Sunfish (sailboat)

The Sunfish dinghy is a popular one-design sailing dinghy which was developed in the 1950s. It can be sailed with one, two, or three persons, but is most often sailed singlehanded (one person). At 13 feet 9 inches (4.2 m) in length and 130 lb (59 kg) in weight, the Sunfish is easily carried in a luggage rack or a light trailer. The Sunfish is used as a day sailer or a racing boat, with over 1000 racing events every year worldwide.

Key to the Sunfish's success are simplicity and low cost. A Sunfish can be sailed using only a single line (the sheet) and the tiller. A second line (the halyard) is used to raise and lower the sail. A Sunfish setup for racing will typically add outhaul, cunningham, a gooseneck quick-release adjuster, and vang lines. The lateen sail is fixed to the spars and is stored by simply wrapping the sail around the spars, or by rolling the sail up parallel to the spars.

A single person can easily handle the Sunfish. The "board boat" design, with its small, self bailing cockpit, resists swamping. The boat can carry up to 3 small people. The wide, hard-chined hull allows it to plane and achieve a Portsmouth handicap of 99.6, which is very low for a boat of its size. A new Sunfish costs about US$3395-$3820 [http://www.teamvanguard.com/2005/base/content.asp?section=boats&dir=core&page=boats_features&boatid=6] , with older used models in working condition going for under US$500. Because of its low cost and simplicity (it is often regarded as the simplest boat to sail, and is widely used for teaching sailing) it is also perhaps the most popular sailboat class ever designed; over 500,000 Sunfish have been built.

The Sunfish was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame in 1995.

The great popularity of the Sunfish has led to many imitators; Starfish, Aquafin, Phantom, and Big Fish are all boats virtually identical to the Sunfish.

Racing

There are regional, continental and world championships every year. Last year, the XXXVII Sunfish World Championship was held in New Jersey with Sebastian ¨Chan" Mera, from the Dominican Republic, as the new champion . This year the XXXVIII Sunfish Worlds will be held at the Buffalo Canoe Club in Ontario, Canada on Lake Erie with 72 competitors to race. [http://www.sunfishclass.org/2007-race-results.php International Sunfish Class Association-2007 Race Results] South American, North American and European championships are very popular among Sunfish racers.

History

In the 1940s, Cortlandt Heyniger and Alex Byran created a company. They used their names to form the portmanteau "Alcort", the company name. (The name Cortlandt is often misspelled "Cortland", but authoritative sources use the "Cortlandt" spelling. [http://www.teamvanguard.com/2005/base/content.asp?section=teamvanguard&dir=teamvanguard&page=about] )

Alcort's first sailboat was the Sailfish. Introduced in 1945 according to The Sunfish Bible by Will White, it was similar to a large wooden surfboard with a sail, a rudder and a daggerboard. It was available in either finished or kit form.

Carl Meinelt - one of Alcort's first employees - created the classic shape of the Sunfish in 1951 as a wooden kit boat. By 1959, hulls were being commercially produced in molded fiberglass composite. Over the years, rights to produce Sunfish have been held successively by Alcort, Inc. (1951–1969), AMF/Alcort division (1969–1986), Alcort Sailboats, Inc.*, (1986–1988), Pearson Sailing Yachts (1988–1991), Sunfish/Laser, Inc. (1991–1997), Vanguard (1997–2007), and LaserPerformance (2007-Present).
*Alcort Sailboats, Inc. was not affiliated with the founding company, Alcort, Inc.

The class became popular for racing in the 1960s and 1970s. A Class Association was established by AMF/Alcort in 1969 and it became the International Sunfish Class Association (ISCA) in 1984 with official recognition by the International Yacht Racing Union (now the International Sailing Federation).

Major Changes

The boat changed in 1972 with the change to the current rudder attachment, switching to a design that would not release under sailing strain. This change identifies more modern boats.

In 1970 AMF began manufacturing the AMFlite and later (post-1972) the Windflite and licenced sales to alternate dealers as a similar hull using the same fittings and equipment as Sunfish. The alternate hulls employed the rounded over style hull to deck bond used in the current Sunfish design.

uper Sunfish

AMF manufactured a variation of the Sunfish, called the Super Sunfish from 1976 to 1980. A Super Sunfish consists of essentially the same hull rigged with a sail, mast and boom more similar in size and design to a Laser Sailboat. An additional bit of rigging in the cockpit for pulling in the sail, and a few rigging points attached to the splash guard are all the modifications made to the hull. The sail, mast and boom are completely different from and share no common parts with that of the standard Sunfish.

The Super Sunfish was available as a complete package, as well as a modification kit to be applied to a standard Sunfish.

The Super Sunfish's larger sail area gives it a speed boost over the much more common standard Sunfish. It is also a bit more complicated and takes more time to rig. The Super Sunfish is not as fast in the water as a Laser due to the difference in hull shape, but at the same time is more stable and less likely to capsize in the hands of a novice sailor for the same reason. As such it is an interesting and rare hybrid/compromise between the two boats.

References

External links

* [http://www.sunfishclass.org/ International Sunfish Class Association]
* [http://laserperformance.com/ Manufacturer's website]
* [http://www.sunfishforum.com/ The Sunfish Forum] - Sunfish News, Discussion, and classified ads
* [http://www.sunfishklasse.nl/ Sunfish Racing Class Netherlands, Sunfishklasse Nederland]

Updared by: Konner Price