moredownhaul
New Member
Having sailed cats and windsurfers for the last 20 yrs. I finally got the chance to sail a
sunfish this summer.
A good friend of mine had purchased a 79 model from the salvation army for $60 that had a small crack in the hull right along the keel line. He kept it in his barn for about a year with the intentions of repairing it but due to family and business obligations it collected allot of dust and never got repaired, He finally decided to do some spring cleaning and ended up giving the boat too me. About $20 worth of epoxy filler and some leftover Kevlar cloth later the boat was ready to sail.
My first day out on the boat I took it to one of our local reservoirs, The wind was really light, barely a ripple on the water so I bagged the sail out and expected to just kind of drift around but to my surprise the little boat was chugging right along upwind. After a couple hours of this I was about to take her in since it was so hot then I noticed a storm cloud in the distance and a couple of nice puffs coming toward me so I decided to stay out and see what the storm produces. 10min later it was filled in solid 15 and gusting over 20, The boat didn’t have a hiking strap so I wedged my feet under the lip of the cockpit, flattened the boat out and headed off the wind….. O.M.G. the boat popped up on a plane and took off, I didn’t realize mono hulls could be this much fun. One little pump of the sail and the boat would catch even the smallest swells and surf like crazy and the sensation of being that close to the water as it rush's by was awesome. I started hearing some thunder so I figured I better head back. By the time I got back to the dock I was totally in love with this little boat and all the way home was thinking of ways to fix her up. I just got a copy of the sunfish bible and have done most of the race mod's to squeeze out a little more from her, maybe a race sail and daggerboard next.
I think my sailboards are jealous now though because I spend so much time with her but they will have their place back this fall.
I am hooked, what a amazing little boat it is.
sunfish this summer.
A good friend of mine had purchased a 79 model from the salvation army for $60 that had a small crack in the hull right along the keel line. He kept it in his barn for about a year with the intentions of repairing it but due to family and business obligations it collected allot of dust and never got repaired, He finally decided to do some spring cleaning and ended up giving the boat too me. About $20 worth of epoxy filler and some leftover Kevlar cloth later the boat was ready to sail.
My first day out on the boat I took it to one of our local reservoirs, The wind was really light, barely a ripple on the water so I bagged the sail out and expected to just kind of drift around but to my surprise the little boat was chugging right along upwind. After a couple hours of this I was about to take her in since it was so hot then I noticed a storm cloud in the distance and a couple of nice puffs coming toward me so I decided to stay out and see what the storm produces. 10min later it was filled in solid 15 and gusting over 20, The boat didn’t have a hiking strap so I wedged my feet under the lip of the cockpit, flattened the boat out and headed off the wind….. O.M.G. the boat popped up on a plane and took off, I didn’t realize mono hulls could be this much fun. One little pump of the sail and the boat would catch even the smallest swells and surf like crazy and the sensation of being that close to the water as it rush's by was awesome. I started hearing some thunder so I figured I better head back. By the time I got back to the dock I was totally in love with this little boat and all the way home was thinking of ways to fix her up. I just got a copy of the sunfish bible and have done most of the race mod's to squeeze out a little more from her, maybe a race sail and daggerboard next.
I think my sailboards are jealous now though because I spend so much time with her but they will have their place back this fall.
I am hooked, what a amazing little boat it is.