A sailfish will plane running in a strong wind, but sailing by the lee is a necessary tool to avoid going swimming. I believe the phenomenon is called "death roll'
The Sailfish may do better in very light air, and planes easily directly downwind.
It's much narrower than a Sunfish, and is much more of a balancing act.
The one time I had both in the water, it was pretty windy, and the Sunfish was a good deal faster and more controllable than the Sailfish.
If the Sailfish rudder is set up properly, it will trip or release when grounding. I usually had mine adjusted so pulling up on the tiller would release it. Useful in weedy water. Only had it out in brisk wind a few times. The rudder never gave me trouble.
Upgrading is possible, but the...
Early production fiberglass Sailfish did not have the aluminum rub rail.
The serial # was stamped on the bronze deck plate before they started putting it on the Alcort deck tag.
The 1957 brochure lists a hull weight of 135lbs. and crew capacity of 460lbs. for the wooden Sunfish.
http://sailingforums.com/attachments/1957-sunfish-brochure-pdf.11895/
I had 2 sets of spars handy to measure.
1st goes to a pre AMF, fiberglass Sailfish.
From interlocking eyebolt to center of block eyestrap is 74.5", and 60" between centers to the block eyestrap on the tail end.
2nd set goes to a 74 Sunfish.
67.5 to the first block, and 58.5 between centers to...
Boat had to weigh close to 300 pounds last spring when I got it. Waited until a nice day in October to cut some ports in it.
Hull is thinner than I expected. It's less than 1/10th inch.
Don't put your port where I did. There is a reinforcement bonded under the deck, that runs through this...
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