Firefly dinghies in the 1950s
by Magnus Smith 17 Dec 2023 04:00 PST
Apart from one small boat and the warship (ahead and to leeward of the leaders) Torbay was all but empty of spectator craft and there isn't a coach boat to be seen © Torquay Library / Henshall
Our video archive is fully searchable, and linked to all the clubs and classes in our database. It is updated weekly with the latest videos of sailing, but here we delve into the past, and round-up everything that shows sailing in Firefly dinghies, since we have several good ones from the 1950s.
We start off with the oldest clip, which shows the Firefly National Championships at Torquay - the Gore Cup - in 1955
With a less precise date, this is general sailing in Emsworth during the 1950s which includes Firefly appearances - skip along to 10m40s, to see the best footage, which shows F1119 Salamander, until 13m25s. There is more Firefly racing action at approx 23 mins, 37 mins, and 41 mins too. At one point a small fleet shows sail numbers from 2 to 1523! The oldest of these had been used in the 1948 Olympics.
Towards the end of the decade the boat builders were getting very quick. See cold moulded veneer construction of a Firefly at Hamble in 1958 and marvel at how fast they can work. The baking of a boat in an oven, wearing rubber, is uncommon!
Finally we have a general news report from Herne Bay in 1959 which includes a full 5 minutes on the Firefly racing.
We cannot embed that video here, so please visit screenarchive.brighton.ac.uk/detail/11617 and skip to 19m30s (Firefly coverage ends at 24m17s) unless you like to hear about railway electrification and other local news.
What of the other decades?
Do you know the location of any Firefly videos from the 1940s, 60s or later? We would love to share these with other sailors. You can submit video links to us for immediate review.
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