Welcome to the NEW GYBE YEARBOOK In 1975, I brought my first Laser. At the time, and probably like many others, I had no idea how that decision would shape my later life. This disarmingly simple racing dinghy has given pleasure to thousands, to others access to Olympic dreams and to many more opportunities to form great friendships and even find partners. This all adds up to three magic ingredients: The Boat, The Racing and The Community! - The secret to success! The Boat. In 1989 a new Mk1 sail was £230 – stick that in an inflation calculator and that's £570 in today's money and a new 2021 sail is far superior. The boats are more expensive but not ridiculously so and it’s hardly surprising as labour costs have risen dramatically over the years. My point is that just as in the 1970s the boat is a winner, even new it’s within reach of many sailors. Put the thousands of used boats into that equation then it's a sport within the reach of most. The stringent building controls make sure all those used boats are not at a disadvantage when racing against a new one. The Racing. So you're a 14-year old wannabe Olympian… no a 41 year old parent ... no a 75-year old grandparent ... no matter, you can race and at what ever level you feel suits you. And decent racing in reasonable size fleets. All over the world there are fleets active with incredible club sailors who could and often do jump into a charter boat somewhere
else on the globe and do battle with new friends. The Community. This is the bit easiest taken for granted. Without the volunteers, the camaraderie and friendly competition, the class wouldn’t have survived and thrived over the 50 years. It’s the glue that holds everything together. The Masters exemplify these values – some are Olympians, others brilliant amateurs yet the majority just love getting out and experiencing the fun of the race. Of course we all want to do better and we try, in some cases really hard but at the end of the day we are doing something that helps make us live a life worth living that we share with our friends. So now it’s our turn to look after all this. Gybe quarterly has been put to bed. Gybe Yearbook is now here. A good friend, Adrian Elwood loaned me his extensive set of Laser Letters, Beam Reaches and Gybes. I was struck by what an incredible archive there is. (The Internet is great but often lets us down when links are broken and sites not updated.) Not just results but stories, reports and articles by people like Jeff Martin, who sadly died prematurely. Names pop up who are familiar to us now, some we now see in the America's Cup boats. In a recent Podcast by Ben Flower, Alan Davis pointed out that he had sailed a Laser against at least one person from every boat entered in the Americas cup! But if you swing round and look at the clubs almost every club in the UK has at least a few Lasers in their dinghy park and Commodores all over the land have cut their teeth sailing a Laser. With all this in mind and with some serious limitations on space, I have set out to paint a picture of the past 50 years of the Laser, the boat, the racing and the people. Using members of this great community to interview and write about the volunteers, coaches, sailors and sponsors we have put together what I hope you will all agree is a worthy celebration of 50 years of this great racing dinghy. I’d like to thank all those who have helped and supported this project and made it possible. Let us all raise a glass to another 50 years! Guy Noble
Photo PCG Photography
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