Video showing a race(!) between a Sparkman and Stephens quarter ton class design from the 1970s – the Blue Bird 25 vs a traditional Nordic Folkboat, conceived as the result of a design competition run by the Scandinavian Yacht Racing Union in 1942, and finished by Tord Sunden.

The Folkboat is clearly the faster design though the boats have similar waterline lengths – 19 ft 8 in (6m) for the FB and 19ft 5in (5.9m) for the Blue Bird, while the overall length, at 25ft 1in (7.6m) for the FB is a tad longer than the Blue Bird’s 24ft 8in (7.51m). The newer boat is much more beamy, at 9ft (2.7m) compared to the FB’s 7ft 2in (2.2m) and there’s a lot more space in the S&S… But looking at that Folkboat go it’s no wonder they are still such a popular class 76 years after they appeared in Scandanavian waters. (Click on the plans drawings to enlarge)

By the 1970s boats were getting much beamier, with this typical fin (keel) and skeg (rudder) design and undoubtedly some of the elegance of earlier years was giving way to the need for more space below

 

The lines of the Folkboat show an elegant and slim hull