Laser 4000
The Laser 4000 (now "4000") is a racing dinghy designed by Phil Morrison crewed by two persons. Its one-design weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in Europe, particularly the UK, France and Italy.
A Laser 4000 sailing upwind | |
| Development | |
|---|---|
| Designer | Phil Morrison |
| Year | 1994 |
| Design | One-design |
| Name | Laser 4000 (4000) |
| Boat | |
| Crew | 2 |
| Trapeze | One |
| Hull | |
| Type | Monohull |
| Construction | Fiberglass |
| LOA | 4.64 metres (15.2 ft) |
| Beam | 1.50 metres (4.9 ft) 2.30 metres (7.5 ft) |
| Rig | |
| Mast length | 7.10 metres (23.3 ft) |
| Sails | |
| Mainsail area | 10.80 square metres (116.3 sq ft) |
| Jib/genoa area | 3.90 square metres (42.0 sq ft) |
| Spinnaker area | 17.10 square metres (184.1 sq ft) |
| Racing | |
| D-PN | 80.7 |
| RYA PN | 911 |
The 4000 is a fast, planing skiff-style dinghy with a trapeze for the crew and trampolines for the helm. Upwind, the boat does not point especially close to the wind, but its fully battened sails give enough power to keep up with similar-sized boats. Downwind, however is where the boat excels due to its asymmetrical spinnaker (a.k.a. gennaker). In a force 3 the 4000 will plane and the crew will make full use of the trapeze wire. However, force 4-5 is when the boat performs its optimum. The 4000 is fast enough to make use of the apparent wind to reach the bottom of the racecourse sooner.
In lighter winds, many crews make use of the jibing gennaker pole when sailing downwind. This allows them to show a larger part of the spinnaker to the wind whilst sailing further away from the wind direction.