5
As well as these events there have been lots of organized racing from both the Royal
Lymington and Royal Solent Yacht Clubs. The profile of Folkboat racing has been
promoted by regular reports in Yachts and Yachting and I would like to thank Chris
Baldwick for organizing this.
This year there is a drive to get more Folkboats to enter the Cowes Classic Week. I am
told this is a good event, much less complicated to compete in than Cowes Week and,
I believe James Hoare is going to tell you about it later in the meeting.
While we in the Western Solent think that Nordic Folkboat racing revolves round those
clubs here, we must not forget that there are Folkboats at Hamble where there is
the potential for a new fleet to be formed, as well as, Cowes, Poole, Chichester and
Falmouth.
Folkboats continue to make long passages with a GRP Nordic, Ariel having returned to
the UK after crossing the Atlantic and is currently having a refit with Tony Smee.
I would like to thank our secretary Tony Blachford for all he has done over the last
year, we now have a new e-Yearbook which I think works well. Tony has also worked
with John Tudor to give us a much better database of our membership. I would like to
thank John for all the help he gave us.
There have been some changes to the International Folkboat Regulations affecting
Nordic Folkboats and in the report from our technical chairman, David Gredley, these
it will be outlined.
This year is the 75th anniversary of the Nordic Folkboat and this is being celebrated
at the Gold Cup in Kerteminde from the 5th and 10th of August. I think Ed Donald is
taking Madelaine and Simon Osgood is taking So! We wish them both well.
This year is also the San Francisco Cup with the UK being allocated 1 place to attend.
At present there is one possible entry but we have until mid-April to let them know, it’s
a great event and I hope we can find a team to represent us.
I wish you all a great sailing season.
Secretary’s Report - Tony Blachford
Member numbers are, gradually declining as in previous years. Last year was unusual
owing to the large number of entries in 50th Folkboat week, and the requirement for
helmsmen to be members. Membership is currently running at just over 210, though
this figure could be “politically massaged”, as currently only paid subscriptions are
counted, ignoring the fact that a family member may have many member children,
without the commensurate increase in subscription.
The website has been something of a breakthrough this year, with the Chairman and
Secretary, going to “school” for half a day to learn the workings from the Developer,
which proved to be invaluable, as previously, the system was unworkable. A downside
is that some lowlife hacker, chose to attack our site at a critical time, just before Folkboat
