In 1941 the Royal Swedish Sailing Association decided to hold a competition to design an affordable small keel boat, there were 58 entries, the judges could not decide on a winner but chose six designs which they thought all had good qualities Tord Sunden was asked to take the best features of these designs and incorporate them all in a new design. Construction of the first boat started in 1941 and was launched in the spring of 1942, there are now fleets in many countries, including all the Scandinavian countries, Germany, the UK, USA, Holland and Australia.  In the mid 1970s with the rising timber costs and competition from modern GRP boats a fibreglass version of the Nordic was made.  The mould is to the exact dimensions and contours of the original clinker boats having the same weight and weight distribution. The Nordic Folkboat was reviewed in Classic Boat magazine as “a rare example of a good thing designed by a committee but it is far more; the Folkboat is the most popular, successful and influential sailing yacht of all time. It comes in various guises and has spawned several derivatives but the Nordic Folkboat is the original”.