Sunfish (sailboat)
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The Sunfish dinghy is a popular one-design sailing dinghy which can be sailed with one, two, or three persons, but is most often sailed singlehanded (one person). At 13 feet 9 inches (4.2 m) in length and 130 lb (59 kg) in weight, the Sunfish is easily carried in a luggage rack or a light trailer. The Sunfish is used as a day sailer or a racing boat, with over 1000 racing events every year worldwide.
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[edit] Construction
Key to the Sunfish's success are simplicity and low cost. A Sunfish can be sailed using only a single line (the sheet) and the tiller. A second line (the halyard) is used to raise and lower the sail. A Sunfish setup for racing will typically add outhaul, cunningham, a gooseneck quick-release adjuster, and vang lines. The lateen sail is fixed to the spars and is stored by simply wrapping the sail around the spars, or by rolling the sail up parallel to the spars.
A single person can easily handle the Sunfish. The "board boat" design, with its small, self bailing cockpit, resists swamping. The boat can carry up to 3 small people. The wide, hard-chined hull allows it to plane and achieve a Portsmouth handicap of 99.6, which is very low for a boat of its size. A new Sunfish costs about US$3395-$3820[1], with older used models in working condition going for under US$500. Because of its low cost and simplicity (it is often regarded as the simplest boat to sail, and is widely used for teaching sailing) it is also perhaps the most popular sailboat class ever designed; over 500,000 Sunfish have been built.
The Sunfish was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame in 1995.
The great popularity of the Sunfish has led to many imitators; Starfish, Aquafin, Phantom, and Big Fish are all boats virtually identical to the Sunfish.
[edit] Racing
Class sanctioned regional, national, continental, and world championships are held annually. In 2008 the 39th Sunfish Worlds were held at the Buffalo Canoe Club in Ontario, Canada on Lake Erie with 72 skippers competing.[1]
[edit] History
In the 1940s, Alex Byran and Cortlandt Heyniger created the Alcort company (named from the first and last syllables of their given names). (The name Cortlandt is often misspelled Cortland, but authoritative sources use the Cortlandt spelling.[2])
Alcort's first sailboat was the Sailfish. Introduced in 1945 according to The Sunfish Bible by Will White, it was similar to a large wooden surfboard with a sail, a rudder and a daggerboard. It was available in either finished or kit form.
Carl Meinelt - one of Alcort's first employees - created the classic shape of the Sunfish in 1951 as a wooden kit boat. By 1959, hulls were being commercially produced in molded fiberglass composite. Over the years, rights to produce Sunfish have been held successively by Alcort, Inc. (1951–1969), AMF/Alcort division (1969–1986), Alcort Sailboats, Inc.*, (1986–1988), Pearson Sailing Yachts (1988–1991), Sunfish/Laser, Inc. (1991–1997), Vanguard (1997–2007), and LaserPerformance (2007-Present).
- Alcort Sailboats, Inc. was not affiliated with the founding company, Alcort, Inc.
The class became popular for racing in the 1960s and 1970s. A Class Association was established by AMF/Alcort in 1969 and it became the International Sunfish Class Association (ISCA) in 1984 with official recognition by the International Yacht Racing Union (now the International Sailing Federation).
[edit] Major Changes
The boat changed in 1972 with the change to the current rudder attachment, switching to a design that would not release under sailing strain. This change identifies more modern boats.
In 1970 AMF began manufacturing the AMFlite and later (post-1972) the Windflite and licenced sales to alternate dealers as a similar hull using the same fittings and equipment as Sunfish. The alternate hulls employed the rounded over style hull to deck bond used in the current Sunfish design.
[edit] Super Sunfish
In the 1960s, stalwart of the New Canaan, Conn Sunfish Fleet, John Black Lee, started experimenting with a conventional sail rig for the Sunfish hull. He developed a high aspect ratio sail rig that worked on the Sunfish hull and christened the design the Formula S. The high aspect ratio sail rig gives better upwind performance over the lateen sail, making the boat control more like racing class boats an aspiring sailor might want to graduate to.
The concept didn’t interest Alcort for a production model so Lee refit conversion boats independently and sparked a Formula S racing fleet. A few years after their 1969 purchase of Alcort, Inc., AMF revisited the idea of a high aspect ratio rig for the Sunfish. They didn’t choose to adopt Lee’s Formula S design, however, they went on to develop their own variation calling it the Super Sunfish. The existing Formula S fleet was eventually absorbed into the burgeoning ranks of AMF Super Sunfish fleets.
The Super Sunfish was available from 1974 to 1984. AMF marketed it as a performance version of the Sunfish in an attempt to compete with the newly introduced Laser. Portsmouth handicap numbers, however, place the Laser slightly faster. With its hard chine hull, the Super Sailfish is a more stable boat so there's a stability/speed trade off.
The Super Sunfish was offered as a complete package and as a kit to retro-fit existing lateen rigged Sunfish. The literature pointed out the sail systems could even be swapped back and forth easily to accomodate different sailor's preferances or participation in different events.[2]
| Model | LOA | Beam | Sail Area | Hull Weight | Hull Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Sunfish | 13’ 10” (4.2 m) | 4’ 1” | 65 ft.² (6.2 m²) | 129 lb (59 kg) | Fiberglass |
| CENTERBOARD CLASS | USSA CODE | DPN | BN 0-1 | BN 2-3 | BN 4 | BN 5-9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunfish | SF | 99.6 | 102.9 | 100.3 | 97.7 | 95.6 |
| Super Sunfish | SSF | 100.7 | 102.4 | 102.3 | 99.3 | (95.8) |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.sunfishclass.org International Sunfish Class Association
- ^ The Sunfish Bible by Will White, Omega3 Press, Sarasota, FL - "Background on the Boat"
- ^ Super Sunfish Specifications – AMF Catalog – Fun of Sailing - 1978
- ^ NORTH AMERICAN PORTSMOUTH NUMBERS AND WIND DEPENDENT HANDICAPS - CENTERBOARD CLASSES
[edit] External links
- International Sunfish Class Association
- LaserPerformance
- The Sunfish Forum - Sunfish News, Discussion, and classified ads
- Sunfish Racing Class Netherlands, Sunfishklasse Nederland
- Sunfish Sailor, Owner's Support Group
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