sunfish sailing in Great Britain

bretherton

New Member
hello all, I recently bought a sunfish (from ebay £50). I have sailed alot of differnt types of raceing dinghys and i have to say im delighted with it :) I love the simplicity of it. And even at my huge weight ( 255 lbs) the thing seems to fly in a good breeze!,Ive even had my 13yr daughter and grandson in it with me, and still she went well!.
I would be quite interested to know if any one has considered exporting the sunfish to england? There certainly seems a lot of interest in the boat (and unusual rig)

Cheers, john
 
I would be quite interested to know if any one has considered exporting the sunfish to england?
Hello John,

The Sunfish builder, LaserPerformance, has dealers in England. I don't know if the Sunfish is available, but they are likely to have an answer. . .

http://www.laserperformance.com

LaserPerformance Europe
Station Works
Northamptonshire
NN6 7PF Long Buckby
Telephone: +44 (0) 01327 841600
Website: www.laserperformance.com
Email: Info.Europe@LaserPerformance

SailLaser Weymouth
WPNSA, Osprey Quay
Portland
DT5 1SA Dorset
Telephone: +44 (0)845 337 3214
Website: www.sail-laser.com/weymouth
Email: [email protected]
 
I read not too long age that LaserPerformance displayed the Sunfish at a European boat show (probably the London one; my memory fails me on that one). Consequently, the company is seriously interested in expanding the market in Europe. Another piece of evidence is that the next Worlds will be in Italy. You may know that LaserPerformance is continuing the tradition to support these events by providing brand new boats.

Sunfish fleets are currently active in The Netherlands and in Italy (there are links on the ISCA website (http://www.sunfishclass.org/).

 
Lots of used SF in my area (SW Michigan). You could Smurf out the job of buying used SF to forum members but the trouble is getting the SF to a sea port where they could be loaded into a cargo container. I think it could be done but it would take a master stroke of social networking. Anyone know the cost of getting a container to the UK?
 
Webfoot: "Anyone know the cost of getting a container to the UK?"

Maybe in the cargo hold of Air Force One the next time Michelle pops over to Harrods for a wardrobe update? Just a thought. :D
 
hello all, I recently bought a sunfish (from ebay £50). I have sailed alot of differnt types of raceing dinghys and i have to say im delighted with it :) I love the simplicity of it. And even at my huge weight ( 255 lbs) the thing seems to fly in a good breeze!,Ive even had my 13yr daughter and grandson in it with me, and still she went well!.
I would be quite interested to know if any one has considered exporting the sunfish to england? There certainly seems a lot of interest in the boat (and unusual rig)

Cheers, john

Hi John,

Glad to meet a fellow UK based Sunfish owner. I've needed some spare parts for mine and found that you can get most shipped over an reasonable cost. Obviously spars, rudders and daggerboards are the problem in terms of shipping because of their size. I'd certainly welcome official imports into the UK so that I could replace a few parts!

I'd like to see some pictures of your boat and see what £50 got you. I paid £130 for mine (also on eBay!).

Some shots of my boat - http://www.orangebug.co.uk/sunfish/index.html

All the best with it!
Nick
 
Lots of used SF in my area (SW Michigan). You could Smurf out the job of buying used SF to forum members but the trouble is getting the SF to a sea port where they could be loaded into a cargo container. I think it could be done but it would take a master stroke of social networking. Anyone know the cost of getting a container to the UK?

I believe the Obamas shop more locally. Also, I have not heard that they sail. Maybe I should write and invite them. The girls are good ages to learn.
 
Hi Nick,
Been out for a sail off Portland this morning, about 10 knots....very nice.
Where do you sail?
hope you'll find some photos here??....
http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i280/knittingplug/sunfish/
John

John,
I've only ever sailed inland on (very) small lakes. Hoping to expand this next year to either a larger lake like Rutland Water or Llangorse or in the sea at Salcombe/Hope Cove. I've also got the River Avon on my doorstep, but the thought of tacking every 10 seconds is not too appealing. It seems that some people like it as there are 3 very active clubs within 15 miles of me on the river.

Looks like you need a password for that link - are you willing to share? :)

Nick
 
hello,I cant work out why you need a password,will try to send the pics to your email address and preahaps you could post them. cheers john
 
hello,ok i'll have to come clean ,my wife set up the pics and has gone to bed.i would have more chance of flying to the moon than uploading pictures onto the net :confused:
will ask her to have a go tomorow. cheers john
 
Heres another link to try for my sunfish photo's http://www.flickr.com/photos/25749966@N02/
this should work.
John:D

It did - wow! I can't believe you only paid £50 for it. I'd have paid twice that just for the new rudder!! The hull looks a little worse for wear (is that a repair in the deck?) but I think you may have the bargain of the decade there. If you'd like to double your money just let me know :)

I was looking at the Laser Performance UK site and they now list the Sunfish for sale at £2,850 - I can't remember seeing it one their before. Maybe we'll have a UK fleet in 2010!
 
hello, yes the rudder was a nice surprise when i went to pick the boat up, it was still in the box! The repair to the deck seems pretty solid although, this winter i do plan to re-coat/paint the bottom of the hull,and a new sail would be nice. :)
 
hello,is this normal ,grown men sending pictures of there boats to each other?!!!! what the hell I think your boat looks pritty good for what you paid,shame about the top spar . try to get out on some bigger water ,its a blast . cheers john
 
Lots of used SF in my area (SW Michigan). You could Smurf out the job of buying used SF to forum members but the trouble is getting the SF to a sea port where they could be loaded into a cargo container. I think it could be done but it would take a master stroke of social networking. Anyone know the cost of getting a container to the UK?

It occurs to me that there must be some kind of cargo consolidators that take assorted small cargo to fill containers and then ship to various destinations. If not someones is missing a business opportunity. Should be in every large city.
 
In 2007 I shipped A 20' container with two International Europe sailing dinghies , Seitech trollies and road trailers from Ft Lauderdale , USA to Southampton , England , using Peters & May who are based in Eastleigh. Including tax and all the other add-ons it cost over $4000 ( about 1750GBP at the time ). It took about six weeks and as well as being expensive it was a real headache too.
Since then I've learned that it's far easier to find out if there are any regatta's on the east coast of the USA ( any class ) & check with that class asscocation in England to see if any boats are being shipped over ... if so , for a fee , you might be able to get your boat ( Sunfish in this case ) added to the container when all the UK boats are packed up after the regatta , and shipped back home ... Still a headache , but a much cheaper one !
 

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