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Hi Mike,

I don't think anyone responded to you, at least I didn't see it, so I'm going to chime in (the world has been a bit distracted).

I think I got my first Sunfish in 1964, the year your boat was built, when I was 10 years old. These are pretty grim days and reading your report really made me smile. I'm glad you're having so much fun having discovered sailing and that you are enjoying the experience with your Sunfish! Thanks for sharing that with us.

I'm glad you've upgraded your rudder. I can vividly remember being on a screaming plane and having the rudder pop up and go out of control. The antidote was to crack down as hard as possible on the wingnut. Of course if you forgot to loosen it and you ran up on the beach it lifted up the brass plate on the deck and then you had a repair to do ….. Sometimes just a bunch of toothpicks jammed into the whole was enough to get the screws to bite and you are off on your next adventure.

I wish we all would stipulate to not worrying about what our bottoms looked like anymore, as serious racers, so we could just run our boats up on the beach. That was a lot of fun and in roaring Lake Michigan northeaster. Without a breakwater, pretty much surfing onto the beach was the only safe way to get there if you didn't want to capsize in the surf and bend your upper spar.

Please be safe. Every social interaction entails some degree of risk.

Best regards,

Mark

Mark A. Kastel

Kastel@...

608-625-2042

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael King
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 5:02 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [SunfishSailor] Comments on an old Sunfish

I am new to sailing at 77 years old. I traded a jet ski a few years ago for a Whistler sailboat and my sailing life began. The Whiastler is a 11 foot sloop rigged dinghy for two. Kind of tubby and a bit slow, but a great boat for a new guy to learn to handle two sails single handed. I was hooked the first time I put up the sail. Two years later, i acquired a Force 5 for the price of hauling it away. I took lots of practice and a bunch of capsizes. The big hi aspect ratio sail was bit much for my weight and skills so I bought a junior sail. A good choice especially when I wanted to sail and not swim and the breeze was north of 15 mph.
Two years ago I saw an older Sunfish that had been sitting behind a shed for years. I drove by it almost every day. One day I walked up to the house to see if it might be for sale. A young woman told me it was mine if i would haul it away. It was in my backyard that afternoon. I made a new old style rudder, repaired the CB and fixed a few odds and ends and in a few days I was sailing this 1964 Alcort Sunfish. I live right on the water on Bogue Sound in NC so I was out there two to three days a week. Here are my thoughts on the Sunfish:
(1) The latteen rigged sail makes launch, landing, docking so easy. I cannot tell you how many times I have sailed right to my dock and dropped the sail like I knew what I was doing. I moved the halyard cleat to the cock pit to make this maneuver easy. The low aspect ratio sail is less risky on a gybe. and its position can be adjusted so it is easier for old timers like me to get to the other side of the boat on tacks and gybes.
(2) The boat is plenty quick which makes tacking under bridges and narrow channels against the current very doable. My Whistler doesn't make it half the time. And downwnd it is a lot safer than the Force 5 which has a propensity to death roll. I know some of you athletic seasoned sailors could gybe on downwind runs in a F5, but it takes perfect balancing and precise moves to do it in stronger winds. I came home in a 25 mph 4 mile run, in my Sunfish and stayed out of the water. It was a real thriller on plane the whole way.
(3) The sunfish is a breeze to right. The Force 5 with its tall water filled mast is not so easy.
(4) The lip on the gunwales make a hiking strap unnecessary and the pivoting wooden tiller extension is adequate for everything but all out racing.

Overall it is easy to see why the lowly Sunfish is the most popular and often raced dinghy ever made. It does so many things well for novists and seasoned racers alike. The designers of this little boat got it pretty much right from the get go. My hats off to them.
This year I converted my rudder to the newer flip up design and gave my sun scorched deck a couple coats of bright yellow marine epoxy. This old boat deserved some TLC. It is hard to believe this little boat is almost 70 years old and for the most part unchanged despite often changed ownership.

Mr Mike