Daggerboard direction

Sailkb

Member
Sorry for the dumb questions, but if someone can give me a quick answer. Seeing the picture I've posted, which side of the daggerboard faces toward the bow? While I am at it (bumb questions), is there any reason I should not put an old, ugly looking haylard in the washing machine?

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Bow direction is on left side of photo as if boat was headed into the garage. Straight edge is the trailing edge or aft edge. Of course if you had one of the newer plastic race daggerboards the opposite would be true.
 
Unfortunately that board you have is the "shadow" board, so-called because it is a shadow of how big a Sunish board should be. AMF felt the Minifish needed a smaller board, so they changed Sunfish boards to the same design as the Minifish. Your boat will point quite a bit worse than just with a standard wood Sunfish board of either the round bottom or Barrington (angular bottom) varieties. They only made shadow boards for a couple years til realizing the problem and switching to the Barrington shape. BB
 
Bow direction is on left side of photo as if boat was headed into the garage. Straight edge is the trailing edge or aft edge. Of course if you had one of the newer plastic race daggerboards the opposite would be true.

no-way...is'at true? i've been using my board backwards for 18years?
 
Unfortunately that board you have is the "shadow" board, so-called because it is a shadow of how big a Sunish board should be. AMF felt the Minifish needed a smaller board, so they changed Sunfish boards to the same design as the Minifish. Your boat will point quite a bit worse than just with a standard wood Sunfish board of either the round bottom or Barrington (angular bottom) varieties. They only made shadow boards for a couple years til realizing the problem and switching to the Barrington shape. BB

So what if I were to modify the bottom edge to a Barrington shape? Would that help performance? I did notice my other board, which is as you described with the rounded bottom, also has a tapered thickness; thicker at the leading edge. (Actually my other board I used to have..... note my earlier post) The board pictured in this post seems to be flat. Just rounding the bottom will probably not make much difference??
 
Your board is made of a much smaller piece of wood than a Barrington, so there is not much you can do with it.
 
Your boat will point quite a bit worse than just with a standard wood Sunfish board of either the round bottom or Barrington (angular bottom) varieties. BB

So should I be saving for a newer style board? Maybe even a racing board? While I join the local club races from time to time, I claim to be a recreational sailor. I get annoyed when I run downwind then it takes me forever to get back home up wind. Is there a significant enough difference between old style and new to get me up wind with fewer tacks? ......I'm sure sail quality, not to mention skill factor are significant factors as well. But if a 'good' daggerboard is significant, I would start with that.
 
So should I be saving for a newer style board? Maybe even a racing board? While I join the local club races from time to time, I claim to be a recreational sailor. I get annoyed when I run downwind then it takes me forever to get back home up wind. Is there a significant enough difference between old style and new to get me up wind with fewer tacks? ......I'm sure sail quality, not to mention skill factor are significant factors as well. But if a 'good' daggerboard is significant, I would start with that.

Racers will tell you that it makes a difference -- because it does, when it counts. You seldom see wood boards any more these days, at say, regional championships, for good reason. I'd say 'you can feel the difference' but since I can't speak for you, I would suggest that next time you are with the local club racing folks that you borrow a racing board from someone just for a run up the venue and back. You can see what you think.

If you are racing on the kind of course with fixed marks - like you see at clubs on narrow bodies of water - rather than where the marks are set squarely into the wind, the (enhanced) wood vs plastic board differential will probably be a bit less, since there is usually more reaching involved and a bit less emphasis on pointing, and other factors become relatively more important. By 'enhanced' I mean built up a bit from that board that you have.

If you are really on a budget but have plenty of time and want a near-plastic experience with a wood board, you can 'build up' your wood board with fiberglass and WestSytems-type filler to maximum class specs -- the way some racers did before the plastic boards came along. You won't have those few extra inches of length but you'll still have a significantly better board and sailing experience -- you might be surprised. If you sail in a board-unfriendly place with underwater hazards, where people sometimes break their boards anyway, this may be preferable to the longer and more fragile plastic.

I hesitate to go down this path, but if your club competition doesn't mind and you want to save some money, you can try something like the Intensity board. That might suit your purpose, and if you ever get more serious about racing, you can always also get a real racing board.

My own approach is (a) for recreation or routine club racing to always use a very second-rate (chipped, broken tip, etc) plastic 'racing' board -- or -- very good (glassed and built up) wood board - either is fine with me - and (b) save the good, class-legal, expensive board for competitive events (eg, if there's an entry fee to race, I tend to use the good stuff). I wouldn't buy an expensive competition board to use for messing around recreationally.
 
If you use your Shadow board against other wood boards, you will find it performs much worse. Against a plastic racing board on a courses with a lot of upwind sailing, the plastic board will flatten ALL wood boards, not just yours. BB
 
Wow, I had no idea it was that critical. Good news though. I'm always looking for a better way. I guess I know what to ask for Christmas. In the meantime, I am intrigued with altering my existing board as mentioned. If someone can guide me to any existing threads on that, I would love to take a look.
 
I have a wood daggerboard I made shaped like the racing daggerboards (see photo). I would sell for $100. Contact me at cjo1023 at yahoo dot com.
 

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no-way...is'at true? i've been using my board backwards for 18years?

I keep the tensioning-clip to port, although I don't know if the manufacturer intended that to be the correct side. I'm finding the rounded board to be the best "to-windward" board.

It appears of my three boards—from bottom to top—I have the "rounded" board, a "Shadow" board, and a "Barrington" board:

P5270041.jpg
 
While you're all talking about the daggerboards, would someone explain the difference between FRP , GRP and Other (Balsa Wood filled plastic) daggerboards. I mean difference in construction, materials, life, maintenance and performance. (I have already guessed FRP means Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, is GRP Graphite Reinforced Plastic? (carbon fiber? ))
 
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Looks like I have a shadow board as well. This is 40 1/2 inches long. Can someone confirm? Perhaps state the length of the rounded board?
 
Sorry for the dumb questions, but if someone can give me a quick answer. Seeing the picture I've posted, which side of the daggerboard faces toward the bow? While I am at it (bumb questions), is there any reason I should not put an old, ugly looking haylard in the washing machine?

View attachment 9344
Bruce Sutphin yrs ago swore that the long side, went fwd. This is usually the T.E. He was a World Champion so may be best??
 
I am told that the Shadow board was designed to fit the Minifish and then the company, AMF Alcort, made the Shadow the standard issue for new Sunfish as well. Of the three wood designs, the original round bottom, the Shadow and the spade bottom Barrington, the Barrington performd best. Then the plastic boards made all the wood boards obsolete owing to a better hydrodynamic shape and larger surface area.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
I am told that the Shadow board was designed to fit the Minifish and then the company, AMF Alcort, made the Shadow the standard issue for new Sunfish as well. Of the three wood designs, the original round bottom, the Shadow and the spade bottom Barrington, the Barrington performd best. Then the plastic boards made all the wood boards obsolete owing to a better hydrodynamic shape and larger surface area. Alan Glos Cazenovia, NY
I ain't switchin' !

;)
 

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