Hi all,
For about 2 years, I've been learning to sail a Laser, plus a few other small dinghy-styles boats, here in Sydney. It has been a lot of fun. I am now able to sail my way around a course and race against my friends. I can tack and jibe pretty well in winds up to 20knots. I am getting good at detecting oncoming gusts. I do occasionally still get the mainsheet caught on the back corner of the boat, but not as often as when I started!
So anyway, getting to my question: I travel fairly often and I'd like do some dinghy sailing overseas, especially in Europe, not fiercely competitively, just for recreational/social, etc.
Has anyone on the forum included Laser sailing on a European holiday? Did you enjoy it? Where did you go? Any ideas about locations, hiring a laser, group dinghy sailing, etc will be appreciated! I guess learning here in Sydney means I've been brought up on clover.... but there are no doubt some great places overseas, too. I'm keen to hear of any recommendations!
Cheers and best wishes,
Snapper.
Lake Garda in Italy - one of the world's great sailing locations. There's a special Laser centre with charter boats - see sail-laser.it/en/charter/
The winds funnel down from the Alps and Dolomites in the morning, and then rush back up in the afternoon after a calm period for lunch. Massive cliffs topped by villas and castles. Just don't try to take an Italian championship trophy home - many of us have found that they really, really don't like it. Once a year the Centromiglia race attracts a few of the Libera class, which are like 18 Foot Skiffs but 44ft long.
Further north there are lakes higher up in the Alps like the one at the Reschenpass;
Or you could be truly stupid and meet some fellow Windsurfer One Design sailors while riding your bike through the Alps, when they are heading from Italy to race in Switzerlan. Then you get to ride up the famous Gavia Pass to go windsurfing on a glacier lake at 2600 metres, wearing just cycling knicks.
Here's a tip - remember that you have a 21km down a grade of up to 16% at speeds of 70 kmh plus to get back home. That means that falling into the melt water and getting wet and cold cycling knicks is a very, very bad idea.
Germany has some lovely lakes, some terribly cold and grey sailing on the North Sea, and some beautiful wooden racing dinghies; magnificent long, skinny things like a giant Flying Dutchman; 27ft long and abou 3ft 6in wide. They were made as early as the 1920s and 1930s, when they would have kicked an 18 Footer's butt all the way around the course.
They also have beautiful wooden trailer yachts.
In England there's lots of hot racing and a huge number of sailors and clubs. The thing that I really like is that they sail and race anywhere - in old quarries, on tiny rivers, in industrial estates. There's a lake in Croydon in London that has two clubs, islands and fishermen all squeezed into 5 acres of water. It means that you can easily sail near your home without making a big deal of it and taking all day. Many of them sail boats that work even better on such small waterways than a Laser. We should learn from them.
Croydon - that's most of the course in the pic.
Cam Sailing Club - they have boats like Laser, Optis, classic keelboats and trailer sailers on a tiny river.
Oh, I should have mentioned that there are hire boats of various types in too many different places to mention. In places like Berlin and Hamburg you can hire older style boats, including lovely wooden ones, but you may need a local qualification. In the UK, quite a few clubs hire boats or will give you a sail as a crew, and there's a bunch of watersports centres. France has lots of hire places.
Wow, nice places! Thanks for the great inspiration, Chris! Lake Garda looks wonderful. I shall check it out. From your description, it is good to note that the daily wind fluctuations there would tend to suit every dinghy sailor, with either calm or strong winds, depending on the hour of the day.
I love the idea of doing some UK sailing, too. Also on my travel bucket list is Croatia. I have noticed lots of yachting options in Croatia. Hopefully there are some dinghy sailing options there, too. I will carry on with my investigations!
Thanks and all best wishes,
Snapper.
Yeah, all well listed but one should not forget the Swiss, German and Austrian lakes like Lac Leman in Switzerland or the Attersee, Mondsee, Koenigsee, Starbergersee in Bavaria as well as the world's perhaps most beautiful lake in Austria the Halst?ttersee. Those places are magic on a bike as well.
If one is going further east, there is the second largest lake in Europe lake Balaton in Hungary and even farther north the huge lake systems in Poland. All are well catered for with small crafts from Lasers and Finn's to locally made ones.
I spent a lot of summers over there and there are world class places to be discovered.
The countries east of Germany are very cheap to boot.
Croatia is magic and so is Transylvania on a bike but while Croatia is a great sailing destination Transylvania is only offering magic roads for the rider.
For motorcycling Europe is a great destination. I done a lot of riding there from England to Spain to Poland to Croatia occasionally sailing on one weekend and diving the next while motorcycling inbetween.
Old Europe is a hidden treasure!
