Righting a sunfish

D

David Stuart

Member
When my sunfish is up side down in the water,my arms are not long enough to reach the board to right it. I can not climb on enough to reach it either! Is my problem with not enough life vest bouncy? Do I need a new life vest, or just better now how. Frustrated in Maine!
 
If you're using a horseshoe-shaped life preserver then that will tend to leave you lower in the water. A vest with a back should lift you a little higher and may make it easier to grab the centerboard. You may want to consider attaching a piece of a "pool noodle" (foam float) to the upper spar so that the boat doesn't turn completely upside down.
 
I try to avoid capsizes, because the water is cold! :eek: I wear a five-strap waterski vest, and am able to reach the daggerboard when "turtled". A strap to keep the vest from riding upwards might be a working alternative.

If it's windy, and the sail is only slightly underwater, I can't put enough weight on the daggerboard to right the Sunfish. :confused:

When sailing season begins again, I plan to design a hook made from sheet metal, put it on four feet of line—along with a handle—and carry it on my vest (or Velcro it to the rudder cheeks). When needed, it can be tossed over the hull and, with any luck, hook the nearest edge of the cockpit. This may provide enough leverage to get the boat slowly turning in my direction, and ease more of my weight on the daggerboard.
 
:oops: I don't the answer, as I haven't tried that "fix". Turtling is affected by wind and wave-state, plus the spars and mast should be as watertight as possible.

If I were to use this suggestion, it seems that "flying the noodle in the breeze" wouldn't provide much flotation; however, split along one side and tie-wrapping it around the top of the upper spar would certainly help. The resulting loss of sail aerodynamics is not good, so start with about 30", and trim it until the ideal flotation is determined. "Tip and test" the Sunfish for the optimum while standing in shallow water would be my suggestion. Keep in mind that wind and waves tend to work against you even in a simple capsize.

In a windy capsize, your immersed body can act like an anchor, so hold onto the Sunfish, changing your position until the bow is headed directly into the wind.

Hobie-Cats manage with a football-sized plastic float, but most Hobie masts reach much higher than Sunfish, providing a better lift to upright the boat. I've seen Hobies with a one-gallon plastic milk carton hanging from the top of the mast! Maybe a Sunfish can make-do with the 1-quart size? :D
 
If you're going on the cheap...a sealed gallon plastic jug tied to the top of the gaff or the top of the mast works better than the noodles but it's not quite as attractive as the noodles. If you choose noodles, get the super sized ones. Their holes better match the Sunfish booms. As anyone who knows me can vouch, I live for aesthetic beauty.
 
I'm short and fat and old with no upper body strength, so I have problems righting also. I take the painter line and throw it around the daggerboard and sort of inch it part of the way up the daggerboard then loop my hands on the line, put my feet on the side of the hull and use my weight to pull it over until I can grab the daggerboard. I've thought about tying a cord with rope handles and putting it in my life vest. Also when the boat is righted, grab the cockpit on the inner lip rather than the side of the boat and drag yourself back up. It's not pretty!
 
:oops: If you're about to give up righting your boat because of conditions (your physical condition or storm conditions), you could take your bailing scoop and begin to fill the cockpit with water. With the cockpit weighted down (and lower in the water), you could reduce the effort in getting back aboard. You could sail away, but it would be best to bail out the cockpit. My most-used Sunfish has a gap between the deck and the cockpit, so my favorite Sunfish is self-filling after a capsize! :confused:

'Works for me! :cool:
 
Thanks Guys I like the noodle idea. How big a piece? Unless my life vest catches on the side I do not have problems getting back in once righted. What style life vest keeps this from happening?
 
I agree with LVW's advice. I try to avoid capsizes, but you all have me thinking about the upcoming season (yes it's NH and it's 25 degrees and snowing but it will get warmer). I carry a lifejacket on board, but I don't wear it. I have an inflatable, but I don't wear that either. At 5' 3", 125 lbs, 60 years old and home recovering from a ruptured brain aneurism, I really will concentrate on keeping the boat upright. I'm sure I'm still nimble enough to climb over the rail and onto the daggerboard on the way down, but it's not something I'm prepared to test.
 
Kevin Mc, thanks for the post about noodles. I will Pay the price. the site says that it will not slow the boat down...YeeeeHa!!!
 
Light and Variable Winds said:
:oops: you could take your bailing scoop and begin to fill the cockpit with water. With the cockpit weighted down (and lower in the water), you could reduce the effort in getting back aboard.
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Say what???? A gallon of water weighs 7 lbs. The cockpit holds somewhere around 25 gallons of water, or 175 lbs. A Sunfish with one 175 lb. sailor on board floats with only negligibly less freeboard than an unoccupied Sunfish. So you have now exhausted yourself putting 25 gallons of water in the boat so it floats at about the same level as it did empty. I am missing the value in this idea. BB
 
It should take less than 25 pounds of water; sometimes success in getting back aboard is a matter of an inch.

If you've found yourself turtled, the semi-righted Sunfish cockpit already has a lot of water in it. With the sail and spars atop the water, you might be able to right the hull; if not, I'm saying that the boat will be easier to get totally upright by adding more water to the cockpit. It's also easier to reach across to the opposite side of the cockpit, and give a few "butterfly" kicks and pull yourself aboard.
 
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Hey ThrowDown, I am short and Fat also...so I am not pretty....so why should one worry about looking pretty getting back in...as long as it gets done. Pretty might win more races? So if I turtle I lose...takes me way to long to get back in!!
 
Kevin Mc said:
If you're using a horseshoe-shaped life preserver then that will tend to leave you lower in the water. A vest with a back should lift you a little higher and may make it easier to grab the centerboard. You may want to consider attaching a piece of a "pool noodle" (foam float) to the upper spar so that the boat doesn't turn completely upside down.
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I bought anti turtle floats that are basically foam noodles and put them on the ends of both spars and my boat still turns upside down. I don’t know what else I can do.
 
Debbie said:
I bought anti turtle floats that are basically foam noodles and put them on the ends of both spars and my boat still turns upside down. I don’t know what else I can do.
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We put a section of noodle I got from walmart on the upper spar. It floats the spar but I think if we left it the leaks in the mast would make it turtle after a while..we have about a 30" section slit down the side and zip tied on. It floats it long enough to swim around and right it. You could pop the cap or bottom off the mast and shove pool noodles down the mast too. Once Mines righted, it's like a sprinkler system until.its empty..im like a fireboat out there.
 
Google search

mast float for dinghy.

many options
 

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I think this was fun crashing my sunfish. It filled with water on the crash and compounded the mast sinking.. some epoxy fixed it later though. I didn't realize it had broken until I got back in. If it breaks ag a in I make it out of alum. Still need to email those guys.
 

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@joe c, Definitely reach out to Aerosouth. I have the same Dinghy Bob and mine started to crack in that area. Kent told me that there was a few failures in the first generation of Bobs and he send me out an updated replacement.
 
I would definitely let them know about the Dinghy Bob. Kent ( a different Kent than me) takes great pride in his products and I'm sure he appreciates all of his Beta testers out there.
 
Pippins said:
@joe c, Definitely reach out to Aerosouth. I have the same Dinghy Bob and mine started to crack in that area. Kent told me that there was a few failures in the first generation of Bobs and he send me out an updated replacement.
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I figured that was the case..I wasn't real worried and I know the work that goes I to designing a product. I'll get around to it this weekend.. he seems like a good dude. It's good to see other people had the same problem. Thx!!
 
No. Either works. What did they do before pool noodles? Milk jugs or clorox bottles have been used for decades, Skipper had them on top of the mast when she taught college Intro to Sailing classes in the 80s....1980s, not 1880s... :)

It would be interesting to test the efficacy of mast top vs spar flotation aids.

Now for your Catfish, Alcort provided polyurethane masthead flotation built into peak of sail, so I suppose one could also do that on each corner...

IMG_5619.jpg
 
Pool noodle by the outhauls. In my brain the boat would continue to turn partways turtle and the sail tack would point towards the bottom, leaving the head and the clew bobbing on the surface. Seems putting a noodle just above the mast on the upper boom would work better?

LEAF Tanbark.jpeg


OBTW this is the 1963 wooden Sunfish CHIP that we restored, she's been repainted and has a new tanbark sail and a new name, LEAF. Emiliano Marino, aka Artful Sailor and author of The Sailmaker's Apprentice (1983), is her new Skipper in Pt Townsend, and he know a thing or two or three about sailing. So if it's working for him...His other raid boat TASWENS, a Bolger Gloucester Gull, is next to LEAF.
 
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an aero south bob and a ziptied pool noodle we slit with a utility knofe we got from walmart. they come in different colors and diameters/ they both work fairly well. aerosouth 100 bucks. wal,mart noodle and zipties, less than 10 bucks. ive also been flirting with the idea of putting a pool noodlle inside the mast.
 
joe c said:
Ive also been flirting with the idea of putting a pool noodle inside the mast.
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I did that with my long-ago-sold Porpoise II. It's a lot of work. :(

I cut the noodle lengthwise into quarters, taped the middle with duct tape, and pulled it through with heavy cord and WD-40.

The next mast was filled with Great Stuff's Pond & Stone foam: Last season, I immersed the mast vertically halfway into the lake, dried overnight, then reversed to fill the other half. Of course, there's no way to inspect the final product :confused: but I'm confident that it won't sink. :cool: (And might have picked up some strength).

No lake? You'll need a long flight of stairs, long tubing/pipe or a tall ladder to do the job!

The end caps weren't pinned, but sealed with Shoo Goo. Two hardware stores couldn't stock Shoo Goo, but Amazon came through with three tubes. (Available in clear and black).
 
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I see member baseman answering above.

We raced one day in New Hampshire, my Sunfish vs. his Phantom. He's a good weight for racing, but we had no wind to try out our skills...

Like another friend up my way, he suffered and survived a brain aneurysm, and has since left for South America. :confused:

Hope he is following this forum! ;)
 
signal charlie said:
Pool noodle by the outhauls. In my brain the boat would continue to turn partways turtle and the sail tack would point towards the bottom, leaving the head and the clew bobbing on the surface. Seems putting a noodle just above the mast on the upper boom would work better?

View attachment 53129

OBTW this is the 1963 wooden Sunfish CHIP that we restored, she's been repainted and has a new tanbark sail and a new name, LEAF. Emiliano Marino, aka Artful Sailor and author of The Sailmaker's Apprentice (1983), is her new Skipper in Pt Townsend, and he know a thing or two or three about sailing. So if it's working for him...His other raid boat TASWENS, a Bolger Gloucester Gull, is next to LEAF.
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I bought 2 floats that are basically noodles with Velcro straps and put one in the top spar and one on the lower and my boat still turtles.
 
"I bought 2 floats that are basically noodles with Velcro straps and put one in the top spar and one on the lower and my boat still turtles."

Are they at the outhaul ends of the booms or near the mast?

Skipper reports that she never saw a boat turtle when they had a milk jug on the mast, but also that the college kids in the Intro To Sailing classes were fast. Make sure the sheet is clear, daggerboard is in and head around to the daggerboard. They did not spend time trying to swim the boat into the wind first like some guides suggest, but rather the boat would take care of that after it was righted.

For those having issues reboarding over the side, try pulling up over the stern. Skipper filmed while I practiced, she says I moved too slow and wasted some time trying to swim the bow into the wind. I did reboard over the stern on the third kick after filming stopped. For folks with a Sailfish, keep in mind that there is not a lot to grab onto if you try to come over the side, plus the handrail can be a hindrance, so we have found the stern is a good spot.


And if someone ever gets too tired to reboard, it is possible to sail the boat back to a better spot hanging onto the stern while manipulating the rudder and sheet.

 
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signal charlie said:
"I bought 2 floats that are basically noodles with Velcro straps and put one in the top spar and one on the lower and my boat still turtles."

Are they at the outhaul ends of the booms or near the mast?

Skipper reports that she never saw a boat turtle when they had a milk jug on the mast, but also that the college kids in the Intro To Sailing classes were fast. Make sure the sheet is clear, daggerboard is in and head around to the daggerboard. They did not spend time trying to swim the boat into the wind first like some guides suggest, but rather the boat would take care of that after it was righted.

For those having issues reboarding over the side, try pulling up over the stern. Skipper filmed while I practiced, she says I moved too slow and wasted some time trying to swim the bow into the wind. I did reboard over the stern on the third kick after filming stopped. For folks with a Sailfish, keep in mind that there is not a lot to grab onto if you try to come over the side, plus the handrail can be a hindrance, so we have found the stern is a good spot.


And if someone ever gets too tired to reboard, it is possible to sail the boat back to a better spot hanging onto the stern while manipulating the rudder and sheet.

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They are at the very outside end Of each spar. They worked on my mini fish but not on my sunfish. It turtles so quickly I don’t always have time to swim around.
 
signal charlie said:
No. Either works. What did they do before pool noodles? Milk jugs or clorox bottles have been used for decades, Skipper had them on top of the mast when she taught college Intro to Sailing classes in the 80s....1980s, not 1880s... :)

It would be interesting to test the efficacy of mast top vs spar flotation aids.

Now for your Catfish, Alcort provided polyurethane masthead flotation built into peak of sail, so I suppose one could also do that on each corner...

View attachment 53128
Click to expand...
If I bought a mast top flotation It wouldn’t be in the way of the sail coming about or the
signal charlie said:
No. Either works. What did they do before pool noodles? Milk jugs or clorox bottles have been used for decades, Skipper had them on top of the mast when she taught college Intro to Sailing classes in the 80s....1980s, not 1880s... :)

It would be interesting to test the efficacy of mast top vs spar flotation aids.

Now for your Catfish, Alcort provided polyurethane masthead flotation built into peak of sail, so I suppose one could also do that on each corner...

View attachment 53128
Click to expand...
if I mounted a floatation device on top of my mast it wouldn’t be in the way of the sail or the halyard?
 
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