SEASON REVIEW by Chris Fox – Lymington FB Fleet Captain of the Folkboat Association supported Regattas and the Gold Cup
The Folkboat Fleet has been really exciting this year with great competitive sailing, some new boats joining the fleet and a mix of winners across competitions from all the clubs across the Solent. The combination of Regattas in Lymington, Yarmouth and Hamble along with Saturday, Wednesday series and TEK racing has kept the fleet very busy. We also had 5 boats from the Solent clubs head off to the Gold Cup in Sweden, which is the pinnacle of Folkboat racing and Britain had our first Gold Cup Champion in Ed Donald, who has pushed the standards of Folkboating up for many years and has now taken the top prize. An amazing achievement.
After the long winter break, the season started with the April Spring Series which saw 7 Folkboats out for the 6 race series. 3 boats competed in all the races and in a titanic battle, Gybe N (Cy Grisley / Simon Evans) for the second year in a row came in ahead of a close battle between Crackerjack (The Watsons / Matthew Jones) and Mimi (Eric Willians). Svane (Harry Hall) came in fourth starting what was to prove a successful season and Rosaire (Peter Blick) introduced himself to the Folkboat series.
The Thursday evening TEK series is always popular with the Folkboat fleet who classically take time to come out of hibernation, but numbers built over the summer. For first TEK Early Series race at end of April we had 4 starters but as the sun came out the number increased to 10 or more for the later races. 8 out of the 9 planned races were sailed, Crackerjack (The Watsons / Mathew Jones) sailed 7, won 4, taking the series from Mistral (Claire / Julian Sowry) and Svane (Harry Hall). Nordic Bear (John Barnes) and Chavala (Pete Rose) took well earned 4th and 5th places.
Alongside the early TEK, the first of 3 new Saturday Series, the 6 Week Saturday Cup started on 26th April. With on average 8 boats competing over the 6 races, Wombat (Jonathan Proctor / Allan Hancock) and Lady Linda (David Gredley) took first and second in an excellent 6 week battle, staying ahead of Mistral (The Sowrys) and Hannchen (Toby Waite)
As we entered June, the Folkboat Nationals held at Royal Lymington on 22nd and 23rd were upon us and with 16 entries from across the Solent clubs, the first Regatta of the 3 Regatta Folkboat Association(FBA) Season was underway. Warm sunny weather welcomed us for 5 races over the 2 days, boats headed out on Saturday into a spring tide and an easy 10 knot breeze. However, by Race 3 on the first day this had turned into a 20 knot wind over tide and some rough conditions and several boats retiring. On Sunday the fleet reappeared to a south westerly 10-12 knots and enjoyed 2 races including a downwind start which had some hearts beating at the first mark but everyone gave mark room and all got around cleanly.
Folkboat “Gybe N” GBR 669 (Simon Evans / Cy Grisley/ Richard Clark ) dominated the event with 2 wins, 2 seconds and then spent last race match racing with Folkboat Madelaine GBR 707 (Ed Donald) to ensure overall victory and to become National Folkboat Champion. Second place was taken by the Walters family on Cidron Too GBR 612 with consistent finishes in the top 4 across the races. The Otter GBR 720 (Claire Locke / Rich Bell) took 4th place, closely followed by Eala GBR754 (Alistair Maclean).
In July, the second Saturday Series called Saturday Summer Points was our weekend focus. This ran for 4 weeks from End June to Beginning of August with a break for the Taittinger. We managed 3 out of the 4 races with a series win for Tak who in race 1 was the only boat to sail the correct course, which kept Wombat in second followed by Lady Linda and Hannchen.
On July 12th and 13th, 18 Folkboats from across the Solent entered the Taittinger Regatta, the second of the 3 Regattas to be included in the FBA Series. Crackerjack GBR718 (Stewart and Caroline Watson, Mathew Jones) dominated and won 2 out of the 3 races, ahead of The Otter GBR720 (Claire Locke ) who with 2 thirds and a fourth took second place overall. In third, Jen GBR666 (Becci Wigley, John Cooper) and in fourth place TAK.
Whilst most of the fleet was racing in the Solent races and Regattas, in Halmstad, Sweden, 5 of our Solent crews had entered the Folkboat Gold Cup by towing their boat across in an epic Journey to enter the event against 51 other boats. It is the unofficial World Championship of Folkboating and for the first time a British boat Isobella, lead by Ed Donald with crew John Wulf and Cameron Tweedle won the event. Also great performances from Double O (Simon Osgood,, Gemma Osgood, Janie Lea) on 7th place, Gybe N (Cy Grisley, Simon Evans, Richard Clarke) on 11th place, Eala ( Alistair Maclean, Peter Spink, Phil Dunn ) on 42nd place and Valhalla (Kim Morley, Mark Diffey, Andrew Crabtree) on 43rd place.
Back in the Solent for August, TEK Late Series managed only 4 out of 9 planed races were sailed, with on average 10 Folkboats on the line, Svane took the series from Crackerjack and Tak…
Mid August was Folkboat Week, a wonderful week of racing and socials hosted by Royal Solent Yacht Club in Yarmouth. With a Nordic fleet of 32 boats and 7 in the Cruiser Racer division, it was a highly competitive week. The were many highs and some lows including 7 retirements in the Nordic fleet in the first race, although what followed was several days of fabulous racing in testing conditions. By the end of the event we had a new Folkboat Week champion Harry Hall in Svane who dominated the event, followed by an impressive 2nd for Tak, Gybe N in third and Mistral in fourth. In the Cruiser division, Mistress (Colin Eales) pipped Kingdom Come on a countback in last race to win the Classics Series.
TEK Late Late Series which runs throughout September, managed 2 out of the 4 planned races, with Svane (Harry Hall) now unstoppable took the win followed by Chavala, Tak and Paloma.
On Saturdays in September, we had the final short Saturday Series called Saturday Autumn Mini Series which was won by TAK, followed by Lady Linda and Nordic Bear. So, the Overall Saturday Series winner across the 3 series was Lady Linda (David Gredley)
The season also has 2 series of Wednesday white sail racing, usually with 2 sailors per boat. There were 6 races sailed out of 10 in Early series, won by Chavala (Pete Rose), Otter (Nick Ingram), Rosaire (Peter Blick) and 4 races sailed out of 8 in Late series won by Paloma (Jim Tennant), Otter, Rosaire. The Overall season winner on combined results was Otter (Nick Ingram)
But the season could not finish without the third of the FBA Regattas called Battle of Britain hosted by the Hamble Fleet at the RAFYC. With a beer festival and band on Saturday night it was a fun and friendly Regatta with great camaraderie amongst the crews. Out on the water there were three individual race winners with Gybe N coming out on top overall closely followed by Valhalla and Wombat. Mistral, Svenja, Cidron Too and Eala all had their moments at the front creating a really close and competitive Regatta. It was a fitting way to end a very successful FBA regatta season
So, this only leaves me to congratulate our overall winners of the Folkboat Association Weekend 3 Regatta Series winner Folkboat Cidron Too, James Walters and crew.
Folkboating in the Solent is becoming one of the most exciting single series to be involved in and is constantly evolving in standards of boats and sailing skills. With the large number of events, we are always looking for enthusiastic crew and new boats to come and join us. Look forward to 2025 in which we celebrate the 60th Folkboat Week.
Come and join us in 2025 – contact our fleet captains, Chris Fox (Lymington) , David Fo
