FIREFLIES. Courtesy Fairey Marine, Ltd. 



FIREFLY 



This was the boat in which Paul Elvstrom sailed and won in the 1948 

 Olympics, before he continued his winning ways in the Finn Monotype, 

 which replaced the Firefly in Olympic racing. The 12-foot Firefly, designed 

 by Uffa Fox, had its origin in England and in 1946 was sponsored by the 

 British Royal Yachting Association as a planing dinghy ideal for a crew 

 of two with a total weight of 260 pounds. There are now about three thou- 

 sand in the world with a fairly steady annual increase of about a hundred 

 and fifty; four hundred is the number estimated to be in the United States. 

 Their principal saiHng areas are the United Kingdom; British Service Gar- 

 risons throughout the world; the East Coast and the Great Lakes in the 



76 



THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



