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.
Most amazing of all, Brigham Sailing Club, which still races some ancient local scows on a tiny canal. Yes, that is the full width;
I did a race on a tiny river in Chester, where they told me that you could call for water if you were about to hit a cow that had wandered down from the adjoining field for a drink.
