A couple of friends' kids sail. They aren't allowed to modify their boats at all so… how can a drink bottle can be attached to the mast? No holes, no glue, no camelbacks (H&S). Anybody knows? The idea is so they can slide to it, grab it, have a sip and slap it back (it being the bottle).
Any help appreciated.
Thanks!

bottle holder? velcro? magnets?

They're using velcro but are looking for a better idea. Bottle holders are great but the attachment remains difficult. You would struggle with magnets on plasticky surfaces, wouldn't you?

are they allowed to stick things to their mast? Drill a couple of holes or use cable ties for a bottle holder?

can't drill a single hole, ties scratch the mast and the French sailing competition organisers will ban you for that. They've checked. Currently they have a bottle holder off a bike velcroed to the mast.

why's this not working for them? do they need more water?

Two large rings attached to the bottle cage. De-rig and slide over the top of the mast. Don't know about Lasers but asume the mast tapers a bit and is wider at the bottom. Adjust width of rings so it stops at the right place. Or slide it onto the boom.
Or a long straw dangling over the side. Maynot be suitable for use in salt-water.

Is it against H&S for them to wear one of those belts that hold water bottles that nervous joggers get conned into buying? Or there are those bottles that nervous joggers run around with, with the hole in the middle so you can clasp it…would one of these be modifiable to attach to ones body? Can't see anything better than the Velcro the water bottle to the mast otherwise…canny problem though. Strict feckers. I assume the boats are the property of someone else?

Waterproof tape of some sort? Duck tape would do it if they don't mind replacing it periodically.

bike bottle cage and some cable ties. Thats what I did in my laser racing days, admitedly 15 years ago now. not sure if things have moved on.

Carry drinks on 'themselves' don't listen to these eejits. Drilling holes will fundamentally weaken the mast, be careful that carrying bottles does not appear to be weight assistance. Personally I would concentrate on a bottle in the bottom of the laser and staying FLAT! Flat is fast – drinks in the bottom of the boat then its flat!

Drilling holes will fundamentally weaken the mast,

a couple of holes and pop rivets in the lower mast on a laser will have bugger all effect on the integrity of the mast.

staying FLAT! Flat is fast

You're right there though, unless you're going downwind and running by the lea trying to reverse the flow over the sail. in which case you're, er, wrong.

jubillee clips ?

Isn't there quite a bit of water surrounding the boat they could use?
IGMC.

get a bike bottle and cage, duck tape the cage to the mast.

O.K. Jimbo I'll give you that

I used to sail Finns and lasers by the lea cocked to windward reducing the wetted surface and increasing speed. In Olympic Stars this tactic does not work so well so I usually 'lift' the hull out of the water by placing crew weight on the fore deck and shifting my own butt forward and tacking down wind.

Samuri's suggestion sounds good.

jimbobrighton – we talking small kids here, some 7-9y.o. only.
I'll tell them what has been suggested, thanks.

Hairychested – Member
jimbobrighton – we talking small kids here, some 7-9y.o. only.
I'll tell them what has been suggested, thanks.

blimey – lasers a bit of a beast for them @ 7…. They'll be bloody good sailors later on in life if they can handle a laser at that age!

Check out rooster sailing website they will probably have a legal attachment for water bottles.

Simplest way is to put a loop of elastic around the traveler cleat (on the deck at the back) and then through the eye that the toestrap is tied on to. Make it fairly tight and you can then shove a water bottle under it.

I'll take a picture.

p.s. 7 in a laser??? Opi would be a lot better but if it's the only available boat then why not.

Couple of climbers' chalk bags tied round mast with cord, they'll hold a bottle well enough but couldn't be construed as an attachment or modification.

Here you go………. like this:

Thanks everybody, we'll try the last two suggestions this week.

My son sails a 29er and his water bottle is tied on with a length of bungee cord. He can then take a drink and throw the bottle back in the boat whilst concentrating on sailing the boat instead of trying to put the bottle back in its holder.

Sounds like a good way of encouraging tangled sheets, in fact in no boat I've raced has a loose bottle been an option. 😕

Laser cockpit is too small to have anything loose floating around so it's best to have the bottle held by something.

laser class rules (well a few years ago this was the case) wouldnt let you attach stuff to the mast permenantly, but a lacy band round some cereal bars for between races was fine.

A few lops of thin bungee chord from traveler cleat and through toe strap is the prefered method. We used to carry 2ltr bottles for endurance races where stopping for a drink wasn't so much of an issue.

Water jackets are banned, hence no camelbacks, its not just a H&S thing, its in the class rules.

I used to race Lasers. For a ~2hr round the cans race I didn't bother drinking anything, just hydrate heavily before launch. Where there was a long sail to the start line I used to pop a bottle of water in the bottom.

Bungeed bottle to the centre board looks a good idea though. Camelback? – at 7/9 they could do with some extra hiking ballast!

I never seem to have a problem staying hydrated when I'm sailing. I'm not sure exactly why ;-)……

"My son sails a 29er" has anyone told him what he's doing wrong?

Slugwash, a definite lack of mainsheet going on there?

Carrying any form of artificial weight has been outlawed in sailing for years.
Rule 43:
43 COMPETITOR CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT
43.1 (a) Competitors shall not wear or carry clothing or equipment for
the purpose of increasing their weight.
(b) Furthermore, a competitor’s clothing and equipment shall not
weigh more than 8 kilograms, excluding a hiking or trapeze
harness and clothing (including footwear) worn only below the
knee. Class rules or sailing instructions may specify a lower
weight or a higher weight up to 10 kilograms. Class rules may
include footwear and other clothing worn below the knee
within that weight. A hiking or trapeze harness shall have
positive buoyancy and shall not weigh more than 2 kilograms,
except that class rules may specify a higher weight up to
4 kilograms. Weights shall be determined as required by
Appendix H.

A nice thick fleece/wool jumper over your sailing gear was the way round the weight jacket ban when I were a lad 😉

I used to race cadets so we had a nice handy spinnaker bag for food and drinks… Right up until you have to do a starboard side spinnaker drop and try and stuff it into the remaining space, then later try to gather it all up for a windward launch and end up throwing your sandwiches over the foredeck 😆

A long time ago I spent 6 months racing J24s and larger keelboats with a guy called Ken Read in the the states (he's gone on to be an Amercias Cup helm and recently skippered Puma in the Volvo race). We raced loads of different stuff but spent a week doing the Lightning worlds.

I'd never been on one before and were a lot of fun carrying a lot of downsail sail area. Anyway to help keep the thing going quick Ken had 2 tops (helm and 2 crew) made up of multiple layers of a fleece type material. They soaked up water like a sponge and weighed a ton which helped quite a bit going upwind – just hard work! Not very legal but he got away with it (much like many top sportsmen seem to).

downsail sail area

^^^ what?? 😕

😆 they had a big kite?

I crewed for a couple of current olympians when I was in cadets, our local club had an incredible record of producing world class sailors through our cadet fleet – 3 sailors at the last olympics and more before that, world match racing champions, Americas cup crew – amazing for a small club.