Laser 2
{{Short description|Sailboat class}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox sailboat specifications
|name = Laser 2
|insignia =
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|image boat = File:Laser 2 sailboat 7968.jpg
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|designer = Frank Bethwaite
Ian Bruce
|architect =
|location = Canada
|year = 1978
|no built = 8,200
|design =
|class =
|brand =
|builder = Performance Sailcraft
Vanguard Sailboats
|role = Racer
|boats =
|crew = two
|trapeze =
|draft = {{convert|3.50|ft|m|abbr=on}} with daggerboard down
|air draft =
|displacement = {{convert|170|lb|kg|0|abbr=on}}
|hulls =
|hull type = monohull
|construction = fibreglass
|loa = {{convert|14.42|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|loh =
|lwl = {{convert|13.83|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|beam = {{convert|4.67|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|engine =
|appendages =
|keel type = daggerboard
|ballast =
|rudder type = transom-mounted rudder
|rigs =
|rig type = Bermuda rig
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|sails =
|sailplan = fractional rigged sloop
|sailarea main =
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|sailarea total = {{convert|124.00|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}
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The Laser 2, or Laser II, is a sailboat that was designed by New Zealander Frank Bethwaite and Canadian Ian Bruce as a one-design racer and first built in 1978.{{cite web|url= https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/laser-2|title= Laser 2 sailboat |access-date= 1 August 2022|last= McArthur|first= Bruce|work= sailboatdata.com|year= 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200613/https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/laser-2|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboat.guide/performance-sailcraft/laser-2|title= Laser 2|access-date= 1 August 2022|author= Sea Time Tech, LLC|work= sailboat.guide|year= 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200728/https://sailboat.guide/performance-sailcraft/laser-2|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboatdata.com/designer/bethwaite-design|title= Bethwaite Design|access-date = 1 August 2022|last= McArthur| first = Bruce |work = sailboatdata.com|year = 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200637/https://sailboatdata.com/designer/bethwaite-design|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboat.guide/bethwaite-design|title= Bethwaite Design|access-date= 1 August 2022|author= Sea Time Tech, LLC|work= sailboat.guide|year= 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200733/https://sailboat.guide/bethwaite-design|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboatdata.com/designer/bruce-ian|title= Ian Bruce 1933 - 2016|access-date = 1 August 2022|last= McArthur| first = Bruce |work = sailboatdata.com|year = 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200642/https://sailboatdata.com/designer/bruce-ian|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboat.guide/ian-bruce|title= Ian Bruce|access-date= 1 August 2022|author= Sea Time Tech, LLC|work= sailboat.guide|year= 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200741/https://sailboat.guide/ian-bruce|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}
Production
The design was built by Bruce's company, Performance Sailcraft, in Canada and also by Vanguard Sailboats in the United States. Production ran from 1978 until 1987, with 8,200 boats completed, but it is now out of production. In 2007 Performance Sailcraft and Vanguard were merged to form LaserPerformance.{{cite web|url = https://sailboatdata.com/builder/performance-sailcraft|title = Performance Sailcraft|access-date = 1 August 2022|last= McArthur| first = Bruce |work = sailboatdata.com|year = 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220321005830/https://sailboatdata.com/builder/performance-sailcraft|archive-date= 21 March 2022|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://sailboat.guide/performance-sailcraft|title= Performance Sailcraft|access-date= 1 August 2022|author= Sea Time Tech, LLC|work= sailboat.guide|year= 2022|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801200736/https://sailboat.guide/performance-sailcraft|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}
Design
File:Laser II under spinnaker.jpg, with the crew on the trapeze]]
The Laser 2 is a sailing dinghy, built predominantly of fibreglass. It has a fractional sloop rig, a raked stem, a plumb transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller with an extension and a retractable daggerboard. It displaces {{convert|170|lb|kg|0|abbr=on}}. The crew can make use of a single trapeze.
The boat has a draft of {{convert|3.50|ft|m|abbr=on}} with the daggerboard extended and {{convert|4|in|cm|abbr=on}} with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water, beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.
For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical spinnaker.
The design has a US Portsmouth Yardstick D-PN handicap of 92.8 and a UK RYA-PN of 1035.
Variants
The basic Laser 2 was produced in a number of variants, including the Laser II Fun, Laser II Regatta and the Laser Fun New Wave, which was equipped with an asymmetrical spinnaker. All were out of production by 1990.
Operational history
The boat was at one time a World Sailing international class, but its status has been revoked.{{cite web|url= https://members.sailing.org/classesandequipment/centreboard/index.php|title= Centreboard|access-date= 1 August 2022|author= International Sailing Federation|author-link= World Sailing|work= sailing.org|year= 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120718021509/https://members.sailing.org/classesandequipment/centreboard/index.php|archive-date= 18 July 2012|url-status= dead}}
In a February 1980 review John Turnbull in Canadian Yachting wrote of the Laser 2, "Frank Bethwaite, the unclaimed maestro of high-powered dinghy design, and Ian Bruce, the designer / promoter of Performance Sailcraft, may have come up with the only boat that could live up to the expectations created by the Laser. It doesn't bring anything startlingly new to sailboat design except perhaps the idea that a mass-market boat should be fast and challenging."{{cite web|url= https://www.canadianyachting.ca/boat-reviews/95-one-design/3536-laser-2|title= Laser 2|access-date= 1 August 2022|last= Turnbull|first= John|work= Canadian Yachting|date= February 1980|archive-url= https://archive.today/20220801215253/https://www.canadianyachting.ca/boat-reviews/95-one-design/3536-laser-2|archive-date= 1 August 2022|url-status= live}}
=Events=
{{Main|List of Laser 2 championships}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Laser II}}
{{Laser Boats}}
{{Classes of World Sailing}}
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs}}