UK Firefly National Championship

Date   August 25 - August 31 2012

Who sails ?   2 person dinghy 

During 1938 sailors connected to Oxford and Cambridge Universities asked Uffa Fox to design a dinghy similar to the National 12, but one design and more suitable for team racing. Uffa completed this design in 1939 and called it the Sea Swallow. Then came the war and nothing happened.

During this time Colin Chichester-Smith, who was a director of the Fairey Aviation Company, often thought about a production dinghy based on the principles used for the manufacture of wooden Mosquito aircraft fuselages, which were formed on a mould and cured by electrically heated bands holding the laminate in position.

At the Firefly's 50th anniversary National Championship the first plug from Rondar Raceboats was seen. In 1997 they took over production of the boats. As with all good one design's, subtle evolutionary changes are made to keep the boats relevant, and this was no exception. Buoyancy was increased and the mast height was increased very slightly in 1997. This negated two of the Firefly's bad points in one go, allowing novice sailors to sail without worry of sinking, and larger crews to sail the boats comfortably.

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