READER BOAT: AMF Sunbird, Lusty Slogger

On May 1, 2009, while riding my beloved Triumph Bonneville motorcycle on Interstate 40 in Asheville NC, I was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer rig.

- Norman Stringfield

After spending several weeks in the hospital with various broken bones and only partial use of my left arm, I decided—after a 15-year hiatus—it was time to return to my other “first love,” sailing.

A year later, with most of the trauma behind me and armed with a reasonable settlement from the trucker’s insurance company, I started looking for a small sailboat I could single-hand…with only a single hand. I looked on Craigslist, Knoxville TN, and saw an ad for a Sunfish for $700. While I wasn’t really in the market for a board boat, the price was right and I’d started my sailing career on such boats. I made arrangements to view the boat and discovered it wasn’t a Sunfish at all, but a 1979 Sunbird 16—a far different creature.

The Sunbird, also marketed by AMF, is 16 feet long with a small cuddy cabin and a rather large cockpit. The boat came with a trailer and, although dirty, was in fairly good shape. It did have a patch on the stem at the waterline, but I was told the boat had been sailed several times since the patch, without issues. Further, since the boat was full of water I reasoned it did not appear to leak. So, concluding I’d rather have this boat than a Sunfish, two days later the boat was behind my truck en route to my office. I christened her the Lusty Slogger (formerly Judy) and prepared for launch day.