Rigging my sunfish

P

Paul111

New Member
can anyone tell me the difference on rigging the boom on either side of the mast? Why do most people rig the boom on the port side? Or left side of the mast?
 
Port-side goosenecks put the halyard on the correct side for the fairlead (on the deck).
 
Mainly you'll have a lot of people tell you you're doing it wrong. It will work. It won't gain you anything really significant either way.
You'd have to adjust the gooseneck on the boom or it will try to spin your mainsheet blocks to the top and that doesn't work well.

Really they could have put the fairlead on the other side and trained everyone to do it left handed and everyone would have thought it was just fine.
 
Y'know, where I launch, there is always a prevailing breeze that favors "the other side". :confused:

Maybe I should switch over, and add a port-side fairlead? :cool:
 
Install a cleat on the starboard side of the mast (allowed by Sunfish Class race rules) and it won't matter which side you set the gooseneck on. Be sure to run the loose end of the halyard through the deck fairlead and cleat it loosely in the event you capsize the boat - you don't want to have the rig fall out of the boat.

Truth be known, with the standard rig (gooseneck on the starboard side) you don't gain much advantage from one tack to another so even if one tack is usually favored from your launch area, having the gooseneck one side or the other will not make much of a difference.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Alan S. Glos said:
Truth be known, with the standard rig (gooseneck on the starboard side) you don't gain much advantage from one tack to another so even if one tack is usually favored from your launch area, having the gooseneck one side or the other will not make much of a difference. Alan Glos Cazenovia, NY
Click to expand...
I neglected to write that when I'm seated on the dock, the Sunfish deck is below my feet! :confused:

From the dock, raising the mainsail and cleating it is difficult with the factory fairlead located where it is. :( (Given the prevailing wind).

That got fixed by lowering myself into the Sunfish, raising the main from the cockpit while drifting downwind—bypassing the cleat—and securing it with a new cam cleat added to the immediate-right of the cockpit. A new halyard had to be cut about three feet longer, but it has saved the day. :)
 
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