Another option for us is the Laser SB3. This boat has been a huge success over in the UK, and Vanguard was finally bought out by the UK laser people, so we’re now getting them in the US this year. I’ve seen 2 parked behind Vanguard already last fall and I’ve seen one out doing some test sailing in Newport. I’ve been in contact with their salesperson and I’m eagerly awaiting a May test sail.
The boat is pretty interesting. It’s a big heavier than the other options and has a huge kite to make up for it. There are strict no hiking rules which sound promising for sailing it with 2 or even 1 for fun. The biggest issue we have is the ~$40k pricetag. It’s a nice boat, but it’s old technology (no carbon, old construction, etc). It’s still a great OD class from what we’ve seen, but the price seems a bit steep when you consider the technology involved. It will be very interesting to see if a fleet can form due to that price. It’s also known to be slower than a viper, but much less work. If you’re sailing OD the ultimate speed doesn’t matter as much as the closeness in the racing, the laser has that, but realistically any of these boats will be PHRFed for the first years, so it’s something to consider.
Here’s a link to their (new) site. Here’s a link to the Sailing World review as well as the boats.com review.
- LOA 20 feet
- Beam 7 feet
- Draft 5 feet
- Displacement 1378 Lbs
- Ballast 725 Lbs
- SA (upwind) 294 sq. ft.
- SA (downwind) 789 sq. ft.
here’s a gallery of some images I’ve borrowed online:
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