Firefly
Designed by Uffa Fox in 1946 the one design Firefly is a 3.66m long sitting out dinghy and has a mainsail and jib. It was originally constructed from three layers of hot moulded wooden ply, in a similar way to the famous de Havilland Mosquito aeroplane.
This means that each hull is very strong and durable - so much so that wooden boats more than 40 years old regularly win club events, open meetings and the national championships.
Now completely updated for the 21st century, new boats are built by Rondar Raceboats in glass reinforced plastic. 53 new boats were sold in 1999 and the class continues to attract very large open meeting (30+) and national championship entries (70+).
It is relatively lightweight at 74kg, highly manoeuvrable on the water and easy to handle ashore.
Fireflys are also universally recognised as the best team racing boats because they handle so well, and are used by many universities and schools for this purpose.
The Firefly is usually raced by a crew of 2 and optimum crew weight is between 110 - 150kg (17.5 - 23.5 stones). It can also be sailed singlehanded and was the first Olympic singlehanded class.
A new Rondar GRP Firefly costs about £4000. The latest sail number is 3682. It is virtually maintenance free and easy to tune.
Good competitive wooden boats can be bought for between £500 - £1000. As with any wooden boat they require a degree of care and maintenance to remain in optimum condition but if this is carried out they will remain competitive almost indefinitely. New sails cost about £450 and other spares are relatively inexpensive and freely available.