Fleet Captain - Nils Andersson

MBYC's Laser fleet has enjoyed a long history. Hal Brown (son of Commodore Halleck Brown -1975) brought the first Laser to the club in 1971. Ken Wild bought his first of many Lasers in 1972 upon his return from military service in Vietnam and still races actively while encouraging new sailors. Great Grand Master Nils Andersson proves age is no barrier by continuing to lead the local fleet round the marks and travel to numerous national and world level events. Local Laser sailors range in age from 10 to over 80 years old!

The Olympic Laser class' popularity at our club is tied the affordable nature of this one-design, continued growth of masters sailing completion and to the junior program's participation. Their enthusiasm infects older skippers from other fleets, challenging them to compete against our talented youth. The older juniors mostly race the Full and Radial rigs while the youngest begin enjoying Laser sailing using the five small 4.7 meter rigs donated by the Laser Fleet to the MBYC Juniors. Our youth have benefitted from tough racing in the local fleet and gone on the win numerous national and international singlehanded sailing championships to include the Smythe (Steve Hochart and Kevin Laube), Sears (Scott & Evan Hoffmann), CORK (Kevin Laube, Caleb & Olin Paine) and many others. The fleet at MBYC is continues to be extremely active. Summer TNT events often attract ten to twelve boats. Santa Clara Racing Association's monthly Laser regattas can top 30 entries and MBYC presence is always strong as we often fill out the top places.

Modern rigging improvements to include a 15 to 1 vang, multiple purchase outhaul and downhaul systems lead to the deck and Harken Mainsheet blocks has helped make the boat more user friendly to younger, older and lighter sailors. The Laser’s presence at MBYC will continue on the strength and success of the new Laser generation and enduring participation of our master’s level sailors.