The interior of a Fairey MkI. Note the lack of buoyancy with the short side tanks and small bow tank. The English were very concerned post-war about the open character of the International 14 and rewarding seamanship in a breeze. A capsize put you out of the race.
This post was prompted by an online article on Fairey Marine, written by English dinghy historian, David Henshall. Fairey Marine, an English company known as Fairey Aviation during World War II, would pivot post war and produce a vast array of dinghies, built using the hot-molded autoclave method, most of them designed by Uffa Fox. They built International 14's, starting in 1949, and continued to bring out new Marks through the 1950's (approximately a new Mark every year), and these Fairey 14's were a major player in the history of the International 14 in North America. (As an aside, I started my 14 career crewing on a Fairey MkV, as a skinny teenager, before the trapezes came in.)
Fairey Marine 14 International 14 - Original Design
The Fairey 14 started life as an Uffa Fox ‘Martlet’ design which Stewart Morris had won the 1947, 1948, and the 1949 POW’s (K 507). However starting with the MkI from the Martlet mold, the Fairey dinghy brain trust would continuously modify this design through 10 marks, with the Fairey MkX coming out around 1960. The history is very hazy on who was responsible for the modifications, but it is agreed that Charles Currey was the primary designer, and possibly Alan Vines and Alan Burnard also had some input. Even though the Fairey Marine International 14 is commonly attributed to Uffa Fox, if we want to be historically accurate, at some point, maybe starting with the Fairey MKIII, with the design sufficiently removed from the original, we should attribute the later Marks to Charles Currey.
1949 - Fairey Marine sends a Works Team to Barnstorm North America
Charles Currey and Tony Warrilow racing "Sunrise", a Fairey MkI, in Bermuda, the last leg of their 1949 North American tour (From Tom Vaughn's International 14 historical tome)
In what is probably the first known factory works team in the history of sailboat racing, Charles Currey with crew Tony Warrilow, in the original Fairey MkI, Sunrise, made a North American International 14 racing tour in the summer of 1949 (Montreal for the Canadian Championship, Essex, Connecticut for the Connecticut Cup, and Bermuda). Charles Currey won in all three regattas. (Not an overall win for the CDA but he did win the long distance race, the Viscount de Tunis Alexander cup.) His crew, Tony Warrilow, was described as a 'Tarzan' and the Fairey MkI was potent when power-reaching, going up against the older Douglas and McLeod Uffa Alarm and the 1947 and 1949 Bourke's that made up the early post WWII fleet in North America. (This is pure speculation on my part but I wouldn't be surprised that government sponsorship was involved in this tour. The English government was very eager to get their war-ravaged economy back on it's feet, particularly looking to jump start exports to North America.)
1951 - George O'Day starts his famous boatbuilding company by importing Fairey Marine dinghies.
It would take two years but the Fairey Marine finally got their U.S. importer when George O’Day started his company, George O’Day and Associates, by importing Fairey Marine hot-molded dinghies, specifically the International 14, the Firefly, and the Jollyboat. Initially around ten Fairey MkI 14’s were purchased around the Boston area and a loosely connected New England fleet formed. George O'Day was to become a top competitor in the International 14's in the 1950's. (And would win the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal in the 5.5 class at the Naples Olympics.)
From these humble beginnings, as an importer of English hot-molded dinghies, George O'Day and Associates would morph into the largest fiberglass small boat manufacturer in the U.S. during 1960's.
"During this period it [George O'Day and Associates] was purportedly the largest builder of sailboats in the U.S. It employed 350 people, had 450 dealers, grossed $15 million a year, and sold more than 70,000 boats in all."[George O'Day by Dan Spurr, Good Old Boat, May 2002]
