Folkboat Party Livens Up Tiburon Yacht Club

Tiburon Yacht Club members Otto Schreier and Jim Bliss hosted the annual San Francisco Bay Folkboat Association‘s awards party at their club. Located on the quiet side of the Tiburon-Belvedere peninsula, the clubhouse offers a large room for members to hold events with a fireplace, kitchen and great deck with views opening to the water. Filling up the space with animated storytelling, this fun community of sailors quieted down after their spirited dinner, to acknowledge the 2016 racing season winners and their Folkboats.

The Nordic Folkboat has been sailed and raced on San Francisco Bay for over 50 years, making it one of the oldest one design fleets on the Bay. There are reasons for this success. The design enables it to thrive in the heavy conditions the Bay dishes out all summer long and the SFBFA is a skillful and committed group of sailors who enjoy racing as much as the camaraderie offered by the group. They race from April to October on San Francisco Bay and honor their fleet winners at the close of each season.

“Part of Folkboat continued success,” according to Mickey Waldear, Freja crew member, “is due to the international Folkboat family. With Gold Cup events in Europe every year and a invitational regatta in San Francisco Bay every other year.” The Gold Cup is considered by some to be the ‘unofficial’ World Championship of the Nordic Folkboat Class. The SFBFA belongs to the Nordic Folkboat International Association and participates in these annual regattas.

Runners up in 2016,  Folkboat #111, Freja with Tom Reed and crew. Rumor had it they lost by only 1/2 a boat length. The 2016 season first place winners were Folkboat #113, Polperro with Peter Jeal & crew.

The Nordic Folkboat was designed as a clinker built wooden sloop in 1942 by the Scandinavian Yacht Racing Union (SYRU). The first Nordic Folkboat was built in Göteborg in Sweden. In the late 1960s, a GRP version was design licensed to a few boat builders (NFIA website). The first Folkboats appeared in 1955 on San Francisco Bay and the group created the SFBFA in 1957. The SFBFA hosts races on Wed. nights (mid-week stress relief) and weekends during the season.

As of 2016, more than 4000 Nordic Folkboats have been built around the world (NFIA). Though they are small boats with a length of 7.68 m or 25.20 ft., some enthusiasts have even crossed the Atlantic in one.

About Tiburon Yacht Club

Tiburon Peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the waters of San Francisco Bay, is home to three yacht clubs. Located on the east side of the peninsula, Tiburon Yacht Club is the only club outside Tiburon’s downtown area in a unique community setting that is rural, residential, informal and water-oriented. TYC is located at 400 Trinidad Drive in Tiburon. You can reach the club at  (415) 789-9294.