Nice feature on an old Sailfish

Breeze Bender

Breeze Bender
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This old woody has been in line in the garage and bumped many times by the latest boat to turn my head. I've never seen one with the heavy webbing attached to the rails. It creates a perfect toe hold. The Sailfish is a great abdominal workout- TotalGym and a lot more fun. This one should be cleaned up and for sale with a perfect set of spars by the end of the summer. Two Sunfish and a Mini still ahead! My love of Alcort boats only seems to increase with age, but I can't keep 'em all.
 

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The Sailfish is a great abdominal workout- TotalGym and a lot more fun.

I miss those abdominal workouts aboard my Laser... when I sailed, I used to sail all day, figured I might as well after schlepping the boat down to the waterfront. In my youth, all that hiking out made me bulletproof, and later in life it kept me in shape, though I'd feel it after long days of hiking in breezy conditions. Toward the end of my time in Dago, those long days were often brutal, not due to any change in my hiking technique or style, just my age catching up to me... :confused:

When you're young, you feel ten feet tall and bulletproof, ready to tackle anything... but as years (and decades) go by and life wears ya down a bit, ya start feeling those long days, LOL. Not that I'd do anything differently if I had it to do all over again: I'd stay out as long as possible on the water every time, just as I did for so many years (and decades). Now I have a lifetime of good memories to see me to my grave, as they surely will... ;)

I never had any real back problems either, like some folks do... an occasional pinched nerve or whatever from some cause unrelated to sailing, and those pinched nerves would lay me low for a bit, but thankfully I've enjoyed good health for most of my life. I was blessed with a strong back and rugged constitution, along with a fairly high pain threshold, so serious and prolonged hiking was never a problem... not until my later years, LOL. :eek:

Still, I wouldn't trade a moment of it, all that glorious small craft sailing... being the skipper, the master & commander of my craft, and keeping that boat flat for ultimate performance on the water. I'd deliberately choose days with heller breeze in the forecast too, just to revel in the whole hiking scene... there were days when I had the bay to myself, my Laser literally the only sailboat to be seen on the water. Beach patrol too, no other craft in sight... glorious days!!! :rolleyes:

I must admit, there were times when I shamelessly showboated for tourists, forgoing my traditional straight-legged hiking technique and adopting a Kung Fu stance, one foot in the cockpit, the other on the weather rail, a hand on the boom and the other on the tiller extension behind my back, with yours truly emulating Bruce Lee on deck in some sort of martial arts knockoff of windsurfing, LOL. Hey, it WORKED, so don't knock it until you've tried it, AYE??? :D

Anyway, you're alright, BB, even if we don't agree on politics, especially where King Cuomo is concerned... anybody who restores old sailing craft is alright in my book, that's all there is to it. Frankly, ya don't see too many TWEEKIN' CRACKERHEADS restoring old sailboats, that's too much like WORK for those retards, so ya got THAT going for ya, LOL. Meh, I'd better stop here before I get in trouble with the mods, time for another beer anyway... CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
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Thanks! I'm restoring a 1950's Sailfish and have been wondering how adding webbing to the rails would work.
 
There is one possible downside to the foot loops attached to the standard Sailfish toe rails. These toe rails are simply attached to the deck with wood screws and tended to fail even without the foot loops. The force on the foot loops is straight up and could easily cause the deck screws to pull out making for the proverbial "You Tube" moment for the skipper. I am buying a 1960s era fiberglass Super Sailfish this week for restoration (or parts) and it too has these retrofitted foot loops. If you wanted to go bull goose wacko, consider adding a sliding seat like the International 10 Sq. Meter Sliding Seat Canoe, one of the most exciting sailboats I have ever sailed - think full plane, close hauled dead upwind in 20 mph true wind.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 

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