Don't be disparaging the Sunfish. It's been around 62 years.
I'm sure we've all seen some pretty whacked-out boats out on the water... But the smiling sailor tells the story...
Speaking of which, I was out on the lake yesterday zipping around when I saw a sail off in the distance, downwind, so I popped the kite and went on down there to see who it was (I rarely see another sailboat out on my lake). As I got closer, it looked like an Opti....but the sail was wrong. When I got really close, I could see it was something like an Opti on steroids, with a gaff rig, but much larger than the Opti, and a wooden mast/boom/gaff that looked more like a Sunfish setup. It had lee boards instead of a dagger board. It looked pretty crude, was obviously a homebuilt.
I did a fly-by, 20 feet away, fast on one hull, then snuffed the kite, turned back up wind to catch him and to see... "w.t.f. it that?"
He said it's some kind of Pram (said the name but I don't recall) and yes, he built it, for his daughter. He had a lot of questions about my boat (How FAST does that thing go?!) and said he was sailing across the lake to meet up with his daughter at a beach party on the other side. I told him I'd be happy to take them both out on my boat sometime and bid him farewell.
He was smiling when I showed up, and when I left, and loving his boat.
Doesn't matter how fast or slow it is, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or builder in this case!).
