The Nordic Folkboat is a sailboat that was designed by Scandinavian Sailing Federation as a racer-cruiser and first built in 1942. Tord Sundén was hired by the Scandivian Sailing Federation to finalize the plans based on four awarded entries in the design competition. The awarded designs were done by Knud Olsen, Jac M. Iversen, Alfons Kvarnström, and O. W. Dahlström. No winning design was declared. Tord Sundén was never credited as the actual designer of the boat.
The Nordic Folkboat was developed into the Sundén-designed International Folkboat in 1967. The International Folkboat was expressly designed for fibreglass construction. The International 25 and the Olsen 26 are also based upon this design.
The Junior Folkboat designed by actually dates from 1929. It was originally called the "Juniors Bad" (Junior boat), but was later renamed because of its strong resemblance to the later and larger Nordic Folkboat.
Description
The Nordic Folkboat is a recreational keelboat, that was initially built using wooden clinker construction. It was later produced in fibreglass, with wooden trim, with the fibreglass hull simulating the clinker board construction. It has a fractional sloop rig with wooden spars. The hull has a spooned, raked stem, a sharply angled transom, a keel-mounted rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed modified long keel, with a cut-away forefoot. Typical versions displace and carry of iron ballast. Niels Benzon, Gunnar Stenbäck, Salén, Bertil Bothén, Tore Holm, Knud Reimers, Jac M. Iversen, Karl Ljungberg, and Tord Sundén were among the participants in this meeting that proposed the specifications to of sail area, a waterline length of around and displacement of .
Salén promoted the competition and it attracted 58 designs. The judges could not decide on a winner, instead naming six boats as all having some good attributes. As a young naval architect, Sundén was tasked by Salén with taking the best features of each design and drawing plans for a new boat that incorporated them all in the new design. The plans were published without a designer credited. Construction of the first boat was commenced at Arendals yard in Gothenburg in October 1941 and was launched the next spring, on 23 April 1942.
Sundén later claimed the design as his own, but the committee disagreed on that point. Until the time of his death at age 90 in 1999, Sundén was still trying to establish his claim to the credit and the royalties for the design and the matter has never been fully resolved.
Production
The design has been built by a number of different builders since the first were built in 1942 using wooden clinker construction.
In the mid-2000s it was being built by Folkebådcentralen of Denmark, but that company seems to be no longer in business. Today the boat is built by Haubold Yachting in Germany.
Variants
Numerous variants of the basic design have been built. The hull shape was largely retained, with variants being built in fibreglass, with new cabin and deck layouts and sometimes a revised keel shape.
; International Folkboat
:The Swedish Yard of Marieholm Bruk commissioned the original designer Tord Sundén to redesign the boat for fibreglass construction. The International Folkboat appeared in 1969 and became known in Europe as the Marieholm IF Boat. Fibreglass construction was used to create a more graceful profile, more interior space and a larger sail area was added for better light air performance.
;Marieholm 26
:A modification of the IF boat, the Marieholm 26 was also designed Tord Sundén and built by Marieholm Boats between 1976 and 1987. A further modification was the Marieholm 261 which was produced by Marieholm from 1982 to 2002 and featured a slightly wider beam.
;Contessa 26
:A British folkboat variant, the Contessa 26 was drawn in 1965 by Jeremy Rodgers, who had built Folkboats for a number of years, and David Sadler. They took the classic Folkboat, modified the keel, added more sail area forward for better racing performance, changed the layout and deck structure, and built it from fiberglass instead of wood.
;Stella
:Designed by the yacht designer Kim Holman in 1959, the Stella was made to the requirements of a customer who had seen the Nordic Folkboat. He thought that the English east coast needed a similar vessel, but modified for the North Sea, as opposed to Baltic conditions and also a competitive handicap racer.
Operational history
thumb|A fibreglass and a wooden Nordic Folkboat
thumb|Nordic Folkboat
The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the Nordic Folkboat International Association. It has national branches in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Australia. There are also fleets in Finland, Latvia, Estonia and the San Francisco Bay area of the United States. In 1994, 110 boats were reportedly being sailed in the US.
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "the boat is noted for its seaworthy character. With an iron keel, it has raced in winds of 40 knots and often carries full sail in 20–25. Most boats have two bunks, and perhaps a vee-berth forward, with camping gear used for cooking. There are lockers. The interiors are apt to vary widely, with some minimized for racing, and others adapted for cruising."
A review by Theo Rye in Classic Boat said, "she has seakindly manners that punch far above her modest weight, and her deep cockpit and nicely balanced feel on the helm all add up to a simple but satisfying boat to really sail."