Advice for Running Downwind When running in light to medium airs you may sometimes find the Laser goes faster with the boom let out to only about 80 degrees so that the winds flows across the sail from leech to luff. When running in heavy airs do not be afraid to sail by the lee and, you may even find letting your boom out past 90 degrees on occasions may make the Laser a bit more stable. And it may even save you a gybe. Do not be afraid to experiment with the ‘unconventional

Choosing the Right Sail When the ‘A’ (large; light weather) and the ‘B’ (middle-size) sails get near the upper end of their wind range, they develop a pronounced weather helm. This means that they drive the boat into the wind, sometimes overpowering the rudder and when sailing downwind the boat tends to ‘submarine’. For example, the ‘A’ rig has an upper range of around 8-10 knots. To windward, the answer to this problem is boat speed. It is critical to keep boat speed up so t

The sails on the RC Laser are virtually indestructible but there is one aspect that occasionally (rarely) causes a problem. A mylar reinforcing panel is glued along the leach (trailing edge) of the sail. This panel keeps the primary sail material from fraying and stretching along the trailing edge. It is applied with an adhesive and then bound by the corner reinforcements top and bottom. On rare occasions, the mylar panel has been known to separate from the sail. This can occ

We need to be able to control mast bend so that we can shape the sail for upwind sailing in different wind strengths. We do this by changing the tension in the sail (by moving the inner outhaul slider towards mast for more mast bend and vice versa). In a stayed rigged boat with a backstay, mast bend is controlled by changing the tension in the backstay. This means that the fore and aft bend in the mast remains fore and aft whatever position the sail is in. In the RC Laser we

Most, if not all, full size racing yacht skippers will use telltales to assist them in sail setting and steering. On full size yachts and dinghies there are likely to be telltales at various places on both the main and jib sails, in addition to leech telltales, such as those fitted to the RC Laser. In a radio controlled boats like the RC Laser, because the skipper is not on board, there is little point in having streamers that help with sail settings that cannot be adjusted f

When you sail into the wind and stop your forward motion (usually not on purpose), you are said to be “In Irons”. The rudder on your boat functions because it is moving through the water. When you turn the rudder, the force of the water on the blade causes the rudder to move away from the pressure caused by the flow of water, thus turning the boat. So, if your boat stops, the rudder also stops working because there is no flow of water. Your sails are flapping and so is your r

The monofilament line is the nylon-looking line that runs from the sail servo drum up and around the bow roller. It looks simple. One track (groove) of the servo drum takes in the line while the other track lets it out. The line runs up and around the bow roller. The moving knot where your mainsheet attaches runs the full length from drum to pulley. You are highly unlikely to encounter the problem of the line jumping off the drum; there are two ways that can happen – one is t