Less is More; The Sunfish...... Not!

Having taken a whack at the Laser class as not minimalist enough, why stop there?... why not take on the Sunfish class?

(Sir, have you lost your marbles? There cannot be found a more simpler sailing craft; easy to raise and lower lateen rig with no battens, no vang, no traveller ....... surely there isn't a less complicated sailing craft in existence!)

Well there was and it turned out to be the parent; the Sailfish.

The Sailfish, introduced by Alex Bryan and Cortlandt Heyniger (Alcort) in 1945, proved popular as a wooden kit boat. It was 11' 7" long, 2' 7" wide, had a flat deck with grab rails to keep the skipper from sliding out of the boat. It had the trademark simple lateen rig. You can surf over the Wikipedia Sailfish page here .

In 1951, the Sunfish was designed by Alcort. Compared to the Sailfish, the Sunfish had;

• more length - 13' 9"
• more beam - 4'1"
• more freeboard
• more weight
• and added a nice little cockpit

The Sailfish, popular in it's day, was discontinued in 1975.

The Sunfish today remains one of the most popular and enduring of singlehander designs.

More really is ...........MORE!

(If you think this is absurdly convoluted logic as an anti-argument to Tillerman's writing assignment, I stand guilty as charged.)