Sunfish (dinghy)

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Specifications Under Current Rules
Number of crew 1 LOA 4200 mm 13 ft 9in Beam 1200 mm 4 ft 1in Hull weight (with fittings) 59 kg 130 lb Sail Area of total of Main Sail 7 m² 75 ft. sq.

The Sunfish is a popular one-design class of sailboat which was developed in the 1950s. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. At 13 ft 9 in (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.

Cortland Heyniger and Alex Byran created a company called Alcort in the 1940s. Their first sailboat, introduced in 1951, was called the Sailfish and 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 sailboat in the 1950s. Key to the Sunfish's success are simplicity and low cost. A Sunfish can be sailed using only two lines, the halyard and the Sheet. The only other necessary control is the tiller. 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[1], 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 ever invented; over 500,000 Sunfish have been built. Because of this, the Sunfish is part of the American Sailboat Hall of Fame.

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

[edit] Original Design and Production

Designed by Alexander Bryan and Cortland Heyniger.

The original Sailfish/Sunfish was designed in 1951 as a wooden kit boat. By 1959, hulls were being commercially produced in molded fiberglass composite. Sunfish have been made by AMF/Alcort, Sunfish Laser Inc., and Pearson Sailing Yachts, and they are currently manufactured by Vanguard Sailboats.

[edit] External links

• International Sunfish Class Association
• Manufacturer's website
• The Sunfish Forum - Sunfish News, Discussion, and classified ads
• Sunfish manual covering 1955 to current production boats.
• Owner's Support Group Sunfish, Sailfish, and "Clone-fish". Download Library of Repair Diagrams, Setup Guides, and Historical Information.