Folkboats Forever
Gaze out over the boats in any marina and inevitably your thoughts turn to the stories behind every boat you see. Who owns it? How long have they had it? Why did they get it? Why do they STILL have it?!? Excellent questions, all. Here’s one answer, the only one I can give as it’s about my boat and my story. I’d love to paint a picture of rugged determination, long and careful research and shrewd negotiations. But that would be a lie. “Serendipitous” is really a far more apt description of the route I took. I was living a perfectly normal, rational existence once. Married, no children, good job, savings. The whole package. But there are many walks of life and we cross paths with these folks all the time. For me, it was the neighbors we met through a work connection.
Rich and Lori became fast friends, and as it turns out, they had a boat! A 25-ft wooden lapstrake boat. Something called a “Folkboat.” I didn’t know much about Bay boats but had messed around with dinghies enough to know how to tack and go to weather. Rich was (and still is) an avid sailor, and was happy to take me sailing. I loved it! Rich was a Sea Scout and evidence of that was everywhere to be found, from the methodical way that we went about leaving and returning to the slip to the impressive collection of spares and safety equipment to be found on the boat. And his sailing skill was on a par. I recall an outing when the portside spreader blew up and sailing on port was just asking for the top half of the mast to snap. We remained on starboard while calmly and methodically setting up the outboard, dousing sail, and motoring back. That was a pretty nifty “save.” This experience could have been unsettling for a newbie, but Rich was good at instilling confidence in a S.F. Bay novice. That was 30 years ago.
Shortly after that, Rich and Lori decided to pull up stakes and spend an indefinite amount of time in the Netherlands. And just like that, I became the proud owner of my first Folkboat! I learned a lot on that boat. Much of it was not pretty.
