Dear Truesdale Sunfish Sailors and Aspiring Sailors,
Truesdale Lake Sunfish race buoys are out — and the course is ready to go. All we need are sailors!
The typical Truesdale Sunfish Fleet #27 season consists of a 10-week series over the summer and a special one-time race “The President’s Cup” on Labor Day Monday (weather permitting).
We run two races every Sunday starting at 1:30pm from the start of summer through Labor day (Sunday, Jul 3 – Sunday, Sept 4, 2022).
“Preseason” practices were in June to give everyone a chance for a shakedown cruise.
We score the two races and add up only the best 10 races for each sailor, dropping their lowest point races. This means you don’t need to race every week to be competitive, and if you improve during the season your early scores don’t count.
These races are strictly for local fun and challenge — very low pressure. We don’t report results anywhere but here. Beginners and kids welcome and encouraged — and they usually pick it up pretty quickly.
The races starting line is off the dock of 43 Truesdale Lake Drive which is just north of the southernmost island on the lake (aka “Pirate Island”). Look for the pair of blue and white buoys that make the start line. And check the sailing race buoy chart at the bottom of this post.
More information about the series, rules, and scoring is available on the Truesdale Lake website: http://truesdalelake.com/boats/sunfish-fleet-27/
The Truesdale Sunfish Fleet #27 is one of the oldest in the world. The Sunfish was designed and developed by Alcort, Inc. not far from here in Waterbury, CT.
Truesdale Lake was one of the early lakes that the Sunfish design was tested on before going into production in the mid-1950s. The fleet numbers are sequentially handed out, so #27 is a very old fleet number designation. Current fleet numbers for new sunfish fleets are in the 800+ range now.
Check some Sunfish history in this article: Sunfish at sixty: Most popular boat ever still keeps them busy at Portsmouth plant.
Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in joining us.
Many of our regular sailors have extra boats and can lend one out if given enough lead time to get it rigged and ready.
We can also help with beginning sailors pre-race. Please get in touch before race day — and come a bit early to see the start area.
Hope to hear from you or see you out there!
— Ira Sanchick, Sunfish Fleet #27 Commodore
