Amfab
Member
I just wanted to relay my experience with a Minifish I just bought because it is such a blast—and compare it to the Sunfish if anyone is interested.
Both boats are mid-70s.
The Minifish is incredibly easy to toss around, load on a car, throw on a trailer, and pull up on a beach—much easier than the Sunfish. I mostly sail my Sunfish by myself at a place my friend has down on the east coast of Baja—he likes to fish; I like to sail. The ease of getting it down to the beach and in and out of the water by myself was the main reason I decided to by the Minifish.
The Minifish is VERY zippy. The first time I took her out the wind was about 14-15kts and I yanked in the main sheet and it took off so fast it almost threw me. I was used to the mass of the Sunfish. My friends were floating in the water nearby and they both were like “WOAH!” because it took off so fast.
I must have flipped it three times in the first hour. It is extremely easy to right. The main reason I kept flipping it was that after I bought it I polished and waxed the hull really well, and it was so slippery that If I came about quickly I would slip and slide across the deck as I moved and that would throw off the balance of the boat. I would tumble a little into the well and I would lose control—it was all incredibly fun in the Sea of Cortez in 80 degree water.
The Gulf of California does not have the big swells of the Pacific but there was some decent sized chop and the hull porpoised a bit through the whitecaps, it handled it very well, but the point of the bow would go under now and then. This was interesting to me because the Sunfish would have planed over the swells in the same situation. 15kts. seems a little much for the boat for a relaxing sail but it is incredibly fun.
I took the Sunfish out right afterwards to compare the feel of the two boats back-to-back. The Sunfish felt much more at home in those winds. It would not take off quite as fast, but it felt a bit faster once up to speed.
The Sunfish was definitely not as influenced by shifting weight (I am about 210). This is a good and a bad thing. It makes the Sunfish more comfortable, especially in winds above 10 kts., but because of the small sizing and weight of the Minifish, sometimes it only required leaning forward or backward to balance the boat’s position, rather than folding out the tiller extension and moving my whole body forward or backwards. This makes it easier to surf the hull when running downwind with the swells. I think I probably could outrun a Sunfish in the Minifish in a following sea because of this.
I am in my late 50s and 6ft, and I will say that the seating position of the Sunfish is much more comfortable. My knees were aching a bit after the Minifish runs—crouching down then almost standing up on the vertical side of the cockpit as I tried to keep her flat, then having to squat and crouch as I came about, sort of like a moving yoga class, except I don’t do yoga so I am not that flexible. The Sunfish was a physical relief after an hour on the Minifish in those winds. Some of this was probably because the Sunfish was not freshly waxed so I was not sliding around as much, but the cockpit is deeper and larger. It is easier to find comfortable positions to brace yourself in the Sunfish. The shallow cockpit of the Minifish is definitely less comfortable, I feel like I am squatting more than sitting most of the time. It is like half sailing and half surfing-feeling sometimes.
The next day the wind settled down a bit. It was 10–12kts most of the day, so I put the Sunfish rig on the Minifish to see how she handled. I was surprised because I thought that would make her feel a bit more tweak-ey with the extra sq. ft. of sail. Instead I found the boat felt a little more solid. It may have been a combination of my adjustable gooseneck giving me trouble and having a little more sail out-front of the mast than I would have liked, and maybe the little extra weight of the rig up high added a little inertia to dampen the side-to-side weight changes of me sliding around. The saltwater from the day before had takin the edge off the high gloss of the fresh wax too, that may have helped.
Overall my impressions were that the Minifish is definitely more exciting minute by minute, but also more tiring. When I go to Baja for a few days at a time, I usually take the Sunfish out in front of the house and play around in a half mile radius two or three times a day, then at least once a day I will head up or down the coast a mile or two. Now with the Minifish, I think she will be the play-in-front-of-the-house boat, because I cannot see taking her on many long sails—but zipping around in the warm water and playing near the surf line is so much fun. Also, there is nowhere to put anything in the Minifish, I can toss some drinks and stuff in the Sunfish. The Minifish seems happy to toss the drinks and stuff out.
They are both great boats—definitely similar in ways, but each has a very distinct character.
I would be curious if others have similar impressions.
-Andrew
Both boats are mid-70s.
The Minifish is incredibly easy to toss around, load on a car, throw on a trailer, and pull up on a beach—much easier than the Sunfish. I mostly sail my Sunfish by myself at a place my friend has down on the east coast of Baja—he likes to fish; I like to sail. The ease of getting it down to the beach and in and out of the water by myself was the main reason I decided to by the Minifish.
The Minifish is VERY zippy. The first time I took her out the wind was about 14-15kts and I yanked in the main sheet and it took off so fast it almost threw me. I was used to the mass of the Sunfish. My friends were floating in the water nearby and they both were like “WOAH!” because it took off so fast.
I must have flipped it three times in the first hour. It is extremely easy to right. The main reason I kept flipping it was that after I bought it I polished and waxed the hull really well, and it was so slippery that If I came about quickly I would slip and slide across the deck as I moved and that would throw off the balance of the boat. I would tumble a little into the well and I would lose control—it was all incredibly fun in the Sea of Cortez in 80 degree water.
The Gulf of California does not have the big swells of the Pacific but there was some decent sized chop and the hull porpoised a bit through the whitecaps, it handled it very well, but the point of the bow would go under now and then. This was interesting to me because the Sunfish would have planed over the swells in the same situation. 15kts. seems a little much for the boat for a relaxing sail but it is incredibly fun.
I took the Sunfish out right afterwards to compare the feel of the two boats back-to-back. The Sunfish felt much more at home in those winds. It would not take off quite as fast, but it felt a bit faster once up to speed.
The Sunfish was definitely not as influenced by shifting weight (I am about 210). This is a good and a bad thing. It makes the Sunfish more comfortable, especially in winds above 10 kts., but because of the small sizing and weight of the Minifish, sometimes it only required leaning forward or backward to balance the boat’s position, rather than folding out the tiller extension and moving my whole body forward or backwards. This makes it easier to surf the hull when running downwind with the swells. I think I probably could outrun a Sunfish in the Minifish in a following sea because of this.
I am in my late 50s and 6ft, and I will say that the seating position of the Sunfish is much more comfortable. My knees were aching a bit after the Minifish runs—crouching down then almost standing up on the vertical side of the cockpit as I tried to keep her flat, then having to squat and crouch as I came about, sort of like a moving yoga class, except I don’t do yoga so I am not that flexible. The Sunfish was a physical relief after an hour on the Minifish in those winds. Some of this was probably because the Sunfish was not freshly waxed so I was not sliding around as much, but the cockpit is deeper and larger. It is easier to find comfortable positions to brace yourself in the Sunfish. The shallow cockpit of the Minifish is definitely less comfortable, I feel like I am squatting more than sitting most of the time. It is like half sailing and half surfing-feeling sometimes.
The next day the wind settled down a bit. It was 10–12kts most of the day, so I put the Sunfish rig on the Minifish to see how she handled. I was surprised because I thought that would make her feel a bit more tweak-ey with the extra sq. ft. of sail. Instead I found the boat felt a little more solid. It may have been a combination of my adjustable gooseneck giving me trouble and having a little more sail out-front of the mast than I would have liked, and maybe the little extra weight of the rig up high added a little inertia to dampen the side-to-side weight changes of me sliding around. The saltwater from the day before had takin the edge off the high gloss of the fresh wax too, that may have helped.
Overall my impressions were that the Minifish is definitely more exciting minute by minute, but also more tiring. When I go to Baja for a few days at a time, I usually take the Sunfish out in front of the house and play around in a half mile radius two or three times a day, then at least once a day I will head up or down the coast a mile or two. Now with the Minifish, I think she will be the play-in-front-of-the-house boat, because I cannot see taking her on many long sails—but zipping around in the warm water and playing near the surf line is so much fun. Also, there is nowhere to put anything in the Minifish, I can toss some drinks and stuff in the Sunfish. The Minifish seems happy to toss the drinks and stuff out.
They are both great boats—definitely similar in ways, but each has a very distinct character.
I would be curious if others have similar impressions.
-Andrew