I loved the extreme efforts to avoid capsizing, but everyone turns turtle once in a while! These sailors are great. This is why Lasers are an Olympic Class.
Reminds me of sailing on Lake Ontario. We sailed out of Oswego and you get some huge rollers and wind. You keep the small craft behind the breakwall to help with this. I have been out on some bigger boats when it is 6-7 foot swells.
I used to race on a reservoir in Lincoln, Nebraska will stationed at Offutt AFB. Wind really blew out there. Capsized twice in one race and still finished in the middle of the pack. I can remember a death roll on a dead run to this day. (It was around 1975)
It is actually quite common in heavy weather. Scary and hard to get back on the boat as it it stays with the wind behind you. We used to hear a lot of jokes from folks in other classes about the lack of sea worthiness of the Laser. It is damn funny though.
I remember surfing down a wave at Abersoch. Going so fast the gybe was as gentle as as if there was a summer breeze. Not as windy as this but still pretty breezy.
If they were not racing would they still be capsizing? In other words, could they tack and jibe without capsizing if they weren't trying to sail as fast as possible or are they taking more risk than necessary?
The idea is to gybe going down the wave so that the pressure on the sail is reduced but it is very hard to do it properly because the Laser's helm is not very responsive. I sure capsized many times gybing and there are a lot of people afraid of gybing.
Sailing races are “as exciting as watching grass grow.” I raced Lasers once, in Grand Cayman. Humiliated myself, wish I had watched the grass grow instead ...
What does that have to do with "wimps"... They're trying to go fast and efficient not fucking ride at a 45° angle and slow Depowering is a thing for a reason yknow
