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

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

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 (baseball ...

crewed by two persons. Its one-design weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, particularly the UK,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

(a.k.a.

gennaker A gennaker is a sail that was developed around 1990. 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 the for ...

). In a force 3 the 4000 will

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * Planes (gen ...

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 o ...

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 vessel reaching downwind turns its stern through the wind, which then exerts its force from the opposite side of the vessel. Because the mainsail boom can swing across ...

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, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

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 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 ...

rigged

constructed from

fiberglass 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 cloth ...

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

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

. 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 the 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 The Laser 5000 is a double-handed, dual trapeze skiff with an asymmetrical spinnaker . It derives its name from its length of 5 metres. Losing out to the Bethwaite-designed 49er for selection as an Olympic class for the 2000 Games, it was one o ...

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 upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...

-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 one-design, 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