THE Laser Class continued its strong legacy at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) with a successful UK qualifier attracting sailors out to start the racing season.

The Laser, created by Bruce Kirby at the end of the 1960s, has a long-term connection with Weymouth and Portland.

Since its humble beginnings at the majority of the south west sailing clubs, the Laser has flourished across 140 countries worldwide with a global fleet of more than 200,000 boats.

As well as bridging the gap between youth and adult Olympic racing, the Laser is still hugely popular for national regattas, attracting big fleets.

The Weymouth connection is especially evident through the successes of Sir Ben Ainslie who won his first Olympic medals in the class.

Ainslie, a director of WPNSA, said: “I have been racing Lasers in and around Weymouth since I came out of the Optimist Class and went into the Royal Yachting Association Youth Squad.

"The Laser class is special to me; it is where I have met some of my closest and long-term friends who I travelled with all over the world for Laser events.

"Lasers and Weymouth will always hold an important place in my heart. It is where I took part in my first Olympic trial selections during 1995 when I won the spot to represent GBR at Atlanta 96.

"Weymouth Bay was where we spent not just hours but days training ahead of the selections in every wind condition imaginable – it will always be the venue that shaped me into an adult sailor.

"It was so reassuring to return to the WPNSA in 2012 for the Olympics to be with a home crowd at a favourite race location.”