The Firebug is a class of

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats - usually for fun, learning necessary sailing skills (often also within family), and competition. RYA lists Five essentials of sailing dinghies as: * The sails * The hydrofoil, foils (i.e. t ...

that was designed by John Spencer and Peter Tait of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand in 1995. It is a 2.4 m (8 foot) long sailing dinghy designed to be built quickly and easily by builders with no previous experience of boatbuilding. A detailed report was published in Watercraft Magazine.

Construction

The Firebug is constructed on a rigid jig with 6 timber stringers and a centerline web. The flat bottom is 600 mm wide and is made from 9 mm marine plywood. The sides, bilge panels bulkheads and deck are cut from 2.5 panels of 4 mm marine plywood. The minimum weight of the completed hull is 40 kg (sometimes cited as 27 kg). To highlight the straightforward construction, a Firebug was built live at the 2008 Sydney International Boat Show.

Rig

The deck stepped mast is supported by shrouds and a forestay and rotates on a pin at the step. To allow adults to sail Firebugs comfortably, the design brings the sheet down from the boom in front of the centerboard box allowing greater space for the sailor.

Sailing

Firebugs have 4.5 sq m sail area. This compares with 3.3 for the

Optimist Optimism is the attitude or mindset of expecting events to lead to particularly positive, favorable, desirable, and hopeful outcomes. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled with water to the halfway poin ...

junior training dinghy. This 50% greater sail area means that Firebugs are raced by adults as well as graduates from Optimists and other classes. Unusually among modern dinghy designs, the rig is provided with reef points to allow lighter or less experienced sailors to continue to participate, when stronger winds are forecast. A key to the success of the Firebug is its capacity to recover from a capsize and continue racing. This is achieved by the placement of the buoyancy tanks so that water drains out of the cockpit as the boat is righted from a capsize. Despite its small size, the Firebug will easily

plane Plane most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface * Plane (mathematics), generalizations of a geometrical plane Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane ...

carrying an adult.

Class organisation

The class is administered and support is provided to builders from the class's office in

Russell, New Zealand Russell () is a town in the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand's far north. It was the first permanent European settlement and seaport in New Zealand. History Māori settlement Before the arrival of the Europeans, the area now known as Russ ...

. Sails, masts and rigging packages are dispatched to builders across the world.

Reception

The first Firebug was built in 1988. Since then, active fleets have been established in Australia and New Zealand and over 1,000 boats have been built in places as diverse as Malta, Samoa and Georgia on the Black Sea. In Australia, a community group arranged for a group of teenagers who were at risk of leaving school early to build a FireBug for their stand at the 2008 Sydney International Boat Show. The New Zealand

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

funds schools to build FireBugs for the full cost of the boat, plus an extra 5% to allow for tools.

References

{{reflist

External links

New Zealand Head Office

Australian Class site

YouTube video of Firebug planing
Dinghies Sailboat types built in New Zealand