Each Sunday a growing group of adult sailors meets at the Duxbury Bay Maritime School, to race a small, fast, and sometimes terrifying boat called a Laser.

These boats are just 14 feet long and are low to the water; with just one sail they are sailed by a single person. Lasers accelerate and turn quickly--and if a puff hits at the wrong time they can turn over just as quickly. Unlike most other sailboats, they can be quickly righted after a capsize to keep racing, which makes them a better choice than the open Interclub Dinghies that had been raced in previous seasons. Lasers are incredibly popular, with almost 200,000 sailing around the world, and are raced in the Olympics. Anna Tunnicliffe, an American Laser sailor, won the only U.S. gold medal in sailing in Beijing.

New this year, the fall Laser sailing at the Duxbury Bay Maritime School has brought out more than a dozen sailors for racing on Sundays. Some are college sailors and others are pushing sixty, but most are pretty evenly matched. Courses are short so the boats are always close. The action as 8 or 10 boats converge on the leeward turning mark can appear chaotic, but these sailors know the rules so there are rarely collisions.

Chuck Leonard, DBMS Executive Director, says he is pleased with how the Laser racing has blossomed in just a few weeks. “There must be 20 or 30 Lasers in Duxbury that had been gathering dust behind garages, and all these guys—once they heard about this—couldn’t wait to get their boats racing again. Now we’re pulling in people from as far away as Rhode Island.”

Leonard emphasized that the racing is open to anyone. “There’s a $50 fee for the season, you have to sign a waiver, and you have to wear a life jacket. That’s it. Although the skill level is high, we’re just out to have a good time.” Scores are tallied after each Sunday, but no one seems to look at them. Interested sailors can email the Maritime School to learn start times for upcoming Sundays. The school has some Lasers to lease as well.

How long will the sailors brave the chilly winds? “There’s no bad weather,” says David Corey, who is trying fall sailing for the first time, “there’s just inadequate clothing.” The sailors started in shorts and T-shirts early in the season, but have moved towards neoprene boots and full-body drysuits as the temperature has dropped. “Nearly everyone has capsized once or twice, but with a life jacket to keep you up and a drysuit to keep the water out, it’s not a big deal.”