Wow what a Folkboat week that was !! it was amazing!! the buzz in the harbour, on the race course and in the social events speaks for itself – The Folkboat Family truly is the best in sailing.
I though now …… a week on is a good time to reflect back on a successful 59th Folkboat week regatta.
We had 39 Folkboats gathering for a week of great racing and fabulous friendly socials – with a packed ever more competitive Nordic fleet of 32 duking it out over the west Solent and a great turnout of 7 in the Classic “Cruiser Racer” division.
We kicked off the first Saturday with the Gold cup presentation to the Royal Solent as well as welcoming our many new crews to a super at the welcome supper.
The Gold Cup is the World Cup of Folkboat racing and has been running since 1963 and had never been won before by a British boat. Amazingly the stars aligned and for the first time Ed Donald’s Isobella took the cup for Britain in a fleet of 52 of the best Folkboat sailors in the world.
The Folkboat Gold Cup is presented by the winning crew to the Yacht club who’s flag they race under: so it was a very historic, special and emotional moment when Ed’s daughters Madelaine and Isobella, supported by Andy Baker who refurbished Isobella FGBR808 for the regatta presented the trophy to the Royal Solent Yacht club, where it proudly sits in the Trophy cabinet for all to see.
Onto the racing , which was simply stunning for both classes – with many highs and also some lows. For the Nordic fleet the low came in the the first race with 7 retirements in the Nordics. It was tough for two boats who retired from the regatta , and we wish them well , but it was also notable how the fleet rallied round to support those boats who had issues .
What followed were several days of fabulous racing in a range of testing conditions with superb courses set by the race management team at the RSCY. A special thank you to Jeremy Willcock , Joanna Minchin and the whole RSYC team !!
We have a new national Nordic One Design Folkboat champion Harry Hall – deservedly so as Svane dominated pretty well throughout the week in the Open division – and some really tight racing in Classics where Mistress pipped Kingdom Come on a countback in the last race to secure the series win !
My overriding reflection though is of the friendship and camaraderie of this Folkboat week: the banter in the harbour which achieved new levels ; the socials organised by David and Theresa were outstanding ……..surely this must be the best event on the Solent!! – and I am proud to be part of it.
Also a huge thanks to all of you , our competitors and supporters who make the event very special .
I was particularly appreciative of all of the comments and contributions at our open session on Thursday evening – which has given the management team many takeaways to look to build the class for you all going forward, in the areas of Safety , Rules, Coaching , FB Week lessons learned as well as some great ideas for our 60th Anniversary of Folkboat week next year – where we are going big looking to achieve 60 Folkboats at our 60th Anniversary – 60@the60th with all of your support .
I will be attending a post Folkboat week debrief on 1st October with the Royal Solent – where we will look to not only build for the 60@the60th , but also look build on this years success and lessons learned to make the experience even better next year
To those who took part : Thank You , and for those reading this that didn’t……….come along and join the family and help us make our 60th Folkboat week a special occasion .
As always i am always open to a conversation with you about my favourite topic ……. Folkboats
keep in touch
FOLKBOATS FOREVER
Kim Morley
Chair Folkboat Association
