History and Development

Fireball is unique: A high performance sailboat in which the one design features of hull, rig and sail plan have reamained unaltered since its inception and which may be amatuer built from plans without the use of any assembly jig.

With Peter Milne as designer, Jack Chippendales Master Builder, Bill Kempner as progenitor of the Class and the support of the Sponsors, Norris Brothers, Fireball was an immediate success. To Peter we owe the creation of Fireball, to Jack it technical development and to Bill the establishment of a World Wide Class organisation - Fireball International.

Fireball was designed and the prototype built by Peter Milne in 1960-61when he was working for Norris Brothers, the designers and builders of Donald Campbell's Bluebird. The original boat is in the Norris Museum and Fireball 2 has, after years of service recently been overhauled by Jack Chippendale who also produced the first professionally built Fireball.

The International Fireball was designed to meet a need - to bridge the gap between the small "family" centre boarders and the larger more expensive classes. The original Fireball had to fulfill the characteristics of cheapness to built and maintain, simplicity to build with many of them being amatuer built, unequalled performance potential for price and waterline length, and individual apperance of the class.

Peter Milne achieved his aims and in 1962 the Fireball was introduced to the world of yachting at the Spring Isle of Sheppey One-of-a-Kind Meeting where it was sailed by Peter Milne and Peter Cook. The Fireball recieved an enormous amount of interest which the unusual scow design created as it planed around the course at a rate of knots. Originally created without a spinnaker the performance of the Fireball to windward was particularly remarkable.

Without any sponsorship the class grew very rapidly and in 1966 the first world championships were held in England, with entrants from the UK, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, USA, South and East Africa, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

In 1968 the Spinnaker was internationally adopted. In 1969 the class was adopted as a National Class in Australia by the AYF and in 1969 the class was recomended by the IYRU for interanational status and approved in 1970. The class has been a close contender for Olympic Selection. It has established a world wide reputation for its high standard of yachting administration.

The first Fireball was sailed in Australia in 1963 and early the following year State Associations were formed. Also in 1964 a National body was formed - Fireball Association of Australia.

George Dawson introduced the first Fireball to Queensland in the early 1970s. George like many others in the class chose to build his own boat which he then sailed for many years at Lake Cootharaba. Since their introduction the Queensland, Fireballs have made lake Cootharaba Sailing Club their home. The club has hosted 5 National Fireball Championships and numerous State Championships.

Skipper and Crew