The Navigator All the Time Know His Position the Sailor All the Time Know Strenght and Direction of Apparent Wind
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Navigator all the time know his position The sailor all the time know strenght and direction of apparent wind When the boat lay still on the the water the true wind and the apparent wind are the same When the boat takes off ther is a difference between true wind and apparent wind Understanding the wind is what you lern very fast joining the Laser Class My life with Laser in 47 years 1972 - 2019 Bo Österberg [email protected] My Life With Laser 1972 – 2019 Bo Osterberg Sweden [email protected] +46 702 309212 In the summer of 1969, the 14-foot sailor and boat builder, Ian Bruce of Montreal, Canada, made a phone call to the 14-foot sailing champion and yacht designer, Bruce Kirby, in Connecticut. Bruce asked Kirby to design a single-handed dingy anyone could sail. The boat should be simple to build, simple to rig, easy to be car topped, and have a mast in two sections. Two hours into the call a design sketch emerged creating the Laser. That drawing is framed and hanging in Bruce Kirby’s office. Ian Bruce built the boat and contacted the sailmaker, Hans Fogh, to design the sail. Today there are 220,000 Lasers sailed in almost every country in the world. Due to the original sail, unsuccessful test sailing occurred in spring 1970. After Fogh saw the mast, he redesigned the sail adding a casing to slip over the mast. Enthusiasm spread among the test sailors. Dave Belfour, a student at McGill University and Ian´s lawyer Ward Mc. Kim, looked at the project and they commented, “You are on the right track boys, but you cannot call the boat Thank God It’s Friday or Weekender. No boat will be sold. Call the boat Laser and it will sell.” Ian’s lawyer asked to register the name Laser worldwide as a sailing product and to help with financing. Ian Bruce wasn’t convinced about the name and his wife looked in books to find a better name. Dave Belfour and the lawyer convinced Bruce that the laser beam is the future and with that, you can do anything. Plus, it can be red or green. They agreed on the name Laser, established drawings and created production files. After adjusting the bow height, a 6-boat stack fit into the new twenty-foot world standard shipping container. Montreal Canada was the production site where 12-packs of Lasers including sail, cover and trolley started their world journey. The Laser premiered at the New York Boat Show in January 1971 with 144 boats sold. Laser sails were identical due to modern laser cutting. Their uniform design and the moderate price interested many sailors. In August 1972, Ian Bruce and his lawyer had the ingenuity to ship three containers of Lasers to the Olympic Games in Kiel West Germany. Ian crewed in the Canadian Star boat. On rest days, the competitors sailed the Lasers for fun. If they liked, they could take a Laser home. The Lasers disappeared like butter in hot sun. In two-weeks, 36 Lasers spread across the sailing world including Sweden. Bengt Julin, member of the Swedish Olympic committee, put his hand on one boat. The price in Sweden including ratchet, sale figures, and vat should be under Swedish Crowns 2 900:-.The OK- dingy I had for the moment was 4 500:-. I had three children ready to leave the Optimist class and looked at my options. In autumn 1971, I had read about the Laser dingy in the American magazine One Design and Offshore Yachtsman. When a Laser came to Salsjobaden Stockholm, I went and was mesmerized immediately. What a speed downwind! The OK-dingy sailors of my club south of Stockholm were less enthusiastic and told me to send the Laser back the U.S. They chastised me that the boat with a sack for sail over an untapered tube could not perform upwind. I bit my tongue and believed in the stikt onedesign Laser. Laser was now displayed under management of Bengt Julin at Osterman Marble Halls in center of Stockholm in the erly spring of 1973. Every day I went to see the sleek Laser. 1 Also in autumn 1972, a second Laser factory opened in Banbury England. Manager Paul Davis and marketing manager, Renaud Langer of Switzerland, wanted Pelle Petterson in Gothenburg to sell the Laser in Sweden. Pelle liked the boat but Lars Wiklund, economy manager at Maxiboats, told Pelle that the profit on a Laser is too low with the retail price recommended by England.Wiklund said let Bo Osterberg take the agency to Stockholm. Hans Holmstrom, “Hasse Hairdresser” with business at Heden, Ljungskile and Fjallbacka began strongly promoting Laser. Also, Christer Bath, racing FD with his brother Pelle, started competing in the Laser Class. Bermuda hosted the first World Championship in 1974. Twenty-eight sailors participated with Peter Comette from the USA winning. Together with Sven Thornmark and some more enthusiasts from the Malmo Sailing Club, we now founded The Swedish Laser Association and applied for the European Championship held in Malmo August 1974. That Championship was a great success with over ninety competitors. Another fan of the new class was Lasse Molse of Gothenburg. This was the starting point of Laser Sweden 20-24 August. The International Laser Association had an energetic secretary named Jeff Martin from Falmouth, UK. He debuted in Malmo pointing out the strict class rules needed better wording to make the Laser class successful. He wanted lawyers to protect the Laser from piracy. He also wanted quality held at an acceptable level. Chris Tunstall in Banbury and later Gogol Kafi managed to do this. Lastly for the Laser, were sensitive negotiations with The International Sailing Association in London to obtain Olympic status. Tim Coventry, CEO of Performance Sailcraft, achieved that in the 1980’s. Tim Coventry built a strong network of energetic Laser dealers that were also good sailors. He wanted hard working dealers supportive of ads and boat shows. Mange Olsson, training the National 505 Team in Nynashamn, borrowed a Laser from me on a bad weather day and returned saying, “This boat can use heavy air!” The first club that fully recommended Laser was Malarhojdens Kanotsallskap Stockholm. Sailors Pelle Ek, Rolf Lundstrom, Olle Wenrup and Ebbe Rosén came for a test ride in Nynashamn. One young man named Birger Thornkvist, the present Laser dealer, also wanted a boat but all in stock were sold so he had to drive to Vastervik. The family Holm was the first in Nynashamn Yacht Club that liked a cheap boat where all were identical and ready to sail at delivery. We soon had over twenty Lasers in my club. The Royal Yacht Club KSSS in Saltsjobaden, Stockholm arranged the first Laser race in October 1974. I was excited at the sight of seventeen Lasers at the starting line. I have the trophy from that race on my desk. The 1975 Alvsjo Boat Show now exhibited the Laser Class. One club after another started arranging regattas. Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Vastervik, Norrkoping and Vasteras were hot places. I left my job as chief inspector for a military electronic company in Nynashamn and started selling and racing Laser fulltime. I registered my company, Jollesport KB, in 1972. Six months later, Performance Sail Craft made me responsible for Scandinavia including Finland and Iceland under the name of Norden Laser KB. In Denmark, I changed Paul Elfstrom with his interest only in Trapez and Finn-dingy, to Anders Myralf. In Finland I replaced the Tallberg family with Derk Breitenstein. In Norway Knut Frederik Horn took over from Odd Roar Lofterod. It did not help; none of the other countries took off like Sweden. In Iceland, I sold one container to Bjarne Gudmundson on Gensaksvej in Reykarvik. In summer it blows 30 knots and winter 40 knots and most of the time water is 4 degrees centigrade. 2 Thomas Rudewald took over as chairman of Laser Sweden and introduced Laser Grand Prix with Helly Hansen as sponsor. It concluded with a regatta at Riddarfjorden in the center of Stockholm every year. Sailors teased us when we rounded outside the City Hall saying, “Nice club house you have.” The Laser Class gathered sailors with the same demand on social arrangements that they used during races or at the starting line. Simply put—evening parties were more important than polishing the hull. Are Ski Yachting became a popular competition with two slalom races at Tvaravalvet and two Laser races at the Are Lake followed by an enticing party at the Tott Hotel. Thomas Rudewald, Jonas Bohlin and undersigned started a newsletter, The Laser News. Our Class had 1 800 paying members. The Laser News printed as most 5500 copies and went out to many clubs. Advertisements paid for printing and postage. The printer was my neighbour and the post office was one block away. Many good writers and cartoonists joined the production. When you visit Birger, Konrad and Desiree at Sjoboden in Lidingo, look for copies of The Laser News including the first one. The 1977 Swedish Nationals in Kullavik drew 155 entries. The new world champion in the Olympic Finn-Dingy, Magnus Ohlin, won in hard competition against Christer Bath. Stig Falkesater, the new chairman of Laser Sweden, finally arranged for an official Swedish Championship. One month later, almost the same number of sailors came to The Nordic Championship in Allingsas. Odd Roar Lofterod won in hard competition against Christer Bath. World champion, John Bertrand from USA, finished fourth.