Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium The Channel

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners

Laser Sailboat

This article was originally written and submitted as part of a Canada 150 Project, the Innovation Storybook, to crowdsource stories of Canadian innovation with partners across Canada. The content has since been migrated to Ingenium’s Channel, a digital hub featuring curated content related to science, technology and innovation.

Share
Mar 8, 2016
Categories
Marine Transportation
Categories
Sports & Gaming
Media
Article
Profile picture for user Ingenium
By: Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Laser sailboat race. Source: International Laser Class Association
Laser sailboat race. Source: International Laser Class Association

The Laser began as a quick sketch made during a telephone conversation between Canadians Bruce Kirby and Ian Bruce.

“How about doing a car-top sail boat?” This was the inspiration for the Laser, perhaps the most popular single-handed sailing dinghy in the world. Bruce Kirby responded to Ian Bruce’s question by creating a light, portable boat that appealed to both recreational and competitive sailors. Introduced in 1971, the Laser gave people access to the thrill of sailing without membership in a yacht club: it was lively and nimble, sailed well even in light winds, and could be easily righted by an inexperienced sailor after capsizing. For more seasoned sailors, the Laser’s responsiveness and speed made it a perfect boat for competitive racing. It became so popular that the Olympic committee added the Laser as an Olympic-class boat for men in 1996 and women in 2008. The Laser’s enduring popularity, though, comes from the thousands of recreational sailors who experience the pure pleasure of single-handing a Laser on a breezy day.

The Laser was originally called the “Weekender.” Kirby and Bruce changed the name after asking an engineering student who liked to sail for ideas. The student suggested the boat have a modern-sounding technical name. Ian Bruce responded, “You mean something like Laser?”

Bruce Kirby, winner of a U.S. National Championships race in New Jersey, 1975. Source: Bruce Kirby

Bruce Kirby, Canadian designer of the Laser. Source: Bruce Kirby

Laser sailboat catalogue, 1975. Source: Ingenium L52344

Laser sailboat, Fabreville, Quebec, 1974. Source: Ingenium 1991.0429

Tags
Innovation Storybook
Author(s)
Profile picture for user Ingenium
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Follow

Ingenium represents a collaborative space where the past meets the future in a celebration of creativity, discovery, and human ingenuity.

Telling the stories of people who think differently and test the limits, Ingenium honours people and communities who have shaped history — and inspire the next generation.

https://ingeniumcanada.org/about-ingenium

More Stories by

Profile picture for user Ingenium
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
The exterior of a very large rectangular building; the word “Ingenium” is visible on the front of the façade.

Case study: A second RHFAC Gold for Ingenium

The Canadian flag, set against the backdrop of a clear, blue lake and mountains in Banff National Park, Alberta.

Oh Canada! Let’s celebrate Canada Day together

“McIntosh Red” apple watercolour by Faith Fyles for the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, 1920s. Source: Ingenium 1987.2334

McIntosh Red Apple

Cover of Canadian Aviation magazine featuring the first Canadian-made Hawker Hurricane, February 1940. Source: Ingenium

Hawker Hurricane

Propeller model used by W. Rupert Turnbull in 1923. Source: Ingenium 1967.1152

Variable Pitch Propeller

First flight of the Silver Dart immortalized in a painting by Robert W. Bradford , 1965 Source: Ingenium 1967.0893

Silver Dart

Boys sitting on top of telephone booths, ca.1950. Toronto, Ontario.

Hand Telephone

Related Stories

The sternwheeler river boat SS Klondike at an early stage of its journey to Whiskey Flats South, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Anon., “Sidewalk Supers Size Up Sternwheeler.” Whitehorse Star, 23 June 1966, 1.

As the world, err, as the wheel turns; Or, How / why SS Klondike, a cargo-carrying sternwheeler river boat briefly used for river cruises, became one of Parks Canada’s 1,004 national historic sites, part 3

Passengers of the Canadian sternwheeler river boat SS Klondike watch as their ship was about to cross a narrow passage of the Yukon River, at the Five Finger Rapids, Yukon Territory. David Willock, “There’s Tourist Gold in the Yukon.” The Ottawa Citizen – Weekend Magazine, 25 June 1955, 18.

As the world, err, as the wheel turns; Or, How / why SS Klondike, a cargo-carrying sternwheeler river boat briefly used for river cruises, became one of Parks Canada’s 1,004 national historic sites, part 2

A red plastic telephone with the handset off of the base on a light grey table. There are scratches on the phone which is an angular design. The rotary dial is on the handset and attached to the base by a red spiral cord.

A Phone Call from Below the Arctic Ice - The 50th Anniversary of Arctic III Sub-Igloo Phone Call to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau

An abandoned and beached workhorse faced with an uncertain future, the Canadian sternwheeler river boat SS Klondike, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Anon., “Yukon River Boats.” The Calgary Herald, 5 May 1958, 1.

As the world, err, as the wheel turns; Or, How / why SS Klondike, a cargo-carrying sternwheeler river boat briefly used for river cruises, became one of Parks Canada’s 1,004 national historic sites, part 1

A Vincent Amanda personal watercraft in its element, Ruislip, England, April 1957. Anon., “Triss i bâtar.” Teknikens Värld med Flyg, 2 to 16 May 1957, 8.

Bournemouth, Scarborough, ooh I want to take you. Great Yarmouth, Lyme Regis, come on my reading friend: The Vincent Amanda, the almost forgotten ancestor of today’s personal watercrafts

Eight people stand in front of a flatbed truck, loaded with a large red-and-white wooden boat.

Collecting Nahma: A skiff with a story to tell

The first turboprop engine designed in Canada, the PT6 of Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company Limited. Anon., “Advertisement – Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company Limited.” The Gazette, 14 November 1960, 24.

Wings over the world: The PT6 turboprop and turboshaft engine, Part 1

The one and only Cushioncraft CC1, initially known as the Britten-Norman BN-1 Cushioncraft / CC1 Cushioncraft. Anon., “News Digest – New Cushion-rider.” Canadian Aviation, August 1960, 46.

It seemed like a good idea at the time: The bananas of the British Cameroons and the Cushioncraft CC1 hovercraft

A view of the solid-looking, wooden steering wheel, inside the pilot house from the SS Prince Edward Island.

Canada’s marine transportation artifacts will be better preserved in the Collections Conservation Centre

Cecil George Armitage at the controls of an Aérodoo, Richelieu River, Québec, November 1968. Anon., “Et maintenant… l’Aérodoo.” Vallée de la Petite Nation, 30 January 1969, 15.

The Mancunian candidate; or, How to float near the ground with the greatest of ease

Footer

About The Channel

The Channel

Contact Us

Ingenium
P.O. Box 9724, Station T
Ottawa ON K1G 5A3
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Channel

    • Channel Home
    • About the Channel
    • Content Partners
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Ingenium

    • Ingenium Home
    • About Ingenium
    • The Foundation
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners