Sailfish & Sunfish

I too just bought a Sailfish. It's turning out to be a labor of love- remove all
wood and refinish, clean brass and remove broken screws from wood and deck,
remove ugly anti-skid paint from deck. Since most of the deck has faded/lost
its gelcoat I am looking into shooting the deck with new gelcoat. I intend to
see this through, but I don't think that I want to do it again. Jim.
 
Hey all - I just joined this webring and am jjust getting back into sailing. I have my trusty 1974 sunfish which I have been saving until both my kids (now 7 & 9) became really competent swimmers, which they now are. I got them out on the sunfish and they are hooked! Now, I am planning on doubling the size of the family fleet and am thinking about building a sailfish over the winter. I think the kids would love it as it looks like even a wetter ride than the sunfish. However, I have never been on a sailfish myself. Would anyone have a comment on the wisdom of a sailfish versus a sunfish for my two extreme sports-oriented-sub-10-year-old sons (who, by the way , work quite well together - when not beating one another sensless, that is). We sail on a relatively small, sheltered lake in St. Louis, MO

Thanks, JIm

(who, BTW has never buit a boat before, but, as a hobbyist, is a fair cabinet maker by most accounts)
 
jim_michaels said:
Hey all - I just joined this webring and am jjust getting back into sailing. I have my trusty 1974 sunfish which I have been saving until both my kids (now 7 & 9) became really competent swimmers, which they now are. I got them out on the sunfish and they are hooked! Now, I am planning on doubling the size of the family fleet and am thinking about building a sailfish over the winter. I think the kids would love it as it looks like even a wetter ride than the sunfish. However, I have never been on a sailfish myself. Would anyone have a comment on the wisdom of a sailfish versus a sunfish for my two extreme sports-oriented-sub-10-year-old sons (who, by the way , work quite well together - when not beating one another sensless, that is). We sail on a relatively small, sheltered lake in St. Louis, MO

Thanks, JIm

(who, BTW has never buit a boat before, but, as a hobbyist, is a fair cabinet maker by most accounts)
Click to expand...

Your sons will soon discover that a Sailfish is SLOW. Why not get another Sunfish? That way they can compete with others and lower their testosterone levels in a positive way. Rather than beat up on each other, they can then beat up on old geezers like me.
 
Why do you say that the sailfish is slow? I have a sailfish, but have never been able compare it to a sunfish. I have the newer sailfish with the same rig as the sunfish. Are the hulls so different?
 
cta said:
Why do you say that the sailfish is slow? I have a sailfish, but have never been able compare it to a sunfish. I have the newer sailfish with the same rig as the sunfish. Are the hulls so different?
Click to expand...

I based my response on the 'official' (2006) Portsmouth Handicap ratings:

Sunfish = 100
Sailfish = 118
 
A sailfish is basically an over sized surfboard without a surboard rig, but a lanteen rig similar to the Sunfish. The basic shape was designed as a Red Cross life saving board, but the Rec Cross couldn't afford the price and left the plans so Al & Cort started building and selling them with out of the box Ratsey & Laphorn sailing canoe rigs.

If the Portsmouth index doesn't make sense to you, what it basically says if a Sunfish sails a course in 100 minutes the sailfish will take 118 minutes to sail the same course with equally qualified skippers, under the same wind conditions.
Here's a link to compare how a Sunfish or Sailfish will fare against other boats: http://www.ussailing.org/portsmouth/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top