The English have always been pretty proud of their boat building skills and rightfully so. From the battleships that lead them to be the world’s first super power and effectively rule the oceans for a long time to their success with racing boats, there’s something to be said for the craftiness of a people who live on a big island and their relationship to waterborne transport.
The video you will see below was made in 1958 and it shows the plant were little Birtish firefly racing dinghy boats were made and how they were made. The process is a really cool combo of ancient method and modern (for the time) technology. The materials have been used to build boats since the dawn of man. The ability to make them last longer and go faster are where the technology comes in. From watching the guys slide their creation in to what amounts a big autoclave to seeing them trimming bark basically by hand, there’s all kinds of neat stuff happening.
Every guy in this video is a craftsman in one way or another. We’re sure that robots do all this stuff now, if they do any of it at all. The Firefly has evolved over the years in design and performance but at base they are what they were in 1938 when first built. Little boats with little sails that are designed to be raced and to have fun in.
We aren’t much for sailing but we sure love seeing people make stuff and that’s what this is all about.
