1:37 AM Mon 22 Mar 2010 GMT
When Bruce Kirby, the Canadian born Olympic Finn sailor and dinghy designer along with another Finn sailor, sailmaker and Olympic medallist Hans Fogh and boat builder Ian Bruce launched the first ever Laser at the Playboy Club on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin in 1970 they never imagined that now 40 years on the numbers of Lasers would be closing on 200,000 and they would be found in more than a hundred countries around the world.
While the World Champions tend to be in their 20's, the Laser is a boat that is sailed by young teenagers and into senior years.
With its enormous popularity and huge fleets have come a whole range of divisions and within them age ranges. Youth classes go up to and include 18 years, then once Lase sailors reach some mature years they can compete in the Master classes.
Within Masters ranks there are Apprentices (35-44), Masters (45-54), Grand Masters (55-64), Great Grand Masters (65+). Great Grand Masters sail Radials.
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Mark Page with 2007 Laser Master World Champions and Legends of Laser Sailing. From left Great Grand Master Champion Peter Seidenberg USA, Standard Grand Master Mark Bethwaite AUS, Radial Grand Master Peter Haywood AUS, Standard Master Arnoud Hummel NED, Radial Master Greg Adams AUS, Standard Apprentice Brett Beyer AUS, Radial Apprentice Mark Page NZL - Event Media
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As Michael Mills, the veteran Laser sailor from Port Stephens Sailing Club on Australia's East coast explains ' a Laser you can sail it from the cradle to the grave. If you could easily tack on some plywood sides and turn it into a coffin I'm sure a lot of people would be buried in their Laser.'
Mills, who founded NB Laser on the NSW Central coast, is these days the Regatta Support Officer for Laser builder Performance Sail Craft(PSA)and he definitely has his finger on the pulse, watching the ever expanding Junior, Women and Standard fields but he sees the growth in the number of Laser Master sailors.
People say 'why has it happened?' and it's very hard to put your finger on. One it's the simplicity of the boat; it's not a technical mine field. The other side of it is you just go to your local Laser dealer and say 'I want to buy a Laser'. It's not hard, and if you do want to get out of it you go back to your local Laser dealer and say 'sell the boat for me', and that's not hard either.
'After a lot of guys come back to dinghy sailing as they get older after year of yacht racing - It comes back to the simplicity of the boat, the one on one racing and the camaraderie.
'We're hanging out with guys our own age, we still race quite competitively on the water, but it's not about the boat. It's not about your cheque book.
'The boat you buy today is the best Laser in the world and when you pick up your new one in a year's time it's still the best one in the world because it's new on that day.
'The program for Masters just keeps getting better and better. The South Pacific Laser Masters in Queensland. 16th to 19th of July, at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Last year that event had 70 entries and this year we expect to have somewhere between 70 and 100 entries.
'PSA supports the South Pacific titles each year with charter boats, and normally we've taken up 10 or 12 charter boats.'
Mills expands on the Laser program 'We always envisage that some sailors will race at both the Nationals and the Masters, particularly apprentices, just depending on the venue and the time.
Looking ahead to next summer, the 2011 Laser Nationals are being held at George's River Sailing Club from the 27th of December 2010 to the fourth of January 2011.
Come February 2011, the Zimmer frames will be out in action in Port Stephens north of Sydney for the Laser Master 2011 Port Stephens.
Mills details the dates 'February 2011 - it's from the 11th to the 14th of February; that's Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Port Stephens at Salamander Bay at the Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club on the beautiful waters of Salamander Bay.
'At that time of year there will be virtually no one else there. School holidays are over and this is one of the reasons we've put it into this period; it takes it out of the normal tourist time. The other side of it is that when you go to an area we're hopefully being welcomed, because we want to go to a popular area and we're going to bring in 200 to 250 competitors.
'In all recent year, the Masters Championships have been held in conjunction with the Nationals, in a single race fleet.
'For a lot of the Masters, your race can be dictated totally by some of the hot shots. What happens also is that a lot of the times we end up racing in split fleets up until the finals and if one of the masters makes the gold fleet in 50th place and his next opposition is in 51st place he could never overtake him; it's all over - which has happened.
'It's not just happened with Apprentices; everyone thought it would just always be the Apprentices that this would apply to, but it's happened with Masters and even Grand Masters. You only need to look at the calibre, I mean Rob Lowndes is already a Grand Master and Mark Bethwaite is close to the same class.
'Finally we had a vote in Western Australia when we had the Nationals over there to trial holding a totally separate Masters National Championships at a separate time as a totally separate event.
'Port Stephens - at the sailing club here we've just held the State Titles in February. We've held the State Titles on three or four occasions; we've also had the Masters State Titles on three or four occasions. It's always a popular venue particularly for the Laser Masters. I think Port Stephens was the first place the Laser Master fleet ever broke over 100 entries.
'Within those Master categories we also have quite a few active women, notably Vanessa Dudley, who's almost like a reborn sailor -She is a highly regarded offshore helm but she's got back into Laser sailing. Women all sail Radials; there's a separate women's division within the groups. They race in their age group but there's an overall women's prize. She's a Master and currently knocking off a lot of the guys. She's full of enthusiasm and enjoying it.
'Particularly people who come to it a bit later in their mid 40s and things like that it reinvigorate you: it gives you a zest for life, it gives you a new perspective on things.
'There's clubs all over the place who have got quite active Laser fleets and they tend to be older, like Port Stephens Sailing Club. We have probably 20 boats in the club, which are basically all Lasers. The average age would be over 40; we range from a chap who is 77 and who still occasionally sails the big rig depending on the day, and our youngest member is probably 18.
'For the 2011 Master Nationals, we're expecting some overseas competitors. There's one guy coming from the UK already and we expect a few of the New Zealanders to come over.
'As always, we [PSA] will have the regatta service vehicle at the Laser Master, as we do at most major Laser events to support the local Laser dealer but we're also doing charter boats. Charter boats are delivered to the regatta site and there will be with support service available throughout the regatta. '
by PSA Media Team
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