Tack your Sunfish step by step

[@tiltawhorled]

i love how calm and logical he is.

[@tjaniga]

You are a GREAT teacher!!!

[@pmac6366]

I’m very glad I found your channel. Novice, entry level, never sailed before, and your videos are very helpful. Thank you!

[@LaughingDog]

Very nice! I'm an old sailor, just getting back where I started in the 60s with a new to me Sunfish. This was very well done. I'm going to watch it ten more times then go out and tack 10 times! I hope you have a "Gybing your Sunfish Step by Step" in the pipeline!

[@pepedomingo4061]

Suuuper helpful. Everyone just said “just dont move the tiller too fast...” as someone who doesn’t want to go flying into the disgusting water of the Charleston harbor, thank you!

[@robred1554]

Thank you! Watched all of your sunfish videos as I'm buying one today. I understand the basics now and I would know nothing without this. You're a good instructor

[@MrCurtisass]

Are you buying new?? Where do you sail? I sail mississippi gulf coast

[@robred1554]

@@MrCurtisass I bought a used one for $850. Im in Georgia and sail on some north GA lakes and make Lanier. It's a lot of fun!

[@MrCurtisass]

@@robred1554 i used to ride motorcycles in north Ga. suches area. been to lake Lanier too. If youre ever in Louisiana or on the Mississippi gulf coast with a your Sunfish, let me know. i know some good sailing spots !!

[@KingGroupProductions]

Thanks very much. But this fact will humble most of the Sunfish sailing community. A young man from Columbia, 17 I think, just won the Sunfish Junior North Americans, then over the next three days won the Sunfish North Americans. A crazy good sailor.

[@413johnw]

You have great narration and I really appreciated the slow motion detail.

[@mxm650]

I spent the last weekend working on my first Sunfish to get it ready for the lake. I'm excited to get it on the water soon! You can bet I'll be doing this drill when I do. Thanks for the video!

[@pattyandteresa]

Hi Steve. I just got a sunfish and really appreciate your excellent videos. I haven’t sailed in 20 years and plan to use it solely for recreation in light winds in my bay. Could you do a video on just how to rig for recreational sailing. I saw your adjustment video with tuning but it’s not quite clear to me. Your videos are the best with regards to rigging and sailing a sunfish

[@KingGroupProductions]

Attach the halyard to the upper spar so that when the sail is raised the lower spar is about 3 feet above the deck. That makes tacking physically easier. Adjust the lower spar fore or aft in the gooseneck so that the lower spar is approximately horizontal. Tweak the adjustments until you are happy with the way your boat sails. That should be part of the fun of owning your boat.

[@jsbhmm8232]

Great instructions, and the narrator sounds so much like Jean Shepherd.

[@KingGroupProductions]

That is very high praise indeed. Thank you. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Mr. Shepherd in Cleveland, where we were both attending a convention of The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. I am happy to report that he is as warm and charming in person as you could hope. I am gobsmacked to be compared to him. Thank you, again.

[@benwalker5074]

Exceptionally well done instructional video!! Was just out today for the first time on a Sunfish and this would've helped! Like the bit about letting out a foot of mainsheet as you tack. I'm on the taller side and am just seeing below some of your notes about adjusting the boom height - but I had a TERRIBLE time with the mainsheet along the boom getting caught on the back of my life vest. Noticed in at least the first of your tacks, your vest also caught a little but you seem to have some loop midway between the two pulleys on the boom - is that an added feature?

[@KingGroupProductions]

Those mainsheet hangers can be purchased from Sunfish equipment dealers or you can make your own. During a tack, as the boom comes across, a little twist of your shoulders will shed the mainsheet from the top of your PFD. Also, some PFDs are much better than others. Look for a lower, thinner back. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@benwalker5074]

@@KingGroupProductions much obliged - will try both! (And to echo another comment here... Waiting with bated breath on the gybing video ;)

[@geek2onart013]

Well done Steve. You are so good!

[@cate5201]

This is the best tacking video I have seen, and your voice is outstanding. I am looking for a good jibe video, but haven't seen one so far. Will you please do a jibe video?

[@jerrysullivan1598]

Nicely done once again Steve. Let me know if I can help you with the next one!

[@KingGroupProductions]

Thanks. Let's do a video on jibing together. When we get some nice weather;-)

[@chrishughes8188]

The only thing I do differently is I actually sheet in while initiating my tack. I feel that the keeps my main trimmer correctly as I turn into the wind, maintaining the most speed possible. It also feels like I am 'pulling' my self into the the tack and creating some more speed by pumping (as you would in light air). Then when I come through the tack, I am still close hauled, which maintains some lift on the new tack, and also pushes me off the wind, at which time I ease, trimming to my position off the wind to pick up speed again. Maintaining pressure on the sail maintains tension on the main sheet throughout the tack, which allows me to actually 'swing' from it while I duck under the boom. The problem with this (as you mentioned) is that the boom doesnt rise up, and can be difficult to get under. sometimes my pfd gets caught under it, sometimes I dont make it under and end up capsizing. My solution is to fix my halyard lower on the top spar, raising my main higher up to create more room. Having the main up higher also helps in light air (more wind higher up). But, I suspect it hurting me in high wind, by being less aerodynamic and causing me to heel more.

[@KingGroupProductions]

You make some good points. What was not covered in the video is that techniques will vary depending on wind strength and the body agility and strength of the sailor, and the personal preference of the sailor.

[@MateoKupstysChica]

dude! your voice sounds like Stan Lee's :D tks!

[@chrisknoche3550]

Love this video. Very helpful. One thing I cant get is changing the hands on the tiller. After I've changed hands, i cant get the extension by me. It seems to want to go under my arm and the extension won't go past my arm pit. It should go outside of my arm and body like in the video, but i can't figure it out. What am i doing wrong?

[@KingGroupProductions]

Sorry. Can't help without seeing what you are doing. Here's an idea: I have suggested to students that they "chair tack as a practice exercise. Place two chairs or benches opposite each other about as far apart as a Sunfish cockpit is wide. Place a third chair facing the other two...this is the stern deck of your simulated Sunfish cockpit. Fasten a bit of line to something in the front of your "boat" to act as the mainsheet. Using a bit of duct tape and some dowel rods or whatever is handy create a tiller extension and hiking stick, and fasten that to your third chair. Now you have a Sunfish cockpit simulator. Practice the moves you see in the video. Soon you will develop the subtle ways your body and hands have to move to handle the main sheet and the tiller extension. Hope this helps.

[@theghostjesus]

Hey Steve, wondering if you can point me to a good place for a replacement daggerboard, rudder and tiller. Great work on the videos.

[@KingGroupProductions]

Here SailingForums.com/Sunfish. Great group of sailors there. Several forum participants sell rudders, dagger boards, tillers, and other Sunfish parts. Post a request for what you need. You will almost certainly get answers.

[@MrCurtisass]

INTENSITY sails.com

[@danieldesimonedanny1827]

I'll say mastering the sunfish made me a better sailor with my cruiser moored next to it.

[@luckyhobbit8894]

Beautifully helpful.

[@KingGroupProductions]

Thank you. Look for a similar video on jibes. I'm hoping to be able to show both light and heavy air jibes.

[@tonysimi1776]

Very profesional video! Steve any advise on who makes the best sunfish? I have an old 1974 AMF that I restored but she is a little tired.

[@KingGroupProductions]

I think that most any Sunfish that weighs from 125 to 140 pounds, has no hull damage, and has no soft spots in its bottom will serve well. When I was buying my Sunfish people warned me not to by a boat made by Pearson; however, that advice was based on some manufacturing inconsistencies in the 1990s that resulted in boats in the 120 pound range that proved to just not have enough structural strength and rigidity. I ended up buying a 1991 Pearson built boat that weighed 134 pounds. There was a removable inspection plate in the boat that allowed me to determine that the boat interior was dry, the internal foam blocks (that are part of the boats hull rigidity) were all in place, and an external inspection suggested that there had not been any hull damage or leaks around hardware. I sailed the boat for 10 years, and it is still sailing today. In short, I don't think it is so much the manufacturer as it is the condition of a particular boat that is important.

[@tonysimi1776]

@@KingGroupProductions Thank you That helps. It is my understanding that all new sunfish are made in China? I will keep sailing my 46 Y/O AMF till I find one less abused!

[@kentblairl]

@@tonysimi1776 The latest Sunfish are being built in the UK. The remaining China built Sunfish in the LP warehouse should be sold by the end of the Spring.

[@ivandepasquale2717]

Mr. Steve, I would like to know the Sunfish evolution during time (for example how rudder or daggerboard changed from the beginning until to last models; the same for hull, and so on.) Could you suggest to me where to look for that information? I’ve appreciated a lot your video about Sunfish rigging. Thank you very much, Ivan

[@KingGroupProductions]

I think this link will give you the information you want: kb.sunfishforum.com/images/history/timeline.pdf

[@ivandepasquale2717]

@@KingGroupProductions Mr. Steve, first of all, many thanks for your prompt and exact reply to my inquiry. I'll study it line by line. I'm going to purchase a second-hand Sunfish, in Italy there aren't many selling announcements, so the choice isn't very large. As "alea iacta est", and as I'm sure there are some components not genuine and some of them added during time, I would like to understand and re-build the history of that Sunfish. Please, only another question: have you ever seen a AMF - Mares Sunfish? This is the label in front of the cockpit of Sunfish I'm going to purchase. I know that Mares is a good Italian brand of nautical components; but I have never seen or read anything about Mares united with the Sunfish, should I worry?

[@KingGroupProductions]

Ivan De Pasquale AMF was an authorized builder of Sunfish. Maras was probably the Italian selling agent.

[@ivandepasquale2717]

@@KingGroupProductions Please, as AMF is an American company, if possible, try to find, in the fistory of AMF, when there was the jont venture with Mares. Anyway, tank you for your help.

[@KingGroupProductions]

@@ivandepasquale2717 I don't know. Google Sunfish history.

[@joesalemi2414]

So the main sheet does not go behind his back with the tiller

[@rodrigoagudelo6418]

excelente, cuanto tiempo hace que navegas?, tengo 47 años de edad y hace dos años que estoy navegando, estoy negociando mi primera vela ligera. saludos

[@KingGroupProductions]

Gracias Rodrigo He navegado durante más de 40 años en grandes embarcaciones y botes. Hice el video hace unos años, cuando tenía unos 70 años. Buena suerte con tu búsqueda de un barco.

[@scotthackfort1679]

Great video! But I hope you make a new one with a stabalizer. :-D

[@KingGroupProductions]

What sort of stabilizer did you have in mind? In my professional video career I have used gyroscopic stabilizers for professional cameras; however, I am unaware of any waterproof versions of gyro stabilizers. Also, they tend to be heavy. I decided that an end of lower spar mounting with the a GoPro facing forward would be the best way to show how the sailor manages the sheet, tiller, and his body to tack the boat. So, to keep it simple I fashioned a mount consisting of a piece of PVC thin wall pipe sliced longitudinally to clamp on the lower spar with a piece of aluminum strap pop riveted to it and bent so that the camera could be mounted to it. The result was cheap and functional. The only downside is that there is a bit of springyness in the strap resulting in some occasional camera quiver. I considered that an acceptable compromise. Overall, I believe that I accomplished my objectives.

[@winniepayne291]

Very clear steps

[@chrisnurre5660]

Sunfish centerboard

[@pnotuner1]

You forgot to tell us to throw our butt to the other side of the boat.

[@KingGroupProductions]

I suggest if you throw your butt you (a) not throw it too far and, (b) keep it attached to the rest of you at all times.

[@frogsplease4165]

Yep, not gonna buy that boat I’ll never figure out.