The boat I sail ILCA (Laser)

I thought I’d do a quick post explaining the boat I sail in and the different size rigs and sails.

The boat is an International Laser Class Association (ILCA) originally known as a Laser. This is a single handed (one person) boat that is ideal for youth and adults. What that means is youth sailors can continue to sail this boat (the hull) for life. And it is ideal to learn in because of the different size rigs (sails). This is also an Olympic class boat.

There are different sails and rigs for the ILCA (Laser) hull. ILCA 7, 6 and 4. I began to sail ILCA 4 in 2021 or what used to be known as Laser 4.7. The differences are:

• ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7) is the junior rig and it is used both male and female sailors and it’s about 4.7 square metres in size.
• ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) is around 6 square metres and is used by women at the top level; it is their Olympic class so that is the top rig for women and a youth class for men.
• ILCA 7 (Laser Standard) is the men’s Olympic class and is around 7 square metres

All these different size rigs (sails) fit onto the same ILCA hull. So the only thing that changes is the bottom section or the bottom half of your mast. The top half and all the rigging is the same just the sail is different.

For a more detailed explanation please refer to the ILCA website: https://www.laserinternational.org/about-the-laser/