Page 28 - Folk Boat Year Book 2021

Folkboat life in Hungary

With thanks to Tamas Wlasitsch and the Deputy Chairman of the Hungarian Folkboat
Association.

Tamas got in touch with the GB Association looking for some help with tuning his
Folkboat. Over a series of emails, he told me about his own boat and sailing on the
vast freshwater Lake Balaton.

Tamas asked the Deputy Chairman of the Hungarian Association to give us a short
history of the Folkboat in Hungary, he wrote:

"The history of folkboats on Lake Balaton
dates back to the 1960s. It was then that
Folkboats started to be built at the
Balatonfüred Shipyard based on the
original plans. As the necessary licenses
for building the boats were not purchased,
the production of Folkboats in Hungary
soon led to international tension and was
stopped.

Approximately 20 boats were built in
Balatonfüred, of which only a few 3pcs are
still sailing in Hungarian waters. However,
over the years, several boats from other
countries have arrived and we now have a
fleet of 20 boats, and since 2013 we have
been racing in our own class on Lake
Balaton, the largest lake in Central
Europe."

28