Laser C5 Rig – An Option for Laser’s Future?

As a strong (zealous?) promotor of the Laser, this video gives me strong emotions in both directions. I’d love to see the Laser evolve faster, but I dread the idea of such a dramatic change that might kill the fleet. The same old questions that has faced the class at every turn.

This C5 rig is intriguing. It has the square top and carbon spars that would certainly add to performance. Julian Bethwaite (29er etc) certainly has the skills to do the changes right. But while the Laser hull shape is certainly timeless, the construction technology is long past its due date and the foils can do with updating.

What to do – with the RS Aero and Melges 14 having raised the bar in the singlehanded classes and gaining traction fast, there are plenty of good reasons to update the Laser. I’d love to see how that rig fares against the Aero. Then again, Laser is still the class internationally and that big a change may capsize it forever. Would changes like that be beating a dead horse that isn’t dead? Hmmm.

C5 Sailing Rig from MainFocusProductions on Vimeo.