Dinghy sailing in the 1950s

[dunedin]

The title of the article relates specifically to Fireflies, but it includes some great old footage of many sailing dinghies and dayboats of the era - especially the third item linked to, an hour long film of sailing at Emsworth in the 50s. Never seen a deep reefed 505 before
Firefly dinghies in the 1950s

PS For clarity, it was before my time !

 

[johnalison]

Good stuff, though I've only seen the two Firefly films. It was not before my time and my father bought one for me in about 1955. Although I raced with the school and local sailing club I never had the ambition or time to take it to championships, but became reasonably adept. One difference from modern times is obvious in the film - you couldn't carry on after a capsize. Early Fireflies had cotton sails, as I did, and then terylene came in and this livened up the boat no end, allowing planing in even moderate conditions, which I was able to prove:

 

[The Q]

Here's film of the 1950s Norfolk broads, including racing on Wroxham broad. . It was a bit windier there today where we were racing in 30mph wind +

And this one at my summer club in Horning, this film is pre 1963.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Here's film of the 1950s Norfolk broads, including racing on Wroxham broad. . It was a bit windier there today where we were racing in 30mph wind +

And this one at my summer club in Horning, this film is pre 1963.

Excellent.
Tragic that leisure sailors no longer pack
a blazer and cravat when off cruising .

 

[johnalison]

It is a shame that people will probably never again be able to see the Broads in the state they were in from the '20s to the '60s before mass holidaying and the advent of plastic boats changed it. I can see that the Broads are still delightful, at least by modern standards, but in those days they had qualities that are now missing. There were no bright colours, for example, the boats being mostly brown or dull white paint, with the electric blues and dazzling whites completely absent. There was probably more wildlife and boat speed under motor possibly a bit slower, then limited to 4 mph in the northern broads. We generally took our holidays in April school holidays, so there were no fishermen and no-one thought of swimming.

I didn't wear a blazer and cravat, but may well have worn shirt and tie and taken my school mac. I have photos of me with a buoyancy aid when I was seven, but we never wore them after that.

 

[The Q]

Speed limits today are 4mph in moorings , through villages, and in environmentally sensitive areas. It can be 5 or 6 mph elsewhere. The current speed laws date from 1992, but they are little changed from when I started sailing here in 1980. There are no speed limits on Breydon water and on a designated water ski area on the river Yare.
The earliest reference to the introduction of speed limits on the broads I can find is 1968.

 

[johnalison]

Speed limits today are 4mph in moorings , through villages, and in environmentally sensitive areas. It can be 5 or 6 mph elsewhere. The current speed laws date from 1992, but they are little changed from when I started sailing here in 1980. There are no speed limits on Breydon water and on a designated water ski area on the river Yare.
The earliest reference to the introduction of speed limits on the broads I can find is 1968.

We didn’t need speed limits. The boats wouldn’t go any faster. Although we always had sailing boats as well, we slept on motor boats when I was young, usually the ‘Ring of Light’ class, sleeping six with a centre cockpit. The petrol engine was governed to deliver 4mph - I don’t remember knots being mentioned, but they were very manoeuvrable. When I was twelve I could turn these 36’ boats in their own length, such as in Thurne Dyke. All our Broads trips stayed in the northern Broads and we never went south of Acle bridge.

 

[Mark-1]

We didn’t need speed limits. The boats wouldn’t go any faster. Although we always had sailing boats as well, we slept on motor boats when I was young, usually the ‘Ring of Light’ class, sleeping six with a centre cockpit. The petrol engine was governed to deliver 4mph - I don’t remember knots being mentioned, but they were very manoeuvrable. When I was twelve I could turn these 36’ boats in their own length, such as in Thurne Dyke. All our Broads trips stayed in the northern Broads and we never went south of Acle bridge.

I'm loving these insights. Thanks for taking the trouble to share.