THE PEOPLE'S YACHT

DESPITE LOW HEADROOM, SPARTAN ACCOMMODATION AND A POTENTIALLY WET RIDE, THE FOLKBOAT IS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC YACHTS OF THE LAST 100 YEARS NIC COMPTON FINDS OUT WHY

- NIC COMPTON FINDS OUT WHY

“At first I was ready for it.

The sky had clouded over, and the wind was so strong I had taken down the large headsail and replaced it with the small, stronger, working jib. But the night grew blacker and blacker; the waves reared up high and Ilimo was being flung around this way and that. As I fought to control her, I wondered what effect mast-high seas could have on a 7.3m plywood Folkboat. I was soon to learn,” wrote Ann Gash, the Australian solo circumnavigator, in her memoir A Star to Steer Her By.

“All that day the weather seemed to build and build. I tried to get some sunsights, but it was impossible - all I could see was the tops of the waves with their breaking, foaming crests as they roared against the boat. I cursed the steering vane many times, and sometimes I was forced to steer by hand.

“The course I had set was across the wind, and Ilimo faced mountainous waves time after time. I had read that a yacht could be sailed a little sideways up huge walls of water, so I sometimes steered her almost directly at the oncoming waves. The troughs were wide and deep and occasionally the waves seemed steeper than usual. At times, when the crests broke against Ilimo, she was pushed sideways, but she never felt as though she was about to roll over. Each time she rode to the top of the huge volumes of water speeding away beneath her.

“At dawn on the second day, the wind dropped slightly. It was still rough, but I knew Ilimo would make it. Soon Ilimo and I were sailing smoothly under a working jib and trysail. For the first time, I had seen what she could do in appalling conditions, and I loved her even more.”

Gash — who learnt to sail in her mid-40s, and was a 55 year old a grandmother when she set off on