A BRITISH SAILING FIRST FOR THE ROYAL SOLENT YACHT CLUB

Last Saturday (17th August) marked the official opening of the annual Folkboat Week, hosted and organised by the Royal Solent Yacht Club, with 39 of the 3-man Folkboats from England’s South Coast racing in the Western Solent throughout the week. However, the welcoming party for competing crews held at the Royal Solent Yacht Club on Saturday evening was more than just a social regatta event with the RSYC presented with the most coveted trophy in Folkboat racing: The Nordic Folkboat Gold Cup. The Gold Cup has been raced annually since 1963 – with 1 year dropped at the height of the COVID pandemic – and, unusually for a yacht racing trophy other than the America’s Cup, the cup is awarded to the triumphant boat’s yacht club, not the boat’s skipper and crew. At this year’s Gold Cup held in Halmstad on Sweden’s west coast 100km north of Copenhagen, 52 teams from Denmark; Estonia; Germany; Finland; Sweden and 5 boats from the UK raced hard between 6th-12th July. Historically, the event has been dominated by the Danes with 38 Gold Cup victories. Germany has taken the trophy 9 times, British Folkboats came close to Gold Cup glory in 2017 but have never won… until 2024. Going into the final day of racing at this year’s Nordic Folkboat Gold Cup, any of 4 boats could have clinched the prize, but Folkboat GBR808 Isobella racing under the Royal Solent Yacht Club burgee with crew John Wulff (helm), Ed Donald (Royal Solent member) and Cameron Tweedle prevailed, taking 1st place overall to the huge delight of the British Folkboat fleet at Halmstad.

At the official presentation of the Gold Cup on Saturday evening, Ed Donald was represented by his daughters, Bella and Maddie, and by Lymington-based boatbuilder Andy Baker of Baker Marine, who built Isobella. The presentation was made to Martyn Collinson, Commodore of the RSYC, by Ed’s daughters alongside the President of the UK Folkboat Association, Graham Coulter, and the Chairman, Kim Morley As Coulter commented during the handover, nobody knows how long the Gold Cup will remain in Yarmouth, but finally wresting the prestigious trophy from continental Europe is a start! A replica of the Nordic Folkboat Gold Cup is now proudly on display in a trophy cabinet at the Royal Solent Yacht Club.