Sailing Boats > Laser Sailing Boats

Advantages: Great fun and easy to sail
Disadvantages: Initial concerns about laser build quality

...I decided to try the Laser 2000 - I was looking for a boat to suit beginners and more experienced sailors, young people and adults alike. The "demo" boat proved to be well balanced and great fun to sail, the quality of fittings was good and the systems were simple and worked well. The boat is a good tool for introducing beginners to the latest generation of boats and provides a stable platform to introduce asymetric kites, with no trapeze and a ...
...wayfarers in our fleet. For both centre and private use I would recommend the following modifications:- 1. Replace the rope rudder foil downhaul with a fail safe element - shock cord etc - the foil is quite deep and liable to damage on grounding. 2. Part of the same problem - the rudder pintles are through bolted onto small plywood pad glassed inside the transom - worth beefing these ut to provide a little extra security. The boat is quite fast ... Read review

Advantages: fast, fun, maneuverable
Disadvantages: Some people have difficulty putting up the sail/mast on their own.

...7.06m squared area whilst the Laser Radial has only 5.72m squared and the Laser 4.7 sail has even less with 4.70m squared surface area, the smaller sails allow lighter people to handle the boat in a good wind . The mast is in two pieces and I know some people who have trouble fitting the mast, it can be considered quite heavy by people like my mum and my sister who always need help with it. The boat can stay afloat with up to 158.7kg so it should ...
...websites such as the International Laser Class Association found at http://www.laserinternational.org It has also become the Olympic high performance dinghy class, a long way from its first inception by designer Bruce Kirby in 1970. A relatively new addition to this class of boat is the Laser Pico, designed by Jo Richards in 1995 it is constructed of different material to the original laser. It makes a brilliant alternative to the original for children ... Read review

Advantages: Vertually indistructable
Disadvantages: Hard to have more than one person on board unless you like getting wet

The Topper is an excellent youth boat. It is the perfect progression towards sailing larger single handed dingys when you get older. It is now even better than when I sailed it. You can now modify it to have a centre main sheet which again aids the transfer to more powerful boats in the future. It is great for people new to the sport and can take the battering of children or the not so in control sailors. I for one have had 12 people on it at once ...
...and help. Unlike on the Topper where my Dad has spent many days cramed under the kicker. Children can also go out together which can boost in some cases confidence. On the Topper you usually end up with one person on the nose of the boat, which can have some comical consequences of the boat nose diving as we call it, where it gets pushed under water. This in itself became a reason to want to go out on the Topper. My brother and I have managed to ... Read review

Advantages: easy way to get out on the water, 2nd hand can be picked up cheaply
Disadvantages: not really a performance boat

...up a cheap second hand topper (approx £450). The boat requires little to no maintainence and is ready to sail whenever I am nearby and the wind is blowing (hopefully not too much). It has a plastic (technical term!!) hull and deck and one sail. The boat is easily transported on top of a car and can be easily stored down the side of a house. It really is a very adaptable boat. The title calls it a junior boat--this is a little misleading as it is ...
...onto more performance boats, the topper does have its own great racing circuit for juniors. The fact that the boat is used by so many sailing schools and holiday venues really does show how versatile and useful these little boats are. Other boats have come along in recent years as competitiors to the topper and maybe for some people they are more appropriate, realistically though I can't see the topper being beaten for value for money (certainly ... Read review

Advantages: Sturdy for learning in, can be fun
Disadvantages: Very little room to duck under the boom

...to attach these to the topper under instruction, and then we were given a short demonstration of how to use them, by an instructor on land. Then we had to go and practice the things which we had just been shown in our pairs before taking to the water. We were mainly practicing ducking under the boom without getting tangled up in the raopes that were attached to the sails. My experience of these boats: If you already know anything about topper you ...
...the day. For potential Topper users/buyers: If you are interested in sailing toppers but haven't done that much sailing, or any at all I would highly recommend trying it at some where like Tower Wood. I read one of the other reviews before writing mine, and saw just how expensive Toppers are. Also you will need, or at least I would highly recommend some sort of life jacket or bouyancy aid, and suitable clothing ie Wet suit (or as I myself wold ... Read review