With only two months left before the launching, The Landing School’s premier pair of LS-30 performance daysailers are in the advanced stages of their construction. They’re making their photographic debut on The Landing School’s website where curious sailors can see the step-by-step production process that’s been ongoing since September 2008.
The LS-30s’ basic structure is wood epoxy composite, which provides for the best combination of strength, stiffness, weight and robustness. The greatest advantage of this construction method is its combination of excellent fatigue-resistance and light weight. The Landing School exclusively used WEST SYSTEM epoxy resins in the hull and deck construction; all the flat panels are cored composites, as is the small coach roof. The keel fin and much of its internal support is a wood, epoxy and carbon structure. Overall, the boat will be light, comfortable and competitive.
LS-30 designer Steve Dalzell intends for the boat to be attractive, easy to use, practical and robust. “To use an automotive analogy: If a Melges 32 is pretty much a Formula 1 race car, the LS-30 is more like a standard Corvette,” explains Dalzell. “It goes very well but you don’t have to be superman or woman to manage it and you can use it every day if you want.”
The construction of the LS-30s is part of the curriculum for The Landing School’s 10-month-long Boatbuilding Program. The accredited, post-secondary school’s mission is to train people to be knowledgeable and practical yacht designers, boatbuilders and marine systems technicians who work professionally on today’s vessels using modern methods and materials.
This is the first year The Landing School is building the LS-30s. The club-racer cum family daysailer weighs in at two-tons and carries 1,560 pounds of that as ballast in a 6′-deep lead bulb keel complemented by a forged-steel fin. The boat’s 30′ LOA includes two feet of bowsprit and a 25′ waterline. The LS-30 has a narrow beam, open transom and bare cuddy cabin, making it a fast club-racer, but it’s expected to be well-balanced and conveniently rigged for single-handing or family sailing as well.
Students at The Landing School LS-30s will complete the boats by mid-June, at which time the boats will undergo sea trials and then be sold. All of the 80 students who attend The Landing School annually are enrolled in one of five 10-month programs: Boatbuilding/Cruising Boats, Boatbuilding/Small Boats, Composites, Yacht Design, and Marine Systems. Each program is full-time—encompassing a minimum of 40 hours per week for the students—and culminates with a diploma upon successful completion by a student. This year other students studying various types of boatbuilding at The Landing School are building four Beach Peas, four Catspaw dinghies, two Lightning sloops and two composite tenders. All the boats are sold annually to support the nonprofit school.
There is more information about the LS-30 and The Landing School online here.
