Australian Sailfish
Description
The Australian Sailfish is a classic, single-handed sailing dinghy designed specifically for amateur builders and competitive racing in Australia. It's a lightweight, centerboard monohull with a utilitarian design that prioritizes performance, simplicity, and affordability. Developed in the late 1950s, it draws loose inspiration from the American Sailfish (a board-boat style dinghy by Alcort, Inc.), but the Australian version features a stayed Bermuda rig and scow-like hull for better stability and speed in local conditions. The class was popular in Australian yacht clubs during the 1960s–1980s, with over 780 sets of plans sold, leading to hundreds of boats built. Though the formal class associations dissolved by the late 1980s, interest persists through enthusiast groups, with ongoing restorations and new builds. Full-size plans and construction notes are freely available online for download.
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 13.50 ft |
| e | 7.67 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 13.50 ft | 7.67 ft | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Blueprints
Sails
| Sail Type | MAINSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 13.5 ft - (4115 mm) |
| Foot | 7.67 ft - (2338 mm) |
| Leech | * 14.05 ft - (4282 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 79.42 ° |
| Diagonal | 14.25 ft - (4343 mm) |
| Head (inches) | 4 in - (102 mm) |
| Area | * 52.78 ft² |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.