The Folkboat is often referred to as the nautical equivalent of a ‘Volkswagen’– more specifically the Beetle of 1938 and its replacement in 1974, the Golf. Volkswagen means, of course, ‘people’s car’, a rallying cry for the democracy of mobilisation, which is why people liken the car to the boat, but it’s borne out in numbers too: the Beetle and Golf combined have outsold every other car in history, and similarly the Folkboat, whose story began in the fire of war just one year after the Beetle, has become the most popular cabin yacht of all time, and arguably the most influential too.
The reason for the boat’s success is simple: versatility. The original brief for the Folkboat stems from the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club who, in 1939, were looking for a new one-design class that would offer more room and beam than a Dragon, and offer cruising accommodation – of sorts – to a family. The boat had to be cheap and easy to build in large numbers, with the building materials specified as Nordic timber, with iron for the keel, in order to keep costs down. A month later, the Swedish Sailing Association (SSA), urged by shipyard owner and 6-M sailor Sven Sahlen, joined the initiative and announced
