Recent content by Dickhogg

There has been a recent thread on this. Turtle Prevention

Reviving this thread on the request of Norcalsail I realised I never reported back on my new mast. They came back into stock at LPUK so I bought a new one. As for what happened, I just think the mast failed because it was old and pitted. It was a windy day, I launched and within about 30...

Cheers! There aren't many of us.

You can see them in this photo from when my mast snapped. I mainly use them if cruising along in lighter winds when I want to have a drink or whatever.

I'd echo what others are saying here. An integrated cleat/block is not a good idea. Even on boats where they make more sense (Like my old Taser) you have to be vigilant if you want to be able to react to gusts quickly enough. I think you will find that a ratchet block will make a big diference...

Good old RYA :^)

I got out for a sail! The boathouse reopened on Saturday and I went down yesterday and had a lovely blast reaching up and down in a force 3-4. Nice big waves. Just the ticket. The sea is still bloody cold. Then I had to cycle home in my wet sailing gear because the changing rooms etc are still...

Bear in mind that if you turtle in shallow water there is the potential to bend/break a spar if it gets snagged on the bottom.

Have never done it on a sunfish but at our club we sometimes tie old 4L plastic milk bottles to the tops of the masts of training boats (toppers). Does the trick.

There is no sailing here in the UK. Everything closed. I really miss it. Best wishes to all you other shore-bound sunfish sailors. Stay safe. We will be back on the water soon enough.

Looks great. I learnt to sail on a lake about a quarter the size of this one.

My regular sunfish already goes at exhilarating speeds :^)

Two of these photos have UK plug sockets in the background :^)

It depends on the wind direction though. If The wind gives you a reach in and out of this harbour there is no problem. Near me there is a sailing club who have to sail up a very narrow channel to get out to sea. They can do this because the prevailing SW wind means it is nearly always a reach...

Genius. You could cover the whole deck with tolex too!