Laser Pico

The Laser Pico dinghy is a small sailboat designed by Jo Richards in the mid-1990s and used primarily for training and day sailing. It can be crewed by one or two children or an adult. Current models come equipped with both a mainsail and a jib, the jib however mainly functions as a training tool and provides little to no contribution to speed.

A Laser Pico

The Pico functions mainly as a training boat for younger children because of its very durable nature and has little to no racing events dedicated to it.

A sport version is also available on this boat which includes a larger Mylar sail and upgraded control lines. This improvement changed the Portsmouth Yardstick from 1338 to 1269 (for the double handed setup). This version is used extensively in the one-design race series.

The hull is of thermoplastic sandwich construction, providing strength, stiffness, and built-in buoyancy. The cockpit is self-draining. The boat comes equipped with an aluminum two-piece mast, an aluminum boom, and a lifting rudder. For the more racy type, the pico can have a battened race sail attached instead of the cruising main. This sail is made of mylar and is much tougher and more powerful than its cruising counterpart.

Laser Performance, the manufacturer of the Pico, has sold over 15,000 of these boats.[1]

The first UK National championships were held on 27–29 May 2006 at Gurnard Sailing Club on the Isle of Wight, the Pico's spiritual home.

The Laser Pico has no active Class Association with the last reminants of the website being removed in 2013.

Specifications
  • Length: 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in)
  • Beam: 1.43 m (4 ft 8 in)
  • Hull weight: 60 kg (130 lb)
  • Mainsail: 5.1 m2 (55 sq ft)
  • Race mainsail: 6.44 m2 (69.3 sq ft)
  • Jib: 1.57 m2 (16.9 sq ft)
  • Portsmouth number: 1260 (singlehanded), 1265 (two sail(or)s)[2]
  • D-PN: 104.6[3]

References
  1. Ashworth, Katie (19 April 2011). "LaserPerformance and the renewal of the Laser Pico". Sail-World.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  2. "Portsmouth Number List 2012". Royal Yachting Association. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  3. "Centerboard Classes-Inactive". US Sailing. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.