Sail Dimensions?

Ken OR

New Member
I recently aquired a sunfish hull. I did not get a sail with it, however. Where can I find dimensions, or a measured drawing of a sunfish sail? I want to make a smaller but proportionate sail for begining sailing by my boys. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Ken
 
I thought it was 75 sqft so I did a search on Google for 'Sunfish specifications'. Every website I found said the sail is 75 sqft. I even checked the Vanguard website---75 sqft.
 
Ken and Nate, Those dimensions are wrong. The spars on a sunfish are 13'8" +/- 1/8" with out end caps. There is a diagram in the ISCA Rules on the SF Class home page. It does not have any dimensions and you will note that it is curved on all sides and panels. This is to give the sail its proper shape when filled with wind. It is not as simple as sewing together a few pieces of cloth into a triangular shape. The SF Sail has changed at least 3 or 4 times over the years, with the racing sail being the latest revision. IMO your best bet is to get a standard SF sail and save yourself some cash in the long run. There are some non-class legal sales out there, Check APS, (www.apsltd.com) they have one for less than 200 bucks. I would spend a few more bucks and get a legal sail. Your kids can learn with the normal sail by just letting it out a little. They will learn very quickly and will be begging for a new sail by the end of the season if you go with a smaller sail. So save yourself some time and money and get a class legal sail.
 
Yeah, I just did the geometry out for the demensions I gave and I was getting something like 81 sq.ft. Sorry for the wrong info.
 
I agree with supercub......a standard sail is pretty cheap....by the time you buy the material and spend all the time sewing it and installing grommets you will be ahead for buying the standard sail. Definitely check out ebay...search for sunfish and you may be surprised to find some good deals on sunfish sails.

Also, the Jens rig setup is a versatile system of rigging for light weight sailors.

Tim
 
Nate, I checked the site out that you included in your earlier post. The diagram probably has the correct demensions at 13'4" along the 2 booms and 14'7" for the open side (leech). In another section on making Tyvek sails, the author implies that the Sunfish sails are not made of Dacron, which is the current material used. This may be from older info when the sails were not made of dacron. Just for more info, the racing sail is slightly larger than the standard colored sails and has a slightly different shape when filled with wind. Learn on the standard sail and later get a race sail when you want to race. I have seen a sailor with a standard sail, who knew how to sail, beat a guy with all the bells and whistles (and a race sail), who didn't. Learn to sail and then to race and then get your race sail and other upgrades.
 
There's a multi coloured sunfish sail on Ebay right now for under 50 bucks. -
says its never been used. 2 days left to bid.
 

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