Thirty two Firefly owners have already entered this year’s 60th Anniversary National Championship. The championship will be held at Abersoch in North Wales from 5-11 August and will provide a fitting birthday for this 12ft, two person, dinghy, often described as the “original manufacturers one design”.

With seven months to go until the start of the Race 1 the Class Association is confident that a 100 plus boat fleet will be on the water for the Nationals week.

The current entry list contains helms representing 15 different clubs with ages ranging from 14 to 72, and includes nine helmsmen new to National Championships – all signs of an extremely healthy class.

Five times championship winning helmsmen Stuart Hudson and Mike Arnold will be on the startline at Abersoch. The class is hoping to see the return of our other five time winner Dave Derby who has been drying out his legendary boat F999 “Alarm” in the garage for the last few years.

The Firefly class will also be running a series of 60th Anniversary parties across the country. These include Royal St George – Dublin (22-23 April), Thames/Tamesis (20-21 May), Itchenor (24-25 June), and the 60th Anniversary Dinner weekend at West Kirby (26-28 August).

For the full 2006 Firefly fixture list and more details of how to join the class on the water in this special year visit the class association website www.fireflysailing.co.uk.