Page 11 - Folk Boat Year Book 2022

By 1939 the RTI fleet had grown to 80 entries but then the Postponement Flag had to
be displayed until 1946 when racing once again resumed.

Meanwhile in 1941, while most of Europe was immersed in the Second World War,
Sweden was neutral. The Royal Swedish Sailing Association held a competition to
design a new keelboat which attracted 58 designs. The judges could not decide on a
winner, instead naming six boats as all having good attributes. A young naval architect
was tasked drawing plans for a new boat combining the best features of the six boats.
The first Nordic Folkboat started construction at Arendal’s Yard in Gothenburg in
October 1941 and was launched on 23rd April 1942.

In 1948, the first British Folkboat
emerged victorious in the
RTI. Katrina was a clinker hulled
British Folkboat built at Woodnutt’s in
Bembridge in 1947. She still sails in
Weymouth under an IRC handicap and
is as competitive today as she was
over seventy years ago.

By 1949 the RTI had 121 entries and
the fleet continued to grow as more
family and casual sailors entered the
event. It peaked in 2011 with some
1,908 entries and over 16,000 sailors taking part, which made it the fourth largest
participation event in the UK. Not bad for what started out as a local regatta!

Folkboat: from strength to strength

The first carvel hulled British Folkboats were built in the UK around 1950. According
to Yachting World the first two keels were laid in 1949 and the first carvel British
Folkboat, Cyra, was launched in July 1950. She was owned by Jim Saunders, a Lloyds
yacht surveyor, who went on to become the first UK Class Chairman. Cyra proved the
competitiveness of the Folkboat by winning the Gold Roman bowl for first place in the
RTI in 1958 and again in 1963, while Fenya won in 1962, making this a good period for
racing a Folkboat in the RTI.
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