FIREFLY

The FIREFLY first saw light of day around 1937 when the Cambridge University Cruising Club asked Uffa for a club team racing boat. The class was born post war in 1947 when the YRA prompted Fairey Marine to use up all the wartime birch - warplanes into boats. The class received a big boost when it was chosen as the single hander for the Torbay Olympics.

Over the years the class has experienced a number of detail changes: agba replaced birch around boat number 650; GRP was introduced as an alterna tive hull material in 1967; the Reynolds masts (with wooden tops) were replaced by Proctor alloy in the early 1960s, this became fixed rather than rotating in 1970; Hyde became the sole sailmakers in 1972.

The class also continues to attract keen sailors of all ages (and weights) to well attended Opens and Championships (107 boats at the Fiftieth Nationals in 1996 at Restronguet). Wood and GRP boats race on equal footing - it has taken until 1997 for a GRP boat (built by Rondar) to win the National for the first time.

Uffa recounts the story of design of the Firefly in his 1959 book Sailing Boats.

Length Overall	12'-0''
Length WL	12'-0''
Beam Max	4'-7.75''
Draught	4'-0''
Sail Area (sq feet)	90
Displacement (lb)	550

The original plans as used by Fairey Marine are available:

Lines Plan

Hull Construction

Sail Plan

Mast Plan

 

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