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Understand What’s Happening
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Sailing is rich with jargon, tradition, and lore. You’ll better absorb the complexities if you know the basics ahead of time. https://prezhost.com/2020/05/08/how-wind-moves-a-boat/
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Speed question
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Hi, How fast can a Sunfish sailboat go? Emefa
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Lake Michigan Sailing
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#Alcort
#LakeMichigan
I have a nice old Sunfish that I have been sailing on lakes in Northwest Indiana (NWI). Does anyone sail out of any of the beaches, casting off from the beach? Any tips on sailing Lake Michigan in NWI? Wind conditions, wetsuit, etc. Thanks!
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Free Sunfish sail
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I have an old Sunfish sail which I will mail to anyone for the cost of the postage. The sail is white, with sail numbers and a window (very narrow). The sail is soft as an old hankie, but is in pretty good shape - only a couple of tiny holes in the gooseneck area. Charlie Cushing -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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What a nice piece of work. Its great!. Very Resourceful. I made a telescoping tiller with a shortened battlestick. Works pretty good but I still haven’t completely mastered it yet.. I just felt this was a better system then a regular 39 inch Battlestick. I’ll make a pic and try to learn how to post it. Managing the tiller in like NASCAR guys changing tires. It takes some practice. Mr Mike (the new guy) Sent from Windows Mail From: dghutt Sent: ?Sunday?, ?April? ?19?, ?2020 ?10?:?51? ?AM To: [email protected] There was 5cm of snow on the ground in Halifax when I got up this morning. Even without a pandemic I don’t think I’d be sailing quite yet. But I get antsy this time of year, especially seeing the posts from all of you in southern waters. So to occupy myself in Covid isolation, and to get a quick Sunfish fix, I devoted a couple of weekends to putting together a 1/16 scale ‘Fish from stuff I could find around the house. This is probably the only group I know that might appreciate it! The Hull is 3mm depron foam left over from a few RC plane builds. It’s easy to cut and shape, and glues up with a glue gun, but dents and scratches at a glance and melts with CA glue or spray paint. Tiller, daggerboard and rudder are mahogany. Mast and spars are bamboo skewers painted silver, and the sail is from strips of gift wrap tissue, glued with diluted school glue and stiffened with matte acrylic spray. The lines are polyester kitchen twine, dyed with food colouring. Sail rings are strips of printer paper. It passes the “from-five-feet” test... barely. But it tied up my idle hands for a while. I’d love to hear about other members’ quarantine Sunfish projects. Dave
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For Sale: Sunfish rig only, complete
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FOR SALE: complete Sunfish sail rig, including OEM spars (older mast and two booms-- all with almost new end caps), Intensity sail (white, with window, still crisp) with telltales, plastic sail rings, new bronze gooseneck, halyard, outhaul and downhaul lines and cleats. Very good condition, always stored indoors at our home in Manhattan, KS. $280. Photos available on request. Dave Redmon
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I'm looking for a Sunfish rudder pintle assembly like the attached photo. SunFishDirect has them for $24 (presumably plus shipping). Does anyone have a used one that they would sell me cheaper? I mainly need the pin and spring, I can get the smaller parts locally. I'm near Ann Arbor, Michigan if anyone is nearby. Thanks!
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Tying off the halyard
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All, I notice that in every video and writeup on rigging, they run the halyard around the cleat over the gooseneck, through the fairlead and then tie it off. This makes dropping the sail a bit cumbersome and slow. I run my halyard through the block (older Sunfish), through a hole in the Coaming and tie it off to a cleat I installed at the forward edge of the cockpit. I can drop the sail in seconds and I have to anytime I go up my canal when the wind is SW. I take a short piece of line which is tied to the gooseneck and tie it off to the cleat at the rear of the mast to keep the sail from falling out if I capsize and TURTLE. Any others do it this way? Mr Mike Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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It be a lot of fun if people identified where they were from (when they're talking about being snowed in or a reasonable drive from Michigan). Heck, as we are driving back and forth on business, or to regattas, maybe we can help each other shuttle equipment and new boats around (I'm dreaming about the day when we might be back out in public instead of my being trapped here on the farm (I'm safely distanced, about a mile, for my nearest neighbors). The first regattas in the Midwest, in Michigan and Wisconsin, are scheduled for the end of June/beginning of July. That's my dream! Hi all, I've enjoyed the exchange on looking at new Sunfish. We have a few of the boats that came from the world's that have made their way into the Midwest (Chicago) and they look great. The one at the Dinghy Shop, because of all the equipment included, looks like a quite reasonable deal. Wishing everyone health and continued safety. Best regards, Mark Mark A. Kastel Sunfish 7500 La Crosse Sailing Club La Crosse, Wisconsin Kastel@... 608-625-2042
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Greetings Sunfish sailors. Please help me with a few questions. After some googling it appears that Sunfish are currently manufactured mostly in China and possibly in the UK or Portugal. The final year of manufacture in the US would be 2007. I wish I had the option to buy a new Sunfish made in the US. UK or Portugal would be my second choice. As for purchasing a new Sunfish, it's hard to find a dealer, but both Sunfish Direct and Laser Performance offer new boats for sale online. Has anyone purchased a new Sunfish from either and had it delivered in a box to their home? Or driven to Sunfish Direct in Michigan and picked one up? Did the process work well? I see there's a new (to me) Ice Blue hull color offered by Laser Performance. Has anyone seen it in person? I'm interested in a new Sunfish this year. Maybe this pandemic will subside and a little normalcy will return to the world and my 1976 Sunfish is in sad shape. Thanks for your thoughts. Tom
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For sale: complete Sunfish sail rig
I'm selling a complete Sunfish sail rig, including OEM mast and two booms (all with almost new end caps), Intensity sail (white) with telltales, plastic sail rings, new bronze gooseneck, outhaul and downhill lines and cleats. Very good condition, always stored with sail wrapped correctly outside the spars, indoors at our home in Manhattan, KS. $300. Please reply privately. Dave Redmon
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Mast and Spars
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#spars
Question 2. Now I am ready to get sails for these Minifish, only to find I have on 1 set of spars for a Minifish. The others are Sunfish. Could I use the spars for a Sunfish on the Minifish with a Minifish sail? I know they would be a little long, nut it should still work, correct? Thanks, Henry
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I have 2 Minifish I am trying to restore to use for Boy Scouts. I am looking at sails as the ones that came with the boats are in horrible shape. I searched and found a place online that sells them for $125 each. Has anyone heard of Neil Pryde Sails? Thanks Henry
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2020 Sunfish Class International Masters, US Team Race and Midwinters regattas
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Early registration deadline is coming up - March 1. All 3 regattas at Clearwater, Florida!! Masters are those who will be age 40 by March 15 this year - an easy going event. Team Racing - need 3 teams signed up by 3/1 or, unfortunately, the event will be cancelled. A different way to race-fun, challenging. Midwinters-our annual fun get together and the winner is "National Champion." Come join the fun!! Use your Sunfish. 2020 US Sunfish Team Race Registration Deadline looms - As a bit of background, team racing had once been an active part of the Sunfish Class, but has been off the Class Schedule for a number of years. This year's event is an effort to revive team racing for the Sunfish Class. It is scheduled as a one day event on the Thursday between the International Masters and the Midwinters/Nationals in Clearwater, FL, Thursday, March 19, in order to maximize participation. Limited charters/loaner boats may be arranged in advance. As the level of interest is unknown, the NOR has stipulated that "A minimum of three teams of three boats each must be registered by March 1, 2020. If not, the Sunfish Team Race Championship will be cancelled, and all entry fees will be refunded." We are now about one week from the March 1 cutoff date and one team has entered. Get your teams signed up now! https://www.sunfishclass.org/regattas/2020-regattas/03/2020/March/01
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Howdy Kent here, Owner of the Yahoo Sunfish_Sailor Group. We will try to port everything over to this site, stand by as we are new to this process. Cheers Clark and Skipper www.smallboatrestoration.com fb Small Boat Restoration
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RUDDER CHECKS AND INSPECTION
RUDDER INSPECTIN IS CARRIED OUT IN DRYDOCK TO CHECK ITS INTEGRITY IS STILL INTACT OR NOT. FOLLOWING CHECKS ARE CARRIED OUT IN RUDDER:- WHEN DOCKING IS TAKING PLACE AND WATER IS TAKEN OUT OF THE DRY DOCK, WE SHOULD OBSERVE THAT NO WATER SHOULD BE COMING OUT OF THE RUDDER. ITS A VISUAL INSPECTION TO CHECK THE INTEGRITY OF THE RUDDER AND NOT THE FINAL CHECK. RUDDERS TOP AND BOTTOM PLUGS ARE REMOVED TO FIND IS ANY WATER COMES OUT OF IT. HAMMER RUDDER PLATES AND CHECK SOUND AND CONDITION OF RUDDER PLATES. GAUGING OF PLATES SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT IN VESSELS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. CHECK THE CONDITION OF ZINC BLOCKS FITTED IN RUDDER. RUDDER IS MOVED AMIDSHIP AND SEE ACTUAL POSITION OF RUDDER W.R.T SHIP. THIS WILL HELP TO IDENTIFY TWISTING OF RUDDER STOCK. PINTLE CLEARANCE TO CHECK. JUMPING CLEARANCE TO BE CHECKED. WEARDOWN AND RUDDER DROP TO BE CHECKED. VISUAL INSPECTION FOR RUDDER CORROSION, PITTING, CRACKS ETC. COUPLING BETWEEN RUDDER AND RUDDER STOCK CEMENT TO BE CHECKED, CHIP OFF THE CEMENT AND CHECK CONDITION OF PALM BOLTS. RUDDER PRESSURE TESTING HAS TO BE CARRIED OUT.
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Rudder advice
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My boat is on brackish water. Can anyone advice me on the best type of rudder
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Sailors, First, I would like to thank Signal Charlie for creating, maintaining and moderating this resource. It truly is excellent. The Super Sailfish Prints, located in the files section, shows the side planks with vertical notches cut periodically in the forward sections, presumably to help the plank make the curve in the bow. In all of the restorations that have been done, has anyone seen a boat with these sides? In the research I have done, (this group, on Sailing Forums, Smallboatrestorations, small boats monthly, and any number of other websites) I haven't found any mention to a boat with these sides. This question is more specifically for Signal Charlie, but all input is welcome. During the restoration of ZSA ZSA, you mentioned that you now have the measurements for the new style bow, and then you provide a link to the plans. Are those measurements reflected in the prints, or are they different? Are there any other significant measurement differences in ZSA ZSA from the prints? Finally, what are the basic dimensions for the new style sunfish rudder gudgeon? Length / Width / Height? Again, I can't seem to find that anywhere... Thank you for your time and attention, EMNCSS
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I own a compass cat boat. L16’. Beam 6’6” the barn door style rudder is made of plastic and weighs too much. It also flexes. has anyone constructed a light weight and stiff rudder?
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While I was going through the 2715 photos in the Yahoo Sunfish_Sailor Files and moving them to the new Group on io (/groups) I came across a disproportionate number of Minifish photos. They have a dedicated following. They are lighter than the Sunfish at 75 pounds, they are 2 feet shorter and fly 65 square feet of sail. The fit is snug in the cockpit, we found our knees up in our chest but the boat handles well in brisk winds, maybe because the smaller rig is like tucking in a reef. Nice boat for smaller Skippers, but she'll carry up to 300 pounds of crew weight. Here's one tha popped up on ebay Indiana to day. As long as she is not heavy from water in the foam, $550 is a great deal: https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMF-MINIFISH-SAIL-BOAT-ALCORT/133217271777 Here's pics of the Minifish that we owned for a bit, Smoky and Bandit. I made a road trip from Pensacola up to Knoxville to pick one up, came home with two. We sold them to folks whoa wanted a boat that was lighter to cartop and took up less space. -- Cheers Clark and Skipper Our blog Small Boat Restoration Our book The Sunfish Owners Manual
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