My Other Love Affair...Sunfish!

My Other Love Affair…

I can still remember my first voyage at 10 years old. The campground in Myrtle Beach, SC had a small lake and our family friend’s teenage son took me out on their recently purchased Sunfish. While the ‘teenage son’ certainly held some interest, sailing was the star attraction and I was all in!

Now many decades later, I can still remember that first feeling of freedom, possibility and adventure. The adventure part was definitely pretty high and in retrospect I find it interesting that our parents let us do this.

To my knowledge my skipper was not a particularly seasoned sailor and this lake came complete with alligators which we saw up close and personal each time we ventured out! Luckily, I guess he knew enough as he kept us upright and safe from the alligators for many a sail that week.

Over the years I’ve been on boats large and small as crew and skipper but the Sunfish remains one of my favorite rides, simply for its high fun to low effort ratio. And, as someone who wants to get to the fun part fast, and appreciates the option to fully use my skills or just sail and do a little sightseeing etc., I say this shamelessly.

Developed in the early 1950’s, Wikipedia describes the Sunfish as a “personal-size, beach-launched sailing dinghy.” Its simple design includes a single sail on an un-stayed mast, with one control line as well as a straight forward rudder/tiller combination (for steering) and daggerboard, (for stability) making it relatively fast and easy to set-up and store away at the end of the day.

This basic design also makes it straightforward to sail and for over 50 years it has been one of the most popular choices for casual sailors and a great teaching boat used in many Learn to Sail programs including Lake Mohawk Yacht Club’s own Junior and Adult sailing classes. That said, there are also many ways to further equip and fine tune a Sunfish for performance and it continues to be a highly popular and competitive racing class worldwide. LMYC has a Sunfish fleet that has had their own class races over the years and all Lake Mohawk Sunfish are welcome at the club’s three open class regattas held each season.

If you are reading this and thinking wow, this boat sounds pretty versatile, it is! Lake, bay, sound, or harbor, the Sunfish can get around. And it is fun in all of these settings. My husband John and I have spent many enjoyable hours tacking and planing on Nantucket Sound and a variety of lakes including our own back yard Lake Mohawk. For anyone who has ever looked out at a sailboat on the lake and thought wow that looks fun, I highly recommend our adult or junior sailing programs. There isn’t anything quite like wind power to take you to new places literally and figuratively.

The LMYC will be offering group and private sailing lessons again this year on Sunfish and Snipe sailboats. Group classes for ages 10-16 will be held in July, and private lessons for any age can be arranged whenever weather and schedules permit.

Get all your questions answered about the Yacht Club and our sailing lessons on our website:

LakeMohawkSailing.org, or email: LakeMohawkSailing@gmail.com.