From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2007)

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.

A recreationally rigged Sunfish sailing on Long Island Sound

A race rigged Sunfish racing on Irondequoit Bay, NY. The rig is carried lower to the deck and additional lines are added to control sail shape.

The International Sunfish Class is a popular one-design class of 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[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 American 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 led to many imitators; Starfish, Aquafin, Phantom, and Big Fish are all boats virtually identical to the Sunfish.

There are regional, continental and world championships every year. Recently the XXXVII Sunfish World Championship was held in New Jersey, having for new champion Sebastian Mera from the Dominican Republic. South American, North American and European Championships are very popular among Sunfish racers.

Please help improve this article by expanding this section with: Please add more detailed info and pictures. See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

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.[2])

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), and Vanguard Sailboats (1997-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 Associatioin (ISCA) in 1984 with official recognition by the International Yacht Racing Union (now the International Sailing Federation).

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.

• 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.

• Sunfish Racing Class Netherlands, Sunfishklasse Nederland