Sunfish Video from Ocean City MD

M

Melnic

New Member
Started sailing last summer taking the sailing dinghy out about 1/2 a dozen times.
I have about that much time on this new to me 1969 Sunfish.
Put a new sail on it this week and this is the 4th time out with my new setup so I can paddle out of the canal to cleaner wind. I just don't trust myself sailing off my bulkhead with the Jetski lifts to the right and my neighbor's boat to the left. They are just sail shredders if the wind is not favorable and I make a newbie mistake.

 
How do you launch the Sunfish from the seawall?

Nice ride. I watched the whole thing. :) That's a really "full" sail!

How did you attach the GoPro to the forward deck?
 
Nice video, and looks like a nice place to sail. Another good place to mount the GoPro is on the rear end of the boom. It gives a good view of you and where you are going. I have seen a video of a laser guy who built a mount on the stern behind the traveler (bridle in the case of a Sunfish) facing forward which gives the absolute best view.
 
great video! like beldar said, you can try a few other mounting locations - the surfboard mount would work back near the bridle as well.
I had originally made a crude mount that connects to the tiller back near the rudder.
gopro-mount-img0181_002.jpg

one of the gopro handlebar mounts lets you connect to the lower rear boom..
boom-mount.jpg
 
For now, I have a muffler clamp supporting the gooseneck on the mast. Until I figure something else out or get good enough to do things quickly w/o needing it. For right now, I felt like I wanted to support the gooseneck so that I was not lifting as much weight with the halyard line. This way is easier to pull and things don't get as tangled up as I'm hauling up the halyard line as when I was doing it before all from the cockpit.
I already have a go pro mount that will clamp to the boom. I'll be trying that shortly.
 
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Melnic said:
For now, I have a muffler clamp supporting the gooseneck on the mast. Until I figure something else out or get good enough to do things quickly w/o needing it. For right now, I felt like I wanted to support the gooseneck so that I was not lifting as much weight with the halyard line. This way is easier to pull and things don't get as tangled up as I'm hauling up the halyard line as when I was doing it before all from the cockpit.
I already have a go pro mount that will clamp to the boom. I'll be trying that shortly.
Click to expand...

Not sure what the mast diameter is but I'm digging your U bolt idea to sort of pre-raise the sail a bit. I'm launching from a dock in heavy air and may have to paddle a bit to avoid a spazz out. The lazy part of me wishes the drone and remote control guys could design us a stow able small trolling motor with a small light battery. Even a handheld large battery powered drink stirrer type thingy. Lol that can't be an original thought. Got to be one out there. ⛵️
 
This was the 2nd time I had the sunfish out. Saw dolphins while I was out.
Dolphins @ about 4:35
There was about 20 of them and captured some behind me on the go pro.
We've spotted them while out on the Jet Skis but in the sailboat, they were all around me.

 
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gopro-mount-img0181_002.jpg


Off Topic:

The photo shows a split in the rudder which I have on all three of my Sunfish rudders.

Although it had been attributed to the use of the tiller to lower the rudder, the force on the wood grain is more likely to be caused by "backing down" into shallow water—or rocks.
 
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LV&W, good catch on the rudder split. I've since that photo repaired and refinished the rudders. I do believe I fixed all the cracks, but will double check that specific one.
 
The muffler clamp on the mast is pure genius! The hardest part of raising the sail is getting the ?$!#% gooseneck off the deck and the sail all the way up. This looks like it would make it much easier to get it up on the water if you have to, or if you take it down for a break on shore.
 
I got the muffler clamp idea from someone posting about using a Sunfish sail on some other boat.
See this link :
Modification107


Yes, I installed a 3 or 4" plastic cleat just to side of daggerboard.
At :41 in the first vid I untie Halyard line and 1:00 I tie it to cleat
2:15 in the dolphins video you can see me tie halyard line to it.
 
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Thanks for the link, some good information on setting up a lateen sail. I'm liking the idea of a cleat further back....at least until I get use to this thing. I am not sure having a wife in the water sending me off will always be an option...
 
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