Description
The Flying Fish, a nimble 14-foot fiberglass daysailer designed by Carter Pyle for youth and family recreation, debuted in 1970 under the production of Alcort Inc.—later acquired by AMF—in Waterbury, Connecticut, as a step up from the Sunfish with its innovative cat rig featuring a rotating fiberglass mast and a massive 120-square-foot fully battened mainsail that prioritized power and simplicity over a jib, making it ideal for two-person crews honing hiking and tacking skills in moderate winds. Displacing just 150 pounds with a beam of 5 feet 4 inches and a shallow 6-inch board-up draft, the Flying Fish boasted exceptional stability and planning speed thanks to its hard-chined hull and low freeboard, earning quick popularity in East Coast fleets for pond and lake racing where its no-fuss setup—rigged in under five minutes—and durable construction appealed to beginners seeking Sunfish-like thrills with added room for a crew or picnic gear. Produced through the mid-1970s alongside siblings like the Minifish, the model fostered informal class associations for regional regattas, though its single-sail demands and occasional mast track issues (often fixed with epoxy) contributed to a niche following rather than mass adoption; by the 1980s, as Lasers dominated youth racing, production ceased around 1976, but surviving examples—over 1,000 built—remain beloved by vintage sailors today, restored with custom sails from lofts like North or Quantum, evoking the era's unpretentious joy of boundary-pushing daysailing on a trailerable budget that bridged casual fun and competitive edge.
