The Laser Radial or ILCA 6 is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance and World sailing approved manufactures. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Radial is a variant of the Laser Standard, with shorter mast and reduced sail area, allowing light sailors to sail in heavy winds. It raced by women, U18 men and by male masters. The International Class is recognised by World Sailing. The class is referred to as the "Radial" due to the Radial technique used to create the sail with the panels stemming from the clew (far bottom corner) and reaching up the sail to the luff (the front edge). The boat is also often called the ILCA 6 due to Laser sailboats loosing the rights to manufacturer it after selling them to the class association.
Events
Olympics
The Laser Radial was chosen for singlehanded women discipline at the Summer Olympic starting with the 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao, China and is still being raced at the Olympics.