from Sunfish to sloop

stollie

stollie

Active Member
Hi, I'm new to this forum, and to sailing, so please excuse if my wording shows my inexperience. Also, it's possible that someone may have asked similar question(s), but I could not find these in my searches.

Basically, I'm interested in finding out how well does sailing a Sunfish prepares one for sloop sailing. Ultimately, I'm interested in a Cape Dory 22 or similar but the moment, it would make more sense for me to have a trailerable boat.

Thanks
 
As a former CD Typhoon owner and current Fuji 32' ketch owner I can say that learning to sail the little stuff first usually makes a better sailor. Take an experienced sailor of small boats and stick them on a large yacht and they will do fine. Then stick someone who has only sailed on a large yacht on something like a sunfish and watch the learning curve. I learned 25 years ago on small boats like a Hobie 14 and a sunflower. We just purchased a sunfish so my 6-year-old son will have something to sail during the spring and fall when we're not cruising on the Fuji. He can sail our ketch, but I want him to have the smaller boat experience as well.
 
It's the best way to start sailing, you'll learn all about mistakes by making them and chances are you will not break anything. Compared to a keel boat, the SF is sort of like the P-39 fighter the Airforce used for training during WWII. It was so difficult to handle that if you could fly it you could fly anything else. The SF will give you a real workout with a good breeze but is a beginners best friend in light winds. Welcome aboard!
 
Thanks for the replies, folks. I guess I'm basically concerned that the Sunfish's lanteen rig is so different from sloop rigging that the former won't really prepare me for the latter.
 
Certainly there will be different set-up and fine-tuning issues between a Sunfish rig and a Cape Dory, but if you are new to sailing, there is a lot to learn that will transfer to any other boat. The set-up and tuning part is akin to handling differences between cars. You are learning how to drive! Just go have fun - the learning will happen.
 
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