The American Tea Cup Regatta - where it all began

1:26 AM Thu 13 Jan 2011 GMT

'Start - Laser Worlds 2010, Hayling Island, UK' Richard Langdon Click Here to view large photo

As sailing tries to broaden its base, the most desirable Olympic boats for the new and developing sailing nations are the single person boats, one-designs which are relatively inexpensive to build, the Laser and the windsurfer. Almost 200,000 Lasers have now been built. The boat's history began in 1969 when Canadian yachting journalist and boat designer Bruce Kirby was commissioned to design a dinghy small enough to be carried on a car roof rack. The design was for a camping equipment supplier, however that original design was never taken up. The plans remained in Kirby's file until the following year ...

Click here for full story.

by Rob Kothe