A day of firsts

After about an hour of upwind beats to Bear Island and downwind runs back to the docks at Sunset Island, my first day of sailing a sunfish became a day of multiple firsts. With a loud crack heard 200 yards away by staff sitting on the front steps of the lodge; the aluminum mast of the sunfish snapped... my first dismasting! Fortunately the only causality was the mast. I was able to gather the rigging and swim the boat back to the island. So after three years of slowly chipping away at repairs, we had approximately 90 minutes of sailing time and now we are back to repairs. Such is sailing.

TheSunfish lauch

Well we launched the Sunfish on a day with 20 knot winds the Josh Allen and I traded out on trips back and forth between Sunset Island and Bear Island. The downwind legs back to Sunset Island were a blast and the hull would plane out and skim across the water. Tacking back wind ward was definitely a learning experience. I flipped the boat once during this time.

A side project on the Sunset Island Sunfish

Above are some before and after shots of the restoration project on the Sunset Island Sunfish. The hull repairs are completed. Now I need to spend a little time on rigging repairs and then it will be time to head out for a sail on Chokoloskee Bay.