Recent content by Seaotter5

The Sunfish Bible is a bit dated, but contains a lot of very detailed information on how to race a Sunfish. About $45 on Amazon.

That was an unintentional oversight. The Rocket should definitely be included!

Not being particularly skilled I just drop the sail. I always have a kayak paddle close by and easily accessible. With the sail down and rudder and dagger board up the Sunfish is easy to paddle. TBH, that's pretty much my answer to most issues. I have been paddling since I was 8. Sailing came a...

On the Maryland side of the lower bay there are a LOT of marshy areas without any cell signals. But the Crisfield (and Ocean City, if I am on the sounds) Coast Guard station has a really tall antennas that can reach out quite a ways. Since VHF is line of sight even a 5 watt HT light signal can...

IMHO the advantages of VHF radios far outweigh any disadvantages, especially now that long distance events are becoming popular. In an emergency time matters. The time that it takes for a situation to be noticed and then investigated might be too long. VHF radios ought to be encouraged and...

As new generation of Sunfish clones hits the market, and as LP is evidently having “issues”, I think it would be interesting to launch a new class of racing, allowing the Sunfish and it’s clones to compete directly. The class could include any board-type boat with crab-claw rig with a maximum...

Having a brain which is totally filled with useless esoterica… (Note: everything below is true, but it is supposed to be a bit mock serious as well!) The USN submarines leaving and returning to port are usually escorted by 34 foot Dauntless MSF craft (built by Sea Ark) which usually have a crew...

One of my navy friends warned me that apparent threat or not, if I got too close I should expect “an extremely negative reaction from people with big guns and plenty of ammunition and no sense of humor whatsoever.” Yeah, I think I’ll keep my pirate flag, cutlass, and parrot (if I had one) at home!

That was one of the issues I was already aware of. Thank goodness a Sunfish doesn’t look like much of a threat!

Thanks!

I just got a Dynamic dolly along with a new to me Sunfish. It has the large wheels and tires, and works well on sand that isn’t too loose. Even if the sand IS loose it keeps it from sinking in too far. Would I pay $800 for one? Probably not. I’m a cheapskate! But it certainly makes launching and...

Seems a shame to sell a family heirloom, but sometimes reality forces painful choices!

Probably. I generally don’t sail in completely new places. Just never came up before. I was familiar with the Chesapeake and the East Coast’s tidal sounds from kayaking long before I started sailing. The idea of sailing in a busy unfamiliar seaport is something that I find a bit intimidating!

I would like to thank everyone for their extremely useful information. some of the messages especially were particularly helpful!

I checked into some of the Yacht clubs, but Long Island sound is the playground for a lot of very large boats. The information they shared was interesting, but didn’t really pertain much to a Sunfish sized dinghy. A lot of it depicted “courageous runs through huge waves and high winds”, none of...