Comparison of daggerboards

I am wondering how significant the performance difference is between the wooden daggerboard I now have compared to the newer plastic daggerboards.

If there is a big enough difference I would consider replacing the wooden daggerboard.

Thanks!

If your racing yes.

Huge, enormous difference if you are racing. BB

Massive, humongous, gigantic difference if you're racing. You will get to the wrong side of the course immensely, hugely, bigly faster.

I think the boat sails better with the plastic centerboard in heavy winds then the wooden centerboard, so it really depends on the type of sailing you do.

I race on a small lake in Upstate NY (Cazenovia) and the Laser fleet starts 3 minutes before the Sunfish. In the wood dagger board era, no Sunfish ever caught up with any of the Lasers, but with the advent of the plastic dagger board, the faster Sunfish now occassionally catch up with the novice Laser racers. The plastic board is simply a big improvement over the wood boards and being identical in construction, they make the Sunfish a more true one-design racing class. Before the advent of the plastic board, some zealous Sunfish racers had several wood boards, one for heavy air, one for light, all shaped within the wood board specs to get the most out of different conditions. The plastic board obsoleted all of these wood boards.

Alan Glios
Cazenovia, NY

I got the message and am buying a new plastic daggerboard. I do plan on racing and don't want to be left completely behind!

Often someone will pick up a used boat and will need to upgrade a few items to make it competitive. The new style plastic board should be the FIRST item to pick up before a sail or anything else. It makes that much of a difference.

Another word of advice...Keep the old board for just pleasure sailing. That way you don't need to worry about damaging the new one.

Mike Fortner
Rochester Canoe Club