I raced lasers for a bit in my teens. My family were pretty gun hoe competitive sailors, raced mainly a local sloop designed in 1930s called Vineyard Haven 15s. A lot more boat than it sounds, 21 ft overall, w a 4' draft 900# lead keel. Closed deck, no cuddy, a wet sports car of a boat, designed for local high wind, choppy water racing, old style. We had the proto type, family still has one, last of the wooden ones. We also had and raced 470s, a two man boat w cable trapeze that could plane up wind. Never did race that boat without getting bloody. We got a Soling when the VH15s got phased out, and my brother went on to campaign for the Olympics in one of those.
I burned out on all that yacht club stuff and most of the competitive little brats by the time I was 16 and was content to work & teach sailing at my families boat rental, which was mostly sunfish at the time.
My sailing seance now is limited to with friends who have big old wooded boats with cabins and plenty of room for cold beer. Don't often find time for that sadly, get offers to join them regularly.
Old Nearly Mint is/was a 1957 Palmer Scott 22 bass boat, one of the first production fiberglass boats w oak frames. Hull is about a 1/4 inch thick, am told they had to be baked to cure the resin. Was in rough shape when I got her, over powered with a 350 crusader, which just made wake and used fuel. After she sunk on mooring, considered re powering with a Mercedes OM 616 or 617 diesel, but that window has past for me. Anyone want a "free" boat?