Sunfish Sails

Funny you should mention it. I was just reading about it in the Sunfish Bible ( that I got fr Christmas). The racing sail ihas a fuller shape in order to catch more wind. The recreationa sail ismore flat.
 
If you will be racing you need a racing sail to be competitive. If you are recreational sailing then a recreational sail is just fine. The rec sails also come in colors which is nice where racing sails are only white (except if you buy a leftover sail from the World championship. Those racing sails are made in color.)
 
If you laid out a rec sail flat there would be a slight curve along the bottom edge (foot) and the leading edge (luff). That "draft" gives the sail some camber to create lift as the wind flows around it. The race sail has more draft and will probably also have a rectangular plastic window so you an see the other racers. And it will cost several hundred dollars more.
 
Sail shape depends on how it is designed 3-dimensionally ...you can have flat racing sails or full ones and conversely you can have flat or full colored sails.
'recreational' does not make one fuller or flatter....this is a miss-conception.
The 'shape' is a combination of luff/foot curve and broadseaming (the amount of seam dilation on each seam). The latter produces only up to about 2.5% camber in sail of this type, so the rest camber comes from the distribution of luff curve into the sail when flying. All sails (unless perfectly flat and on a straight mast..the proverbial bedsheet) have some combination of these two elements.
Bob Pattison
 
...you can have flat racing sails or full ones and conversely you can have flat or full colored sails.
'recreational' does not make one fuller or flatter....this is a miss-conception.

Thanks Bob, I do want to clarify a point - a Sunfish racing sail is supposed to be fuller, and the rec sail a bit flatter. They do that to encourage racers to buy racing sails, which cost more. They make racing sails in white year-round, and colored for the Worlds only (using the same pattern and fabric - except colored - as the white racing sail.) BB
 
Your point as to a policy on the racing sails to encourage people to buy and only race with them only may be, I don't know.
But what I am saying is that it is entirely possible to make a recreational sail fuller than a racing sail. That would be a marketing effort outside of the 'sailmaking' side of things.

And as an aftermarket supplier of recreational sails there is nothing to prevent us or other sailmakers in making a sail that is fuller than a racing sail as this comes out of the design process. Just like we can choose the window size, location, the panel layout (we have made 'tri-radial' sunfish sails for example) and the colors. The only real 'fixed' constraint is the luff and leech and foot lengths..as they can't be longer than the spars.
Bob
 
But what I am saying is that it is entirely possible to make a recreational sail fuller than a racing sail.
Bob
No serious racer would show up at a regatta with a recreational sail. But is is also true that many consider it to be a faux pas to recreationally sail with a racing sail. The purpose of a recreational sail is to bring color and life to the sailing experience, and going for a pleasure sail with a white sail is not in the spirit of recreational sailing. Fortunately I don't think anyone makes white recreational sails. Hilu Lover
 
No serious racer would show up at a regatta with a recreational sail. But is is also true that many consider it to be a faux pas to recreationally sail with a racing sail. The purpose of a recreational sail is to bring color and life to the sailing experience, and going for a pleasure sail with a white sail is not in the spirit of recreational sailing. Fortunately I don't think anyone makes white recreational sails. Hilu Lover

We do! :)

bp
 
Intensity Sails has a sale on red/white/blue race sails now - just $99. In case you want to blend in with the recreational daysailers...
 
It said that when I ordered on Tuesday but the order still shipped on Wednesday. So I think they haven't updated the inventory field yet.
 
My pleasure sailing over the past 20 plus years has been with white sails only and it has been wonderful! Have I missed something? It is the souls on board that bring color and life to the sailing experience, not the color of the sails.
 
Another thing to consider is that in order to race in a Sunfish Class legal event you must have a "class legal" sail. Makers of those sails varied through the years, they are currently made by North Sails, way back when they were made by Ratsey Lapthorn or Fogh.

Original Sunfish sails came in solid white, red or blue. Then they added a white sail with a red and blue stripe at the top. We got a local sailmaker to make a white sail for Zip, and it has a great full cut to it, in fact, a bit much for the wooden boat's shorter keel, tiny elephant ear rudder and short daggerboard. We use the longer 1960s spade rudder and oval tip daggerboard when we sail her.
Audrey and Zip Smile SS 2014.jpg
 

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