boat buying flowchart

well, what are you waiting for?!

found via: @thequalifiedcaptain

sailing is an addiction

it’s miller time

Sunfish sailboats: the champagne of small sailboats.

for Sunfish sailor Bruce N., his interest in sailing started at a young age with a little help of a young lady:

One day a young female – 20ish, noticed that I wasn’t going in the water and took pity on a thirteen year old boy. From that moment on I knew I was in love. She had 13 foot EPS Snark. She took me out for about an hour sail and I knew I was hooked, sail is the only way to go! Later that summer the base offered sailing lessons, which I took. Unfortunately the girl and her Snark were never to be seen again.

Bruce’s introduction to the Sunfish sailboat came a few years later, when he was one of two winners to receive an entire Sunfish sailboat via a promotion by radio station WGRX in Baltimore. the caveat: the boat came with a branded sail, yellow in color, labeled “Miller Genuine Draft”.

photo by Bruce N.

[I was aware of several versions of branded Snark sailboat (Kool, Coke, 7Up, etc), but this is the 1st time I’ve seen a Sunfish with a branded sail.]

Bruce loved his free Sunfish – he called it “Free Breakfast”, and he car-topped it and sailed it all over the place to local lakes, rivers, and more. several times he has made the 250+ mile trip to participate in the long-distance Sunfish regatta – the Hampton Roads Sunfish Challenge. he finally broke down and got a trailer after 17 years of car-topping. over the years, he taught his children to sail with him, instilling in them the love of sailing as well.

photo by Bruce N.

portable dinghy: reverso air

there is a new(-ish) small dinghy on the market, with certainly a new twist – the sailboat hull is ultra-portable with the hull sections actually coming completely apart into 4 main pieces, so that the entire boat, sail, mast, and all rigging components can fit into the back of a car.

photo via Reverso website

the reverso air is built in France, so getting one the USA might be difficult/costly unless there is a local dealer, but if you are looking for a performance sailboat that can be easily transported and stored away in a corner closet, this may be the boat for you.

here is a neat little video showing how the 4 hull sections connect together, and how quickly you can set the entire boat up and have it ready to sail in less than 2 minutes.

back in 2018, Sail-World called it “the boat of the future“:

The four nested modules are assembled and locked rigidly together in a few moments to become a very modern, sporty performance dinghy. In all, it takes less than three minutes – without tools – to turn these parts into an elegant dinghy. It is responsive and fun and is easily a match for some of the latest dinghies from the big builders and uses some of the latest offshore design technology.

for simplicity of setup and rigging, it probably can’t be beat. I’d be curious how the hull joints will hold up to long-term use – it’d be killer trying to reconnect those pieces if the hull joints separated while out in deep water.

for now, I’ll probably just still my good ol’ Sunfish. simple and easy to use, reliable, and it is easy to find used Sunfish on craigslist, FB marketplace, or similar.

you can see more pictures and video at the Reverso instagram.

erie open regatta

the Erie Open Regatta is coming up in a few weeks – June 5th and 6th at Erie Yacht Club in Erie, PA.

This Sunfish regatta may not be a District Championship or a World Qualifier, but come sail anyway at one of the nicest venues on the Great Lakes!

official notice of race is here.

choose something fun

h/t: Latitudes & Attitudes magazine