Laser Masters Worlds ready for kick off

1:51 AM Sun 7 Aug 2011 GMT

'Michael Matan (Master, GBR) during the 2011 Laser Slalom' Chuck Lantz - copyright

The Laser is a one design, one person boat that requires strength, agility, and a mastery of sailing tactics in order to be competitive.

Many of the sailors racing in Cascais in the America's Cup World Series cut their teeth in these boats. The Laser Masters Worlds, starting this week in San Francisco, brings together a great group of men (230 entered) and women (10 entered) who have raced Lasers in all parts of the world and in all manner of conditions. Many see each other annually at these events, and there is as much camaraderie off the water as there is competition on the water. Here at the St. Francis Yacht Club, the host for this year's regatta, it's the last day of registration before the racing begins, and everyone looks forward hopefully to tomorrow's competition.

The Laser Masters fleets are broken down by age and by rig size (radial or full rig). There are approximately 40 boats (registration is not closed as of this writing) in the youngest age group, Apprentice. This group consists of sailors who are at least 35 years old as of the first day of racing and cannot be older than 44. The Masters, aged 45 - 54, is always the largest group in the Masters Worlds, this time with 110 sailors. Many of the younger masters sailors look forward to the older ones 'aging out', as they've been so dominant in their group. Grand Masters, this year with 55 boats in the fleet, are aged 55-64, and finally, there are the Great Grand Masters, an esteemed group of 35 men and women entered who are 65 years of age and older.

The radial rig is approximately 1.3 square meters smaller than the full rig. After practice yesterday in medium breezes, several competitors have opted out of the full rig into the radial for the regatta in San Francisco's notoriously big breeze. According to Jury Member and Radial Sailor Danielle Pascoe, sailing a full rig Laser requires about 40 pounds more weight, most of which should be muscle to manage the larger sail. Thus in the big wind, the lighter sailor may well be overpowered by his or her rig.

In these fleets, there are several accomplished sailors racing including Grand Master John Andron (former America's Cup crew), Master Scott Ferguson (many time Masters champ and AC wing designer), and Olympic Medalist Russ Silvestri (Master) to name a few. However, the list complete of accomplished sailors who are getting back to the basics and competing against their peers in the Laser is quite long. With a fleet this deep it's hard to guess now who will be in the top five at the end, but one can certainly expect that the competition will be tight and the work hard. Racing starts tomorrow, Sunday, and continues through Saturday, August 13. Stay tuned; we're in for some fun.

St Francis Yacht Club website

by Paige Brooks

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Laser Masters Worlds ready for kick off

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