The oldest video footage of Cadet class racing dinghies
by Magnus Smith 22 Sep 2024 11:00 UTC
Cadet Week at Burnham in the 1950s © Yachting World
Our video archive is fully searchable, and updated weekly with the latest sailing videos, but here we look at early racing in the Cadet class. Jack Holt designed the hull in 1947 but we could only find footage from the late fifties onwards.
The oldest video we could find was a Fairey Marine promotional film. It features the Cadet at 1m29s if you want to skip ahead, or watch it all to see the Firefly, Finn, 505, Albacore, and a few more that didn't make it into the next decade.
This video from Teddington in 1955 covers the Merlin and Cadet classes on the Thames. Sadly it is just the briefest flash of a Cadet fleet we see at 4m39s.
From the end of the fifties, it is great to see Cadet Week at Burnham 1959 having 168 entries! Sail numbers have reached the 2000s. The personal buoyancy was not the greatest, but it was a great move to see it enforced.
Update: we later found Clontarf Easter Week Regatta (Dublin) 1960 which includes Cadets
Now we have three from the sixties to show you. The first may have the wrong location marked, so get in touch if you know better! Cadet class dinghies at Northampton runs for 4 minutes only - it is followed by some barge sailing.
Another silent medley here, with Cadet class at Parkstone YC, 1967 followed by less interesting harbour footage (after 1m58s). Sadly it is all rather blurry, but you can make out sail numbers in the 3000s.
The year is not known here, but the sail number is clear (CK 944 is at 2m23s) : West Kirby in the 1960s.
Now for the seventies! World Championships in Portugal, 1974 has a focus on the Australian crews attending. The jolly music will make you feel in vintage mode immediately. This video is nearly 19 minutes long, so has time to go into detail about the racing.
Out last video before everything went digital is the UK Nationals at Burnham, 1988. Adam May has done a wonderful job converting this from a VHS cassette with such high quality. The event attracted 140 boats to Essex and was won by Charlotte Neill and Ryan Lee.
What of the rest?
There must be earlier footage from the fifties, surely? Do you know the location of any other Cadet videos? We would love to share these with sailors worldwide. You can submit video links for immediate review.
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