{"id":25080,"date":"2016-03-31T00:32:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T00:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/?p=25080"},"modified":"2016-03-31T00:32:09","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T00:32:09","slug":"eight-bells-for-the-father-of-the-laser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/2016\/03\/eight-bells-for-the-father-of-the-laser\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Bells for the Father of the Laser"},"content":{"rendered":"

A statement from the\u00a0Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Quebec, Canada reported\u00a0that honorary life member, Ian<\/span> Bruce, passed away on March 21, 2016, after a courageous battle with cancer. Ian<\/span> joined the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in 1953 and had been an active member since that time.<\/p>\n

A passionate and accomplished sailor, he twice won the prestigious Prince of Wales Trophy, which is essentially the world championships in International Fourteens, and he twice represented Canada in the Olympic Games, in the Finn (Naples) and the Star with clubmate Peter Bjorn (Kiel).<\/p>\n

While Ian<\/span> won many regatta titles in many classes, he is best known, at home and abroad, as the father of the Laser sailing dinghy. It all started in 1970 when he concluded that the small sailboat manufacturing company that he started with fellow club member, Andr\u00e9 Julien, was too focused on high-performance racing dinghies to grow into a sustainable business.<\/p>\n

To solve this problem, Ian<\/span> set out to create a new sailing dinghy with broad market appeal that was, at the same time, a \u201cproper little yacht\u201d with performance characteristics to satisfy the most demanding of racing sailors. Based on this concept, he commissioned a set of lines from a former club member, International 14 competitor and friend, Bruce Kirby, and a sail plan from Toronto sail maker Hans Fogh.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that Kirby and Fogh performed their assignments well but it was definitely Ian<\/span> that made the Laser so special and so successful. The fact that he engineered a boat, rig and manufacturing process that have essentially remained unchanged to this day is remarkable validation of his approach and the high standards he set for the company and its products.<\/p>\n

Ian<\/span> insisted from day one that the Laser must have unusually strict one-design class rules including the requirement that there be only one builder\/sail maker.\u00a0 He wanted Laser racing to be a true test of sailing skill, without regard for bank balances. Perhaps most controversial at the time was the rule that shut out the sail-making industry because then, as now, sail makers can be very helpful in promoting new designs and classes. Despite pressure on all sides to bend a little, Ian<\/span> held his ground and today, with more than 200,000 Lasers sailing all over the world, he clearly proved his point.<\/p>\n

On July 1, 2009, Ian<\/span> was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.\u00a0 The official announcement cited his involvement in the design and development of high-performance boats for young sailors. Impressive as that was, the order failed to mention one of Ian<\/span>\u2019s greatest qualities, which was the genuine interest that he always showed in working with junior sailors to improve their sailing.<\/p>\n

Ian<\/span> Bruce was more than a remarkable sailor.\u00a0 He was a remarkable human being and a remarkable contributor to the sport of sailing for more than 60 years at our club, throughout Quebec, across Canada, and around the world.\u00a0 Later this spring we will gather in the clubhouse and pay tribute to Ian<\/span> and all that he accomplished in a well-lived life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A statement from the\u00a0Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Quebec, Canada reported\u00a0that honorary life member, Ian Bruce, passed away on March 21, 2016, after a courageous battle with cancer. Ian joined the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in 1953 and had been an active member since that time. A passionate and accomplished sailor, he twice won the prestigious Prince of Wales Trophy, which is essentially the world championships in International Fourteens, and he twice represented Canada in the Olympic Games, in the Finn (Naples) and the Star with clubmate Peter Bjorn (Kiel). While Ian won many regatta titles in many classes, he is best known, at home and abroad, as the father of the Laser sailing dinghy. It all started in 1970 when he concluded that the small sailboat manufacturing company that he started with fellow club member, Andr\u00e9 Julien, was too focused on high-performance racing dinghies to grow into a sustainable business. To solve this problem, Ian set out to create a new sailing dinghy with broad market appeal that was, at the same time, a \u201cproper little yacht\u201d with performance characteristics to satisfy the most demanding of racing sailors. Based on this concept, he commissioned a set of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1003,1004,1002],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25080"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25111,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25080\/revisions\/25111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}