Saturday, May 18, 2013

Sunfish Sailing

We wanted to test out an older sail and a swivel cam cleat that we installed on Wave. The sail, spars and mast came from a craigslist purchase, sail was made by Pensacola sailmaker Schurr Sails, probably in the mid 80s. Launched from the natural beach, Seitech dolly makes it easy. I push the dolly in far enough to see the boat float, then slide the boat a little further back so dolly can be pulled back onto the beach.




From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

Today the wind was blowing down the shore, so I put the rudder down, jumped in, pushed off, put the daggerboard down about halfway and sheeted in. Mother Nature did the rest.

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

The sail looks nice with the medium blue deck on Wave. We also are getting used to using our new tiller extension.

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

Light winds equal great reflection shots.

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

Got past our sandbar, put the board all the way down. This is the shadow daggerboard and it has more area than the original 1965 board. I could feel a difference adjusting the board in deeper water. The sail set great and has a lot of life left in it.

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration


From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

Wind was light so there wasn't much hiking out :)

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

Had a great time!

From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration

2 comments:

  1. I'm learning to sail and have a "sunfish-sailways southampton". The boom seems to low (about 9") and stays level/horizontal as opposed to veering at an upward angle, not giving me the clearance from a boom smack. How can I safely heighten it and change it to an upward angle?
    Any help on the modification would be greatly appreciated. thanks, mark

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    Replies
    1. Missed another comment, sorry for late reply. We rig our boats with the gooseneck set about 22 inches back and the halyard tied about 60 inches down from outhaul. Try that out and adjust from there. It is a fun light air rig, we call it our recreational rig. Here is a blog post about it: http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com/2018/04/sunfish-sailboat-sail-rigging.html

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