News

RIP - RAY NEW

Ray New passed away on 5 February at the age of 72. Ray was a familiar face at the Finn World Masters, but made a huge contribution to the British class as well as leading the highly successful BFA U23 squad.

After retiring from rowing in his early thirties Ray took up sailing. Before joining the Finn fleet at Christchurch Sailing Club in the early 2000s, he was successful in offshore racing in an Evolution 22 and a 27ft Beneteau, as well as sailing an OK Dinghy and a Solo.

He was described as a tough competitor on the water and won many series and trophy races at Christchurch, including interclub events. Once out in front, GBR 80, his sail number, would rarely be beaten. Only last year, Ray was first Legend at the UK Finn nationals.

He organised the British containers to Barbados with an attention to detail consistent with everything he under took. Ray’s calmness was also evident on one such occasion when returned from Masters in Spain in 2018 on discovering a stowaway in one of the boats.

Ray was a member of the British Finn Association committee for 10 years, where he generously gave of his time and expertise. He served first as Training Officer and then as Treasurer, but will be most remembered for leading and organising the highly successful Under 23 squad. Ray’s initiative delivered a new pathway for budding young Finn sailors who had not been cherry-picked for the British Sailing Team. His tireless devotion to the cause, and meticulous organisation, saw a group of 12 athletes develop their racing and life skills across a number of European regattas. As a result, several are now embarked upon careers as professional sailors and one as a member of the British Junior Rowing Team – all thanks to the inspiration and training Ray delivered.

Ray made a huge number of friends through his sailing at Christchurch, across the UK and internationally at the Finn World Master’s regattas. He was universally respected, both on and off the water, a fair-minded competitor and a true gentleman by all that met him. Always ready to help out, Ray supported the World Masters organisation by further developing a random fleet allocation system.

Christchurch Sailing Club, the British Finn Association and the Christchurch Finn Fleet owes a huge debt to the calm, considered, guiding hand of Ray New - whose selflessness always put members’ interests first, young and old, and he strove to improve the future of the club and the class at every level.

Sail on, Ray – you will be sorely missed.

Pics: Left in Torbole in 2016 (pic Michael Kurtz) Top in El Balis in 2018

RIP - JAN KINGMA

Jan Kingma passed away unexpectedly on 3 December, 2021. He was 84 years old. Jan had been involved in the Finn World Masters for many years, as a sailor in NED 729, as the former webmaster under President Fons van Gent and he also built the beautiful half models that the FWM Committee present to organising authorities. In addition, he produced the graphs each year to show the spread of entries by age and nation that were used to promote the events

Sailing was the joy of his life and he loved sailing his Finn. He will be much missed by his fellow sailors and for his ever helpful and friendly contribution, with a great eye for detail and correctness, to the annual work of the Masters committee.

AnnuAl MAsters Meeting

The Annual Masters Meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 July in Helsinki. Please send any items for inclusion to president@finnworldmaster.com by Monday 6 June. An agenda will be circulated nearer the time.

Future events

No proposals for Finn World Masters events will be accepted until the 2024 Annual Masters Meeting as the first available year is 2026. Proposals for 2025 Finn Europeans Masters will be accepted for the 2023 Annual Masters Meeting, subject to the current IFA event policy. An Event Manual with further details can be downloaded from finnworldmaster.com.