Repainting a old Laser

Hi all, I recently got my hands on a good condition 1973ish Laser (the only things are a small amount of spider cracking and some chips in the gel coat but not into the fiberglass.) I am looking to repaint the hull white along with the deck. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I have to remove the gel coat or can I paint over it? I am very inexperienced with the process of gel coating or painting boats. If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.