Fireball (dinghy)

The Fireball is a British sailing dinghy that was designed by Peter Milne as a one-design racer and first built in 1962.

In the past the design has been built by Rondar Raceboats of the United Kingdom, Nautivela of Italy, Chippendale Boats in the UK and Duvoisin Nautique in France. Today it is built in the UK by both Weathermark Sailboats and Winder Boats. Over 125,000 boats have been completed.

The Fireball is a recreational racing sailboat, originally designed to be built of wood for the amateur builder. Today most new Fireballs are made predominantly of fibreglass.

It has a fractional sloop rig with aluminum spars. The hull is a single hard chine scow design, with a retractable centreboard, a vertical transom, a transom-hung, kick-up rudder controlled by a tiller, with a tiller extension for hiking out. The boat displaces 170 lb (77 kg) and can be equipped with a spinnaker and trapeze.

The boat has a draft of 4.00 ft (1.22 m) with the centreboard extended. With it retracted the boat can be beached or transported on a trailer or car roof rack.

The design has adopted changes over time. In 1966 construction of fibreglass was permitted. The use of a single crew trapeze was added in 1965. The sails and hull are controlled, but changes to the rigging are permitted and mast chocks and struts have been used in the past.

The design has a North American Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 85.6, with an RYA Portsmouth of 956. It is normally raced with a crew of two sailors.

The Fireball was granted International Yacht Racing Union international status in 1970.