A permit was required to keep it in VB, and mine read "58th-60th St Only." To sail her I would carry the sail spars, rudder, daggerboard and lifejacket down to the boat, untie it from the fence and then drag the whole boat down to the water's edge. Rigging the Sailfish was easy, and getting through the waves became second nature. As you can see, there is no cockpit at all, which let waves wash right over it. I would often sail out of sight of land, and at least once swam in the deepest, most remote water I could find, which was about three miles out and forty feet deep or so.
Eventually, I left Virginia Beach to attend Christchurch School in Saluda, Virginia. I took the Sailfish with me, and often sailed as part of the Christchurch Sailing Team in the Rappahannock River near the Chesapeake Bay. After I left to go to college, Bobby turned the boat over to a friend's son, and I moved on to other boats. I owe Bobby a huge debt of gratitude for introducing me to sailing.
6 comments:
Nice post, Chris. I didn't know you had such a long history of sailing. I also like the contrast in photos - I think that yellow bikini girl forgot to put on her lifejacket.
I had never seen a Sailfish before; I didn't know they made no-cockpit boats like this. How deep is the hull? Be prepared to get wet when going for a sail on one of these I see. It's almost like a sailboard, with a hull, in my mind. Though I don't suppose you can do jumps and tricks on it, too much displacement to hydroplane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsurfing
I once tried to windsurf on Jordan Lake in 1990 with the UNC Outing Club, and I was unable to even balance on the board and pull the sail vertical without falling off.
Keep up the good blogging work.
Glad you enjoyed the post, Mike. She only draws about six inches, but the daggerboard adds another two feet or so. you always get wet, and frequently she drives under green water. she planes beautifully, mainly because she surfs well. For example, as I approach the beach, I select a two or three foot wave to ride, and the wave takes over. Literally surfing on the wave, the apparent wind is directly forward, so the sails luff, and the boat planes straight toward the beach. This is really the best part for a thirteen year old boy. I took girls out on the boat. Dolphin swim close to see the sailboat. Sigh.
I learned two things about you from this story that I didn't know before. That you went to school (high?) in Saluda, about 20 minutes from where my mom and dad live. Oh yeah, the other thing is you have (had?) a brother. I knew you had a sister,never heard nothin bout this here brother. Nice work posting the vintage photo, did you use a scanner?
I don't know a damn thing about boats, but what a striking Instamatic of you and your stepbrother!
This old photo was in my oldest photo album, and I held it up under a lamp and snapped the best digital picture I could. I am not sure who took it, possibly Bobby, or possibly a young friend from his Laser. Thanks for the recognition of the unusual photo, it is tough to get a photo of yourself sailing from another boat!
I grew up racing small sailboats in Wisconsin, Class X and C Scows, but my most enjoyable sailing was on our Sailfish. Incredibly easy to rig, we would take it out in the heaviest wind and just fly through the waves. We tipped her, turned turtle so we could swim off it her. Nothing better! My favorite boat!
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