Bethwaite (26 May 1920 – 12 May 2012) was a New Zealand naval architect, author and Olympic meteorologist.

and Canadian Ian Bruce as a one-design racer and first built in 1978.

Production

The design was built by Bruce's company, Performance Sailcraft, in Canada and also by

Vanguard Sailboats Vanguard Sailboats was one of the most successful sailboat builders. It was founded in 1967, and is now owned by LaserPerformance. History Vanguard Sailboats was founded in 1967 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA by Peter and Olaf Harken. The brother ...

in the United States. Production ran from 1978 until 1987, with 8,200 boats completed, but it is now out of production. In 2007 Performance Sailcraft and Vanguard were merged to form

LaserPerformance LaserPerformance is an Anglo-American dinghy manufacturer- the world's largest producer of small sailboats. LaserPerformance manufactures many sailboats including: Laser, Sunfish, Laser Pico, Bug, Laser Vago, Laser Bahia, Club FJ, Club 420, Z ...

Design

The Laser 2 is a

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle of ...

, built predominantly of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. It has a fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig, a

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a plumb

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

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 or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

with an extension and a retractable

daggerboard A daggerboard is a retractable centreboard used by various sailing craft. While other types of centreboard may pivot to retract, a daggerboard slides in a casing. The shape of the daggerboard converts the forward motion into a windward lift, cou ...

. It displaces . The crew can make use of a single

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps 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 flying, an ...

. The boat has a draft of with the daggerboard extended and with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water, beaching or ground transportation on a trailer. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

. The design has a US

Portsmouth Yardstick The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a term used for a number of related systems of empirical handicapping used primarily in small sailboat racing. The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the han ...

D-PN handicap of 92.8 and a UK RYA-PN of 1035.

Variants

The basic Laser 2 was produced in a number of variants, including the Laser II Fun, Laser II Regatta and the Laser Fun New Wave, which was equipped with an

asymmetrical spinnaker An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing downwind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", or "A-sail" it can be described as a cross between a genoa jib and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but, the asymmetrical spinnaker is not ...

. All were out of production by 1990.

Operational history

The boat was at one time a

World Sailing World Sailing (WS) is the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) beg ...

international class, but its status has been revoked. In a February 1980 review John Turnbull in

Canadian Yachting ''Canadian Yachting'' is a bi-monthly (six issues a year) magazine, and boating news website which documents the Canadian yachting scene - from dinghies to keelboats, cruising to racing, youth sailing and around the world events.kerwil.com: "Ab ...

wrote of the Laser 2, "Frank Bethwaite, the unclaimed maestro of high-powered dinghy design, and Ian Bruce, the designer / promoter of Performance Sailcraft, may have come up with the only boat that could live up to the expectations created by the Laser. It doesn't bring anything startlingly new to sailboat design except perhaps the idea that a mass-market boat should be fast and challenging."

Events

References

External links

* {{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Laser 2