Ping XV

Designer

Tord Arne Sundén

Model

Fractional sloop

Year

1965

Class

Classics

The Boat

Ping XV, the Nordic Folkboat, conceived in 1941 at the request of the Royal Scandinavian Sailing Association, which sought a seaworthy, affordable, and versatile yacht.

Secrets

Ping XV, the Nordic Folkboat, conceived in 1941 at the request of the Royal Scandinavian Sailing Association, which sought a seaworthy, affordable, and versatile yacht.

After a design competition with 58 shortlisted entries—and no single winner—the young Swedish naval engineer Tord Arne Sundén (1909–1999) was tasked with synthesizing the best features of four prizewinning designs.

The hull lines drawn by Sundén resulted in a clinker-built sailing boat that combined strength, offshore efficiency, and responsive handling. The first hull was launched in April 1942 in Gothenburg, in the midst of World War II.

Despite a prolonged authorship dispute, Sundén is widely regarded as the true designer of the Folkboat. In 1967, he personally adapted the original wooden hull to create the International Folkboat (IF-Boat) in fiberglass for Marieholm Bruk, which led to the production of around 3,000 more units between the late 1960s and 1980s.

The Folkboat quickly became an icon of the Baltic and North Seas, earning a strong reputation in one-design racing fleets. It was affectionately dubbed the “nautical Volkswagen Beetle” for its resilience, simplicity, and reliability.

The Folkboat’s legendary status is not only rooted in its pure sailing virtues but also in the extraordinary ocean passages and achievements of sailors who pushed its limits—both in original wooden builds and the fiberglass redesign:

Leo Goolden, a British sailor, singlehanded the Atlantic in 2015 aboard a 1940s Folkboat, carrying only his guitar, wine, a bicycle, and a sextant. He later called it “the coolest yacht in the world” for its beauty, simplicity, and versatility.
In 1975, Ann Gash, a 55-year-old Australian grandmother, completed a solo circumnavigation aboard the Folkboat Ilimo, crossing Panama and sailing across oceans.
In the 1960s, adventurer Sharon Sites Adams sailed solo to Hawaii aboard a Folkboat, becoming one of the first women to complete the crossing.
Adrian Hayter sailed halfway around the world—from England to New Zealand—aboard Sheila II, and later returned aboard another Folkboat named Valkyr.
In the 1960 OSTAR, the Folkboat Jester, modified by Herbert “Blondie” Hasler with a junk rig, placed second behind Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth III. The simplified rig made her ideal for solo offshore sailing.