FINNFARE July 2008 by Robert Deaves

JULY 2008

Largest Finn fleet ever at Masters • Europeans • Rule 42

FINNFARE JULY 2008

Photo: James Taylor

Opening shot: World number 1 Jonas Høgh-Christensen at the Europeans in Italy President’s letter

PRESIDENT’S REPORT FOR THE 2008 AGM OF THE INTERNATIONAL FINN ASSOCIATION 3 MAY 2008, SCARLINO TUSCANY, ITALY Dear All, In my President’s letters published frequently in Finnfare over the year you are regularly updated on the events of the Finn Class and the international Olympic sailing scene. Therefore in the present report I would just summarize my overall thoughts on what we have done in the past year since the 2007 AGM at Lake Balaton and what is ahead of us in the near future. 1. The Finn Class of today Previous years have shown that the Finn class is getting stronger than ever in terms of number of sailors as well as represented countries and continents in all age categories. The class now has a very solid international senior fleet of 80-100 entries per event (even Melbourne showed over 80 boats), with around 20 sailors per event a strong number of junior entries at major events and a Masters fleet comprising of almost 280 sailors at this year’s Masters Worlds in Medemblik.

Both Lake Balaton and Cascais showed more than 30 countries represented on the starting line and many new faces who have joined or re-joined the national or the international Finn scenes in recent years. Similar developments can be identified at both national and continental levels as well. If you have a look at the country news chapter of the last editions of Finnfare, you find a long list of national Finn events sailed by a large number of sailors in all age categories. 2. The Finn and the Olympics, Event Selection for London 2012 Competition among classes for Olympic spots is these days as tense as ever. ISAF is planning a reform of Olympic sailing events by increasing the number of women events and high performance boats while achieving a larger number of participating countries. Our main task for the near future is to show to ISAF and the wider sailing world that there is a need for a one person man heavyweight dinghy event. Actually all chapters of this President’s report are cornerstones for achieving this goal. The 2008 ISAF AGM was held last November in Estoril. Thanks to a well run, effective and fair campaign the Finn class has for the moment managed to keep the heavyweight men’s single ...continued on page 5

FINNFARE JULY 2008

FINNFARE is the official publication of the International Finn Association

Circulation FINNFARE is a non-profit publication that is distributed free of charge to all IFA members and to interested parties connected to the International Finn Class around the world. For extra copies, or if you have addresses of people who you think should be receiving FINNFARE, please contact the IFA Office. Contributions Articles, race results, photographs and reports from countries are always welcome. Please include FINNFARE in your National Association for mailing newsletters, bulletins, press releases and race reports. Advertisements All advertisement enquiries should also be addressed to the Editor. Technical details and rates are available on request. Email Please email photos as high resolution jpeg files. High resolution photos for the cover always needed. Most Mac compatable formats accepted.

Executive Committee of IFA 2007-08

President of Honour Gerardo Seeliger Anabel Segura 7, 28108 Arroyo de la Vega Alcobenda, Spain Mob: +34 609 20 10 20 Tel: +34 91 661 61 33 Email: gerardo@vueltamundo4x4.com President Dr Balazs Hajdu Furj u 25, H-1124 Budapest, Hungary Mob: +36 30 332 7415 Fax: +36 1 319 1680 Email: balazs.hajdu@t-online.hu Skype: bhajdu001 Vice-President – Sailing Daniel Birgmark Föreningsgatan 16E 411 27 Göteborg, Sweden Email: birgmark@hotmail.com

Vice-President – Development Zach Railey Tel: +1 727 439 5505 (cell) Email: zachrailey2008@hotmail.com Skype: zachrailey2008

Vice-President – Masters’ Fleet Fons van Gent Moerbeilaan 19 6086 EC Neer, The Netherlands Tel: +31 475 592048 Fax: +31 475 510112 Email: fonsvangent@home.nl Skype: fonsvangent www.finn-world-master.com

Executive Director Corinne McKenzie 39 Rue du Portal d’Amont 66370 Pezilla la Riviere, France Mob: +33 670 10 18 13 Tel/fax: +33 4 68 92 60 46 Email: corinne.mckenzie@orange.fr Skype: corinnerollandmckenzie

Chairman Technical Committee Richard Hart 26 Lower Spinney, Warsash, Southampton, Hants SO3 9NL, England Tel: +44 1489 575327 Fax: +44 1489 576908 Email: Richard@Hart331.fsnet.co.uk Skype: rhahart

FINNFARE Editor Robert Deaves, 124 Heatherhayes, Ipswich. IP2 9SG, England Mob: +44 (0)7932 047046 Email: robertdeaves@yahoo.co.uk Cover photos: The largest Finn fleet ever assembled gathers for a start at the Masters in Medemblik. [Photo: Suzanne van der Horst.] Next issue: October 2008 Back issues: These are available from the editor at GBP 0.50 each plus postage. Backissues stocks begin October 1997.

IFA WEB SITE www.finnclass.org FINNatics and FINNLOG: FINNatics is currenly out of print. Some of the original FINNLOGs (from 1986) are still available for GBP 5 plus p&p from the IFA through the IFA office.

Honorary Treasurer Tim Carver Tel: +44 7798 927971 Email: tim@timcarver.com Skype: carvert Chief Measurer Jüri Saraskin Lossi 1A, Tallinn, EE0026, Estonia Tel: (W) +372 6726 777 (H) +372 6726 222 Mobile: + 372 501 1321 Fax: +372 6726 778 Email: perimex@online.ee Chairman Marketing Committee Robert Deaves 124 Heatherhayes, Ipswich. IP2 9SG England Mob: +44 (0)7932 047046 Email: robertdeaves@yahoo.co.uk Skype: robert.deaves

FINNFARE JULY 2008

handed event for the 2010 London Olympics. Besides the IFA Executive Committee’s work the presence of Gus Miller, Luca Devoti, Jonas Hoegh Christensen and Jonathan Lobert has contributed enormously to our success in Estoril. Although there are some adverse issues currently debated within ISAF as regards last November’s vote on the 2012 sailing events, the Executive will due their best the preserve the achieved status quo. Therefore Corinne is going to represent the class at the upcoming ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in Quingdao and we will have to secure a strong Finn sailor presence at this November’s ISAF AGM in Paris. 3. Fides The Finn International Development Support is a project aiming to help young sailors and new countries to join or rejoin the international Finn fleet and overcome the first hurdles by offering free of charge or discounted equipment. Partly as a result of this initiative I can proudly report that among others Cyprus, Serbia, India have received support and transformed it into Olympic quotas and international presence in the world of Finn sailing.

IFA News New committee members If you check out the contact list opposite you will notice a few new names. IFA is delighted to welcome Zach Railey onto the Executive as Vice-President Development and looks forward to various initiatives in the coming years. We also welcome Fons van Gent (below) as Vice-President Masters who steps into the formidable shoes of Rolf Lehnert who retired at this year’s Masters event in Medemblik.

4. Marketing The Finn Class has three main assets in my view: (i) the sailors, (ii) the boat and (iii) the Finn community being a close symbiosis of present and past sailing talent. Finn sailors are true heroes sailing in one of the most tactical and at the same time athletic sailing boat of the present time. On the other hand there is a huge amount of fraternity, sportsmanship and fun involved in the life of our class. These are all values which if presented on the right way all contribute to a growing media interest in the Finn Class. You might have noted that our media releases have more than ever focused on the sailors’ voice because personalities and the stories of great sailors are those things which really appeal to the public. The first ever full colour printed version of Finnfare, the recently introduced online Finnfare, the highly innovative on-board camera system and footages on our website have all contributed to a more effective and state of the art Finn marketing activity. 5. Major Finn Championship venues In an endeavour based on a fairly direct and understandable request from Finn sailors attending the AGMs at Kalmar 2005 and Split 2006, the IFA Executive decided to become more pro-active in the course of finding suitable sailing venues for forthcoming major Finn championships. In this manner has been Scarlino proposed and decided for this year’s and Varna for next year’s Europeans, whereas Copenhagen and San Francisco for the next two Gold Cups. Not less importantly we have received valuable bids for the 2010 Europeans. 6. Technical matters An important aspect of a widespread both international and national presence of the Finn is equipment manufacturing and control. Brazil has already started Finn hull production with Argentina and possibly also China showing further interest in setting up local Finn production sites. The Class has always managed in the past to successfully combine tradition with state of the art technology. This is one of the keys why we are still on the Olympic program. New issues dealing with some class rule changes, digital compasses, racing format etc. will be dealt with the same way.

Dr. Balazs Hajdu President International Finn Association

FINNFARE JULY 2008

Online FINNFARE The April 2008 edition of FINNFARE was the first issue ever published online as a fully interactive page turner. Previous editons are all available on the IFA website as downloadable PDFs but from now on you can view FINNFARE through a unique viewing system created by Zmags. Click on the link on the IFA homepage and you can turn pages on your screen as if reading a real magazine.This new technology also allows us to introduce material such as short video clips and sound files to the magazine. Go on. Try it out. October FINNFARE The next issue of FINNFARE will feature full coverage of the Olympic Regatta in Qingdao. Up to and during the Games IFA is intending to provide reports and interviews on its website www.finnclass.org which will also be linked to the International Sailing Federation’s Olympic microsite at www.sailing.org, which itself will provide mark by mark roundings, results and weather reports from every race.

Going for gold in China If all goes according to plan, on August 16 the 15th set of Olympic Finn medals will be decided on the waters off Qingdao, China. For most Finn sailors competing in China, the campaign trail started at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal in July last year. In Cascais the first 19 countries qualified for a place in Qingdao. These were ESP, NED, SLO, GBR, CAN, GRE, DEN, CRO, SWE, AUS, FIN, FRA, NZL, POL, USA, CZE, BRA, IRL and NOR. One man who was absent from Cascais was the 2004 Olympic champion Ben Ainslie. However he took gold in both the 2006 and 2007 Qingdao regattas and then in January in Melbourne won an unprecedented fifth Finn Gold Cup.

While the clear favourite is the five times and current World Champion, four times and current European Champion, three times Olympic medalist and current Finn gold medalist Ben Ainslie, the rest of the fleet is sure to have something to say about that on the water, and while the conditions in Qingdao have been described at best as tricky, his fourth medal is by no means in the bag, but perhaps his chances are the highest of all sailors, across all the classes, heading for China.

Fourteen more nations were competing for the six remaining slots in Melbourne and it turned out to be a hard fought battle right down to the last race. In the end ITA, RUS, CYP, AUT, GER and TUR made the grade although Germany turned down its place, which was eventually filled by India. Of all the 26 sailors heading for Qingdao, 16 have won races at major championships, and 18 have placed top ten in major regattas, while 11 have picked up a medal in the past four years either at the Finn Gold Cup, European Championship or Qingdao regatta. It is certainly going to be a tough regatta.

AUSTRALIA - Anthony Nossiter Third Olympic Regatta for ‘Nocker’. Best placing was a 6th in Athens. 10th in 2007 Gold Cup and 12th this year. Prefers strong winds, but has punched out a few results in the light as well.

BRAZIL - Eduardo Couto Sailed the Brazilian Finn trials after switching from the Laser and now heading towards his first Olympic regatta. One of the youngest sailors in the Finn fleet at 24.

CANADA - Chris Cook Placed top ten in nearly all major events he has sailed in past two years. First Olympics. Best results includ 3rd at 2005 Gold Cup, 7th last year and 6th this year. Should be in the hunt for a medal.

CHINA - Zhang Peng One of a number of Chinese Finn sailors who have emerged over the past few years, Zhang Peng’s best result was 34th at the 2008 Finn Gold Cup.

CROATIA - Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic So nearly took the gold at the Pre-Olympics last year, second at the 2007 and 2008 Europeans and quite capable of medalling in China.

CYPRUS - Haris Papadopoulos Started sailing the Finn last year and qualified Cyprus – a new nation for the class – for a place in Qingdao at the Melbourne Gold Cup. Sailed the Laser into 28th place in Athens in 2004.

CZECH REPUBLIC - Michael Maier This is Maier’s fourth Olympic regatta. Best results have been a 2nd in 1998 Europeans and 5th at the 2000 Gold Cup. Can’t seem to give it up so back for another chance at Olympic glory.

DENMARK - Jonas Høgh-Christensen

FINLAND - Tapio Nirkko First time at the Olympics. Best result is 11th at this year’s Gold Cup and a 10th in Hyeres last year. On his day can win races, but has trouble with consistency.

FRANCE - Guillaume Florent Been out of Finns since 2006 but performed well at this year’s European Championship, placing third after leading most of the regatta. Outside chance of a medal.

Number 1 ranked Finn sailor in the world since 2005. World Champion in 2006, 4th in 2007 and 3rd this year. He also won Hyeres this year. Excellent chance of a medal.

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GREAT BRITAIN - Ben Ainslie Fourth Olympic regatta for Ben, and defending Finn champion. Absolute favourite to take another gold medal after winning both the World and European Championship this year as well as every other Finn event he entered.

GREECE - Emilios Papathanasiou Fourth time round for the wiley Greek. Apart from the Europeans in 2001, winning major titles has eluded him, though he has racked up a pile of Grade 1 wins. Not had the best season but aiming to better his 5th place in Athens.

INDIA - Nachhatar Johal Only started in the Finn last year with help from the IFA’s development programme, FIDeS. Won a very close two boat trials against Nitin Mongia on the final race.

IRELAND - Timothy Goodbody Started sailing Finns in 2005 and won a close trials against Aaron O’Grady. Best results include 11th in Holland this year, 21st at the Europeans and a 7th at the Grade 1 US Midwinters in 2007.

ITALY - Giorgio Poggi First Olympics and has been improving fast over the last year, although yet to finish top ten at any Grade 1 event. Best results include 16th at this year’s Europeans and 11 at Sail Melbourne.

NETHERLANDS - Pieter-Jan Postma

NEW ZEALAND - Dan Slater Placed second in this year’s Gold Cup and is always a tough competitor. Second Olympics after sailing the 49er in the Sydney Olympics.

NORWAY - Peer Moberg Won Miami last year and the bronze in Qingdao. Laser bronze medalist from 1996 and Laser competitor in 2000 and 2004, this will be his first Olympics in the Finn.

POLAND - Rafal Szukiel Won a close trials against his elder brother Wacław. Only ever placed in the top ten in four Grade 1 regattas including a 7th in Holland and a 10th in Sail Melbourne this year.

RUSSIA - Eduard Skornyakov Was the surprise winner of the 2007 European Championship on Lake Balaton in light winds, then had to wait for Melbourne before managing to qualify Russia for the Olympics.

SLOVENIA - Gasper Vincec Good all rounder, bronze medalist in last year’s Gold Cup and definitely a contender for a medal in China. Other results this year include 2nd in Holland, 4th at the Europeans.

SPAIN - Rafael Trujillo Silver medalist in Athens, Rafael won the Finn Gold Cup last year. Has struggled to find form early this year after dropping weight for China, though he did win the Delta-Lloyd Regatta.

SWEDEN - Daniel Birgmark Second time for Daniel after a 14th in Athens. Regularly top 10 since then and could be a contender for a medal. Best result 4th place in 2006 Gold Cup and 7th at this year’s Europeans.

TURKEY - Ali Kemal Tufekci Only jumped back in the Finn to try and qualify earlier this year and narrowly beat Akif Muslubas in trials. Sailed the Laser in Sydney where he finished 24th.

USA - Zach Railey First Olympics for Zach. Won an intense US trials in October 2007. Best results this year include 3rd in Palma, 9th in Hyeres and 9th at the Europeans. Improving all the time so could be sailing for a medal.

VEN - Johnny Bilbao Late entry to the regatta. Started sailing Finns in 2007 with the help of the IFA’s FIDeS development programme. Improving all the time, but best result so far is 18th at the Delta Lloyd regatta this year.

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Placed second in last year’s preolympics and Finn Gold Cup. Loves the breeze but equally fast in the light. Should be in top six and winning races. Definite contender for a medal.

Gasper Vincec at the Delta Lloyd Regatta Photo (c) www.deltalloydregatta.org

FINNFARE JULY 2008

A closer look at Rule 42 As a follow up to the IFA organized Rule 42 / Appendix P workshop before the European Championship in Scarlino, FINNFARE asked International Judge and former Canadian National Coach, Pat Healy to report on what was discussed. In 2008, this new Appendix P will be used at all Grade 1 events and the Olympics. The system ISAF judges use for on-water judging of kinetics is governed by Appendix P, better know as Yellow Flag Penalties for rocking, ooching or pumping, and the ISAF Rule Interpretations of Rule 42. Two types of penalties First there are two different kinds of decision making processes judges use when determining whether to penalize (Yellow Flag) a boat for breaking rule 42. “Consensus Penalties” – When one judge sees a questionable technique he or she calls the other judge’s attention to the boat. Both judges study the sailor’s action and boat movement and try to reach agreement as to whether or not a rule is being broken. In practice, this often takes some time. The first judge notices the movement and watches it for a few cycles before asking the other judge to study the boat. After a few more cycles with both judges looking at the same thing, they discuss what they see and decide if they agree. Note that if they do reach agreement to penalize, it is often after ten or twelve or more cycles. These consensus decisions about a technique are not reached after only one or two movements of the sailor. “Immediate, One Judge Called Penalties” – There are times during the race when there is no time for discussion. At a starting line a competitor will sometimes try and avoid falling into the second row at the start by a burst of sculling. At the zone or the finish line, they might try to gain an overlap or beat the boat next to them with one big pump. At these times one judge must penalize immediately to stop the infringing boat from gaining a large unfair advantage. Majority of calls during a race An inspection of the Yellow Flag Penalties List posted at the end of the day shows that, on each leg of the course, 90% of the penalties are given for only two or three rules. Avoid these dangerous activities and you will usually avoid yellow flags.

Pre-Start and Start – (These are almost always One Judge Penalty calls) SCULLING – Rule 42.3(d) – “sculling: repeated movement of the helm that is either forceful or that propels the boat forward or prevents her from moving astern [is prohibited].” Interpretation SCULL 1 says a boat can only scull if she is above close-hauled and must be clearly changing direction towards a close-hauled course (port or starboard). Usually the infringement is SCULL 2 - After a boat has sculled in one direction, further connected sculling to offset the first sculling is prohibited. A starboard tack boat that sculled up to head-to-wind cannot scull back towards a starboard close-hauled course, even if she is only trying to prevent the bow from going past head to wind. If you sculled up you cannot scull down on the same side. If you scull down, you cannot scull back up. Most of these penalties are given to boats trying to hold their position at the starboard end of the starting line next to the race committee or, after being pushed below the leeward end starting mark, trying to scull their way up and past the mark, then scull back to a starboard tack close-hauled course. ONE BIG ROLL – One big roll that breaks BASIC 4, the “Paddle Test” (“…any single action of the body that propels the boat (in any direction) with the effect of one stroke of a paddle is prohibited.” ) Although no one has identified the differences between a paddle stroke on a Finn and one on a J/24, the intent of the rule is clear. If a judge sees the boat accelerate faster than she would have without the roll, the boat should be penalized. REPEATED ROLLING = ROCKING – Sometimes when a boat’s timing at the start has been wrong the skipper is tempted to do a second roll to try and hold on to the front row. This is an infringement of rule 42.2(b)(1) (“… repeated rolling of the boat, induced by body movement…) It is surprisingly easy for a judge to see any of these three actions. First, the actions stand out. The extra movement of one skipper sculling, a boat being heeled a second time or even one violent roll, grabs the eye’s attention. It is a bit like trying to find a bird in a tree. It is almost impossible to see the bird until it flies to another branch. Then your eye is automatically drawn to the movement. Second, each judge is only looking at a limited number of boats. If there is a sixty boat fleet there will be three judge boats behind the starting line with two judges per boat. One judge is only looking at ten boats in his or her area.

Photos: James Taylor and Emilio Bianchi

Upwind – (These are almost always two judge “Consensus Penalties”.) ATHWARTSHIPS PUMPING – or “bouncing” on the deck breaks rule 42.2(a). Judges look for two actions. First the top of the leech is flicking open and closed quickly and the flicking is caused by the sailor’s body (PUMP 6). We understand that there is always some leech movement when the boat hits a wave and that it helps to move your body back to help the bow go up the face of a wave then move forward to go down the back side (PUMP 5). The problem is when the motion is too violent and there is an extra bounce of the mast and flick of the leech. If repeated, this breaks 42.2(a) and PUMP 6.

FINNFARE JULY 2008

What are judges looking for when applying (the new) Appendix P – Immediate Penalties For Breaking Rule 42? Downwind – (Again, these are also almost always two judge “Consensus Penalties”. ROCKING – Before getting into some of the small points, let me talk about one action by a Finn sailor that can easily be seen by a judge –the difference between when a sailor’s body movement is encouraging the boat to rock and when it is discouraging or dampening the rock. If a sailor first moves into the boat, then the boat heels to leeward, then his body moves outboard and pulls the mast and sail back up to vertical, the boat is being encouraged to rock. Rocking, or as defined in the rules - repeated rolling, breaks rule 42.2(b). A sailor is discouraging or dampening the rock if the body movement is against the boat’s rolling. If the body goes out to counteract the boat rolling to leeward and comes in when the boat heels to windward, the sailor is not causing the boat to roll. Repeated rolling when the sailor is static (ROCK 4), or moving your body to discourage the rolling is background rolling (ROCK 3), which is allowed. STEERING AND ROCKING AND TRIMMING – Rule 42.3(a) says “a boat may be rolled to facilitate steering. ROCK 6 says almost the same thing with different words. ROCK 7 warns that “repeated rolling not linked to wave patters is … prohibited … even if the boat changes course with each roll. Judges look for three things when deciding whether a sailor is really looking for a better wave or just using the turning as an opportunity to rock (and pump). First, is there a course change? The bigger the course change the easier it is to stay out of trouble. Second, is there a trim that is consistent with the amount the course was changed? A trim and immediate release back to the same angle is a pump. A big hand over hand trim when heading up, and waiting until you turn downwind to ease the mainsail is a good indication that you are trimming and not pumping. Third, is there a rhythm to the turns? If there is, the sailor is in trouble. Waves are erratic and random. When the boat looks like it is a skier slaloming down a well groomed piste, the sailor is in trouble. ONE BIG PUMP AT THE END OF A GYBE – The Rule 42.3(a) exception allows a boat to be rolled, it does not allow the sail to be pumped. Within the last year some sailors have added a clear pump and ease after the boom has swung over to the new side and filled. If one of these is strong enough it could break the “Paddle Test” of BASIC 4. If it is done on every gybe it becomes repeated and breaks the rule against pumping, 42.2(a). Flag Oscar - When Oscar Is Not Flying At the Europeans this year it seemed like the wind would increase to eleven knots and stay there. The Race Committee could not display flag Oscar but there were lots of good waves for surfing. Rule 42 was in effect and sailors could pump once per wave to initiate surfing. Judges watch the waves and the boat movement to determine if surfing is possible. If surfing is not possible, the entire fleet will be going about the same speed. If surfing is .possible, some of the boats will accelerate while others are waiting for their wave. Remember, it isn’t your opinion about whether surfing conditions exist or not, it is the judges’. A second mistake is adding a roll to the pump. Leaning in and allowing the boat to heel to leeward, then leaning back and using your back and arm muscles would give you a big pump and a big

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roll. If surfing conditions exist, one pump per wave is allowed. One roll per wave is not included in the rule 42.3(c) exceptions, even if you surf on the wave. More than one roll in a same area of the leg is repeated and may cause you to be penalized. When Oscar Is Flying If there is enough wind to fly flag Oscar, Finn Class Rule C.1.1 (1) says, “pumping, rocking and ooching are permitted … except before the start and on a beat to windward”. There are still a few traps to step in. The biggest trap is that sculling is still prohibited. You can still get into trouble at the start or when trying fall off around a mark or during penalty turns by sculling below close hauled. Redress when judges make a mistake The new Appendix P changes the redress rule. It says, “A boat will not be given redress for an action by a member of the protest committee … unless the action was improper due to a failure to take into account a race committee signal or a class rule.” You cannot be given redress if you think you can show that the judge misinterpreted the rule. It does allow you to get redress if a judge does not see that flag Oscar is flying and penalizes you. If this happens (and it is your first penalty) remember how many boats you lost while doing your penalty turns and apply for redress. Final thought How judges and sailors are learning to deal with the on-water judging of Rule 42 is very similar to the way match races and umpires developed in match racing. In the beginning, sailors wanted to know the black and white line between what an umpire would call if they saw a given situation. Eventually, the top match racers learned that being right in a complicated situation was often not enough. They began to understand that the real question was, “If ten umpires see this situation, what percentage will call it my way and what percentage will call it the other way.” Eventually they began to understand the rules so well that they would say, “If I do this, 8 out of 10 umpires will give the other boat a penalty, or 5 out of 10, or 2 out of 10.” Some called this “Street Smarts”. Others called it “Competitive Maturity”. I think the same is true with on-water judging of rule 42. Will a series of big rocks during big turns without big trims of the mainsheet get you in trouble 2 out of 10 times, or 5 out of 10 times or 8 out of 10 times? Having an understanding of that number will keep you off the Yellow Flag Penalty list posted at the end of each day. Pat Healy pat@phealy.net Besides reviewing rule 42 in the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing, you might also want to download ISAF’s Rule 42 Interpretations (http://sailing.org/tools/documents/42interpretations2005%5B515%5D.doc) and the new Appendix P 2008 (http://sailing.org/tools/documents/SI_Appendix_P_2008-%5B5342%5D.doc).

First sailed in 1970 when just 18 boats turned up, the Finn World Masters Championship has grown year on year and is regularly the highest attended Finn event in the calendar. This year was no exception, and with the event being held at the popular venue of Medemblik in Holland from May 9-16, an unprecedented 229 ageing Finn sailors turned up. André Budzien put together an almost flawless series to take the title for the second year running. The Finn World Masters is much more than just another regatta. It has become symbolic of the camaraderie and sportsmanship that the class is famous for. For many sailors, the Finn Masters is the perfect antidote to Olympic sailing and allows sailors to remain a part of the class, even if they only sail the one regatta a year – as many do. The program in Medemblik also included after sailing drinks, cultural events and a ladies program. As always it was a very inclusive and fun regatta. The firing of the massive cannon outside Radboud Castle in Medemblik announced the opening of the championship in grand style. After the smoke and the noise had dispersed into the sultry evening, the largest single class regattas ever to be held in The Netherlands was officially underway. Day 1 - Two bullets for Budzien They may be old, they may be grey and some may even be a bit wrinkly, but that doesn’t stop the Finn Masters from enjoying tough and competitive racing. Two challenging races were sailed on Monday, in very different conditions. In the first the breeze hardly got over 5-6 knots, with lots of pressure differential across the course. In the afternoon, a 12-14 knot wind kicked in producing exciting downwind legs and providing a physical challenge rather than a mental one. Budzien got it right in both races and won both his heats. In the other heats, race wins went to Jurgen Kraft and Allen Burrell. Burrell, a previous double bronze medalist at this event placed 55th in the morning race, but clearly enjoyed the afternoon breeze. Day 2 - Perfect score for Budzien On Tuesday two races were sailed in winds from 12-16 knots, with free pumping on all the downwind legs. In both of his heats Budzien lead for the majority of the race, executing great tactics, with good boat

FINN WORLD MASTERS 2008 - FINAL RESULTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Sail no GER 711 BUL 24 NED 100 GRE 1 NED 29 NED 888 GBR 2 USA 24 USA 808 NED 703 FRA 75 NED 747 GRE 71 NED 804 GBR 8 GER 310 NED 897 GBR 10 NED 55 NED 780 NED 62 DEN 140 NED 27 GBR 669 CRO 110 ITA 38 NED 25 DEN 7 DEN 196 SWE 734

Name André Budzien Mihail Kopanov Han Bergsma Ilias Hatzipaulis Bas de Waal Luuk Kuijper Allen Burrell Conrad Brown R. Phillip Ramming Eric Bakker Laurant Hay Thierry van Vierssen Panagiotis Davourlis Cees Scheurwater Tim Carver Ralf Behrens Ed van der Steene Robert Deaves Eddy Huisman Jan Willem Kok Alex Breuseker Michael Bæk Paul Kamphorst Adrian Brunton Luksa Cicarelli Claudio Bosetti Arwin Karssemeijer Michael Staal Lars Hall Stefan Fagerlund

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total 1 1 1 1 3 2 (10) 9 5 4 2 3 (33) 1 3 18 (21) 3 2 5 2 3 4 19 10 2 8 (dns) 1 1 8 30 3 9 10 4 (ocs) 4 1 31 11 2 5 6 (30) 21 2 47 (52) 1 1 9 28 4 15 58 4 (17) 17 10 13 12 5 61 23 6 7 9 6 (57) 12 63 12 7 13 (20) 3 18 11 64 15 8 9 8 (ocs) 11 14 65 6 5 16 6 1 (dnf) 36 70 7 8 4 19 (42) 29 9 76 10 4 11 2 4 (dnc) 46 77 25 11 4 14 18 7 (dnc) 79 21 15 22 8 4 9 (dnc) 79 2 24 11 16 14 13 (39) 80 8 15 14 15 15 (27) 19 86 17 10 12 (69) 23 19 6 87 8 6 3 2 20 (ocs) 53 92 40 5 8 11 19 12 (47) 95 5 23 (37) 7 5 23 33 96 7 11 27 10 14 27 (49) 96 51 7 15 1 25 2 (58) 101 11 18 19 14 (31) 21 18 101 22 18 10 17 29 8 (35) 104 (41) 9 9 4 33 30 25 110 (48) 14 12 21 16 5 43 111 61 17 3 12 13 9 (65) 115 17 33 (39) 17 28 14 7 116

Masters - 1. Andre Budzien (GER)

2. Mihail Kopanov (BUL), 3. Han Bergsma (NED)

Grand Masters (50-59) - 1. Ilias Hatzipaulis (GRE) 2. Phillip Ramming (USA), 3. Michael Bæk (DEN)

Great Grand Masters (60-69) - 1. Luksa Cicarelli (CRO) 2. Pascal Tetard (FRA), 3. Jiri Outrata (CZE)

Legends (70+) - 1. Walter Mai (GER)

2. Victor Kozlov (RUS), 3. Willi Meister (GER)

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All sailing photos: Suzanne van der Horst. Others: Robert Deaves

Finn World Masters 2008 – The largest Finn event of all time

REST OF GOLD FLEET 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96

FRA 150 Pascal Tetard 119 NED 81 Gerko Visser 127 CZE 8 Jiri Outrata 127 RSA 2 Alan Serritslev 130 GBR 61 John Heyes 134 RSA 1 Greg Davis 136 GER 217 Carsten Niehusen 145 IND 1 Roel van Olst 149 GER 39 Erich Karl-Heinz 150 GER 701 Klaus-Dieter Götz 150 NED 66 Ewout Meijer 158 RSA 51 Philip Baum 159 NED 860 Loek Kruijer 159 NED 54 Joos Bos 161 DEN 17 Lars Juel Christensen 164 CZE 318 Martin Plecity 167 GBR 1 Sander Kooij 170 SWE 721 Mikael Brandt 171 NED 77 Jan-Jaap Lamme 171 GBR 567 Martin Hughes 173 GBR 77 Howard Sellars 175 AUS 242 Bob Buchanan 177 GBR 665 Julian C Smith 181 NED 11 Henk de Jager 187 NED 2 Wouter Molenaar 191 GER 35 Hans-Günter Ehlers 195 RUS 5 Sergey Zabotin 196 FRA 99 Allain des Beauvais Marc 197 GBR 672 David Potter 197 NED 1 Jan van der Horst 198 NED 4 Ruurd Baerends 200 HUN 4 Lajos Varga 201 NED 58 Pieter de Gooijer 206 POR 5 Jorge Pinheiro de Melo 208 NED 47 Auke Woerdeman 209 DEN 5 Søren Oster 212 NED 30 Hero Mulder 213 RSA 540 Alan Tucker 213 FRA 10 Patrick Nicolas 213 GER 208 Uwe Kinast 214 GER 146 Friedrich Müller 220 HUN 2 Peter Sipos 228 ITA 4 Francesco Faggiani 228 GER 206 Klaus Reffelmann 236 NED 8 Rodrick Casander 236 SWE 735 Johan Wijk 238 GBR 631 Richard Hart 238 GER 262 Uwe Barthel 241 GER 3 Walter Mai 241 NED 777 Albert Kroon 246 GER 48 Manfred Pöschl 249 CZE 7 Vaclav Cintl 255 NED 10 Nanne Boot 258 NED 95 Wobbe de Schiffart 260 GER 19 Andreas Bollongino 265 NED 3 Gert van Woudenberg 270 NED 35 Bas Proper 273 SUI 496 Thomas Gautschi 275 GER 111 Rainer Haacks 278 NZL 3 Ben Winters 286 DEN 249 Svend V. Andersen 287 RUS 28 Victor Kozlov 288 NED 88 Chiel Barends 289 GBR 611 Tony Lock 292 NED 5 Rene Sala 297 GER 209 Steffen Fölsing 298

speed and was always among the first few to the windward mark. He extended downwind to secure each victory. Other heat wins went to Adrian Brunton, after banging in the generally unfavoured right hand corner on the final upwind, and Burrell. Day 3 – New race winners Wednesday’s race brought lighter winds with a few upsets, however after five races the discard had an equally large effect, bringing to the top many sailors who had picked up a high score in the first few races. After the first heat Budzien continued to

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97 NED 6 Rob Huisman 98 NED 39 Hans Zomer 99 GER 7 Reiner Heinings 100 RUS 151 Vladimir Butenko 101 GBR 24 Rory Barnes 102 GBR 656 Graeme Macdonald 103 HUN 51 Istvan Ruta 104 SUI 11 Hans Fatzer 105 ESP 260 Victor Serrano Conesa 106 GBR 12 Daniel Belton 107 GER 202 Rolf Elsaesser 108 SWE 711 Sten Waldo 109 GER 92 Detlev Guminski 110 GER 119 Peter Bronke 111 ESP 295 Javier Moreno 112 NED 835 Jaap Goede 113 MON 234 Michael Kurtz 114 FRA 69 Philippe Lobert 115 GER 42 Jürgen Kraft

301 303 304 306 306 307 317 320 321 326 327 330 332 334 336 338 354 359 360

SILVER FLEET 1 SUI 13 Peter Kilchenmann 271 2 GER 240 Jürgen Paffrath 275 3 GER 56 Eckart Klages 282 4 GER 58 Thomas Schulz 283 5 NED 895 Jan-Tjeerd vd der Meulen 289 6 FRA 865 Rochet Joseph 302 7 GER 51 Hermann Heide 303 8 AUS 2 Rob McMillan 304 9 POL 21 Jacek Binkowski 304 10 BEL 5 Yves Verhofstad 304 11 RUS 34 Alexsander Banko 309 12 NED 748 Fons van Gent 309 13 RSA 571 Andreas Bohnsack 312 14 GBR 624 John Torrance 314 15 NED 72 Lacus-jan Groenhout 317 16 GBR 46 Patrick Moore 319 17 NED 899 Gertjan de Blij 320 18 RUS 71 Leonid Klayman 327 19 NED 69 Remmelt Staal 329 20 GER 109 Manfred Tomaszewski 335 21 GER 195 Peter Wolzen 335 22 FRA 800 Yves Zoccola 342 23 GER 89 Günter Kellermann 345 24 ITA 43 Pietro Piram 346 25 SWE 740 Sverker Härd 349 26 SUI 40 Heinz Stammnitz 353 27 GER 55 Herbert Sondermann 354 28 CZE 202 Gebhart Zdene 368 29 NED 823 Nico van Wirdum 368 30 GER 26 Willi Meister 372 31 GER 155 Edwin Gast 373 32 GER 300 Eggo Zopfs 374 33 SUI 7 Jiri Huracek 380 34 GER 57 Heinz Wendel 381 35 NED 23 Robert Sledziewski 390 36 NED 13 Harold Lensing 390 37 GER 2 Nils Peters 397 38 GER 308 Marco Colombo 401 39 NED 866 Hans Steijn 404 40 NED 786 Johan de Schiffart 409 41 GER 122 Holger Krasmann 415 42 NED 774 Evert-Jan Nilting 415 43 NED 43 Jack van Hellemond 416 44 CZE 222 Petr Vinkl 416 45 DEN 192 Johnny Aagesen 418 46 GER 63 Michael Pandler 419

47 GBR 64 Craig Kirkpatrick-Whitby 423 48 GER 112 Egbert Vincke Dr. 425 49 NED 862 Rob Woudstra 426 50 NED 32 Peter Verhoef 426 51 NED 50 Jan Zetzema 434 52 GER 34 Dieter Borges 435 53 HUN 9 Tamas Beliczay 436 54 FRA 1 Didier Poissant 438 55 RSA 570 Gerd. H.Bohnsack 440 56 GER 32 Felix Spring 447 57 AUS 231 James Mayjor 449 58 GER 82 Alfons Huber 451 59 NED 723 Pieter Risseeuw 452 60 NED 7 John van Altena 456 61 SUI 58 Bruno Marti 456 62 GER 144 Jens Ott 459 63 NED 9 Jobs Isselmann 469 64 NED 813 Lenard Kaptein 475 65 DEN 226 Birger Sund Nielsen 476 66 CZE 4 Božena Šmídová 481 67 SUI 16 Carlo Lazzari 482 68 DEN 172 Ole Blichfeldt Madsen 485 69 NED 20 Leo Hartman 490 70 GBR 14 Steve Sampson 490 71 GBR 54 Keith Fedi 492 72 GER 98 André Schmid 495 73 SWE 752 Hans Wiberg 502 74 NED 848 Pax van de Griend 506 75 NED 865 Jack Kamminga 507 76 GBR 668 Nick Turley 513 77 BEL 76 Paul Goossens 515 78 GBR 583 Paul Brown 522 79 GER 77 Lothar Köpnick 524 80 ESP 179 Emilio Plagaro 524 81 DEN 8 Peter Malm 525 82 GER 161 Ralf Kratz 527 83 GER 168 Jack Larsen 529 84 NED 17 Ab Schippers 531 85 NED 68 Martijn David 531 86 GER 186 Detlef Blaschkowski 538 87 NED 836 Bart Kraan 538 88 NED 870 Gelmus Peeters 538 89 NED 367 Arthur van Son 538 90 DEN 205 Mogens Petersson 540 91 GER 30 Ralf Heim 541 92 GER 131 Horst Schlick 541 93 DEN 174 Jan Verner Nielsen 541 94 SWE 750 Lasse Larsson 543 95 NED 67 Rutger Rozemuller 544 96 GER 102 Siegfried Boehl 548 97 NED 101 Christian Scheen 556 98 DEN 178 Ane Zielinski 563 99 GER 71 Blass Bernd 574 100 GER 175 Michael Möckel 577 101 GER 53 Dr Kay-Detlev Berg 585 102 GER 9 Friedrich Koch 590 103 ESP 303 Jose Comesaña 592 104 NED 749 Dick Hooijer 593 105 NED 51 Maarten Oberman 597 106 GRE 180 Basileios Tsampouniaris 611 107 NED 841 Henk van Egmond 619 108 GER 130 Alfred Blum 627 109 GER 46 Dr. Peter Truhm 637 110 NED 48 Boudewijn Kortbeek 639 111 DEN 22 Kim Svare 654 112 NED 869 Willem van Dijk 656 113 GER 124 Holger Dietrich 659 114 GER 95 Gerd Bollrath 674

lead the scoreline, but tainted his copybook with a third place finish behind Thierry van Vierssen and Han Bergma. In the second heat, Ilias Hatzipaulis won in front of Gerko Visser and Eric Bakker. Day 4 - With a day to spare On Thursday, the wind started at around 15 knots but soon dropped to about 10 knots once the starts got underway, and at times during the races dropped to 4-5 knots. It was very tricky sailing at times. Wide pressure differential across the course also caused a few upsets, but Budzien assured

Massed start line at the Finn World Masters in Medemblik Photo (c) Suzanne van der Horst

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After a great final day the only two Americans sailing both leap frogged into the top ten. Conrad Brown placed 5th to jump to 8th and Phillip Ramming placed 12th to jump to 9th. Ramming also took the silver in the Grand Masters behind the 1972 Olympic silver medalist Illias Hatipaulis who also finished 4th overall. Luksa Cicarelli took the Great Grand Masters title while Walter Mai was the top Legend sailing here. All ten Finn Legends competing in the event were honoured with a prize.

Above: AndrĂŠ Budzien on his way to victory Below: Launching at Medemblik

himself of his second title by placing second in his heat behind Hatzipaulis who won his second race in a row. The other heat was won by Mihail Kopanov in a race plagued by large wind shifts and patchy holes. Day 5 - Largest ever Finn event closes The final day of racing was split into gold and silver heats and produced conditions similar to previous days. A promising stiff breeze in the morning gave way to a patchy 5-10

knots. However, it was an exciting race as most of the top 20 already had a high score on the board, so couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford another. As a result of the fitful winds, several sailors who had been top ten all week, suffered in the tricky conditions and dropped a significant number of places. As usual those who favoured the left hand side dominated the races with the gold fleet race win going to Bas de Waal to place 5th overall, followed by Luuk Kuijper which boosted him from 10th to 6th, and third was Mihail Kopanov to maintain his silver medal position. A fourth for Han Bergsma sealed the bronze medal.

The 229 boat fleet was the largest ever assembled Finn fleet in the 59 year history of the class and underlines the popularity of the boat outside the Olympic circuit. The line up included 11 previous Olympic contenders and countless sailors who had campaigned a Finn at the highest level. Next year the Finn World Masters is being held in Maubuisson, France. With more Finn sailors reaching the age of 40 and more ex-Finn sailors coming back to the class, a large fleet is also expected in 2009. The problem facing the event organisers now is finding venues large enough to hold a regatta of this size. It is a problem well worth having.

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Danke Rolf und Lilo Lehnert Hiermit danke Ich noch mal Rolf Lehnert und sein Frau Lilo. Rolf war 16 Jahre lang Präsident des Finn Masters Flotte und unter Seinen Leitung die Flotte ist gewachsen bis die heutige Größe. Beim Abschied während die Preisverteilung am Ende der Finn World Masters in Medemblik, Holland, hat Rolf als Geschenk ein Finn Halbmodell mit Inskription und Lilo ein Goldenen Finnzeichen gekriegt. In dem Name alle Finn Masters bedanke Ich Rolf und Lilo fűr alles was Sie fűr Uns gemacht haben. Thank you Rolf and Lilo Lehnert I herewith thank Rolf Lehnert and his wife Lilo. For 16 years Rolf was President of the Finn Masters Fleet and in those years the fleet grew till the size it has today. During the prizegiving ceremony at the end of the Finn World Masters in Medemblik, Holland, Rolf received a Finn half model with inscription and Lilo received a necklace with a golden Finn sign. On behalf of all Finn Masters I thank Rolf and Lilo for everything they did for us. Fons van Gent Präsident Finn Masters Flotte / President Finn Masters Fleet

Die hier unterstehende E-Mail Unseres IFA Präsident wurde vorgelesen:

This E-mail from our IFA president, Dr. Balazs Hajdu was read out:

Lieber Rolf und Lilo Liebe Segler und Seglerinnen Lieber Damen und Herren

Dear Rolf and Lilo Dear Sailors Dear Ladies and Gentlemen

Es ist eine Ehre und ein großes Vergnügen, das ich im Namen der Internationalen Finn Association Rolf und Lilo Lehnert für ihre hervorragenden Ausführungen und der Unterstützung zur Internationalen Welt von Finnsegeln und besonders für ihren Beitrag zur Mastersflotte danken darf.

It is an honour and a great pleasure for me to thank on behalf of the International Finn Association Rolf and Lilo Lehnert for their outstanding achievements and support to the international world of Finn sailing and especially for their contribution to the Masters fleet.

Ohne Frage haben Rolf und Lilo einen fantastischen Beitrag zu unserer geliebten Finnklasse geliefert und waren in der letzten 15 Jahre immer da für uns, mitlerweil eine 200+ starke internationale Finn Mastersflotte aufbauend, die sehr Viel Ehre und Tradition an dieser großen Klasse zufügt.

Without question Rolf and Lilo have made a fantastic contribution to our beloved class and have been key figures in the past in building up a 200+ strong international Finn Masters fleet adding herewith tremendously to the fame and tradition of this great class.

Grüsse

Yours

Dr. Balazs Hajdu, IFA President

Mission Statement from your new Vice-President Masters

When Rolf Lehnert announced two years ago that he would retire from being President of the Masters fleet I was asked by Finn sailors from several countries to succeed him. After almost two years thinking and discussing with my wife I decided to take over the job. The fact that I will retire from work on May 1 2009 has made the decision easier. Unfortunately there were no other candidates so no voting was necessary, but I was glad to see that all Finn Masters, who were present at the meeting, supported Friedrich Muller who proposed me. In my first speech I gave the following mission statement: “I thank you all for having faith in me as the new President of the Finn Masters fleet.

I will be there for all Master Finn sailors and will always be at your service and don’t hesitate to contact me when there is anything you want to discuss about the Finn World Masters event. This year I will become 40 years old for the 21st time. In these 21 years I attended 16 World Masters events, so I know a lot of the Finn Masters, which will make my job easier. One of the things I will pick up first is bringing more structure in the organisation, because I think this is necessary in a growing event like this. In my opinion it is desirable to create continuity by making some regulations that will secure the future of the Finn World Masters. Communication will from now on be through Internet and e-mail, as the Dutch organisation

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of the 2009 event started it. It appeared to be very comfortable for almost all sailors and the organisation of the event. Furthermore the major language will be English, but whenever someone did really not understand what was said I will translate very short in German or French. Other languages are not my strongest points. We will have to safeguard the format of the event as we have agreed it. We must be aware of the growing amount of “youngsters” in the Masters fleet, but we must make sure that it remains joyful for all Masters between 40 and far up. It must remain a good combination of good, sportive sailing, good eating and drinking and a kind of yearly reunion. There were 42 sailors entered for the event at Medemblik who did not show up without any message. They will receive an invoice from the Dutch committee, because this creates a gap in the finances. A lot of things (i.e. food, mementos) were ordered on base of the total amount of entries and will be charged by the suppliers also for the sailors who didn’t show up. I will end with the announcement that within a short time I will travel to Maubuisson in France to visit the organising committee for the Finn World Masters in 2009. In 2010 we will sail in Split, Croatia, so we do not have to vote for a location for 2010.” Fons van Gent President Finn Masters fleet

Pieter Jan Postma at the Delta Lloyd Regatta Photo (c) www.deltalloydregatta.org

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Anthiny Nossiter at the European Championship, Scarlino Photo (c) James Robinson Taylor

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Movie clips from the 2008 European Championships in Scarlino, Italy Move your mouse over the image to play each movie

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European Championship 2008 – Scarlino, Italy In a week of sunshine and drama in Scarlino in Tuscany, Ben Ainslie took his fourth Finn European title on the Bay of Follonica from May 2-10. Coping with some impressive race comebacks and a disqualification, he overcame all the odds in the medal race to win in a thrilling finale. The Junior championship was finally won by Jan Kurfeld, who had trailed last year’s silver medalist until the final race. FINN EUROPEANS 2008 - FINAL RESULTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

GBR 3 CRO 524 FRA 73 SLO 5 DEN 2 CAN 41 SWE 11 NED 842 USA 4 ESP 100

Ben Ainslie Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic Guillaume Florent Gasper Vincec Jonas Høgh-Christensen Christopher Cook Daniel Birgmark Pieter-Jan Postma Zach Railey Rafael Trujillo

1 16 4 (dsq) 4 9 2 2 6 6 1 3 4 12 10 14 3 2 3 (bfd) 14 9 15 1 (63) 6 5 (35) 7 11

The final international Finn class championship prior to the Olympic regatta, the 2008 Finn Open and Junior Championship, was hosted by the Club Nautico Scarlino, which is located in the La Marina di Scarlino, a brand new marina in the Gulf of Follonica, Maremma, Tuscany.

2 8 1 13 5 3 19 (20) 7 16

8 7 3 9 (30) 1 18 2 5 16

1 8 12 15 10 11 4 17 16 27

(dsq) 1 6 (dsq) 2 (dsq) 7 10 3 4

8 6 (20) 4 11 16 3 7 21 1

maintained his second place, but behind him Daniel Birgmark had moved from around 20th at the first mark to 11th at the gate to third place at the finish.

Following a welcome by local dignitaries and event organisers, a parade of flags ensued with local and visiting children - each one waving the flag of a competing nation - being announced onto the stage accompanied by Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. After all 30 flags representing the 30 countries competing had arrived on stage, the championship was officially declared open and guests and competitors were treated to a lavish buffet dinner in the castle’s hilltop grounds, offering stunning sunset views over the surrounding Tuscany hillside, the coast and the shadowy shape of Elba sitting on the horizon.

Day two - Long day afloat The glorious Tuscany weather returned for the second day of racing but the wind didn’t make things easy. It took four hours waiting for the wind to stabilise and three general recalls before racing could finally start. Finally the fleet set off to a black flag at 16.00 and was let go, but with 16 boats disqualified for being OCS. Eduardo Couto, one of those who scored OCS made the best of the beat to lead round the top mark followed by Gasper Vincec and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic. Ainslie rounded back in 45th. Couto extended on the first downwind as the breeze increased, but then lost some ground on next upwind to Chris Cook and Vincec. Vincec took the lead on the final run followed by Florent and Cook.

Day one - First race to Ainslie Conditions were quite trying for some with a hazy air, flat sea and a light wind. After a three hour delay the championship got underway with a single race in 6-8 knots of patchy breeze. After a clear start near the favoured pin end Ben Ainslie led round the first mark by 50 metres from Guillaume Florent, Piotr Kula, Ismael Bruno and Jonas Høgh-Christensen. The fleet favoured the right on the run as Ainslie extended his lead to nearly a minute at the first leeward gate. He played the middle ground again up the second beat before extending again on the run to win by nearly two minutes. Florent

Race three got underway almost immediately at 17.20. The wind had by now stabilised and strengthened further. The fleet again got away to a black flag and Pieter-Jan Postma, starting near the committee boat, controlled the first upwind to round the top mark with a small lead over Zach Railey and Tim Goodbody. In the increased wind Postma excelled to take a commanding lead by the leeward gate and went on to win the race. Cook was comfortable in second place with Vincec rounded off a good day with a third place to take the overall lead. Kula continued to lead the juniors after a 10th and a 41st.

2 4 16 8 12 18 6 14 20 10

42 47 48 59 66 68 74 75 83 92

Day three - Florent tops leaderboard After a postponement onshore race four started at 14.40 with Florent building up a useful lead into the first mark over Tapio Nirkko and 2005 World Junior Champion, Jan Kurfeld. On the first downwind Florent extended his lead on the right, while Ainslie moved up to 5th by the bottom mark, just behind Nirkko, Kurfeld and Chris Cook. Most of the fleet went right up the second beat and Florent controlled his lead from this side. Nirkko split tacks to play the middle and lost some ground on Cook, while Ainslie moved up to 4th. On the final downwind, Florent looked under pressure as Ainslie overtook Cook and then Nirkko and started closing in. However Florent just had a large enough gap to take the win. Race five started at 16.05 with the wind now increased to 10-12 knots and followed a similar pattern. The right side paid again, with Cook sailing clear of the pack to lead round the first mark followed by Florent, Ismael Bruno and Nirkko. Meanwhile Ainslie had set himself another comeback challenge rounding the top mark in the early 30s. The ‘O’ flag was raised for unlimited pumping allowing Cook to stretch out his lead. Also enjoying the downwind was Postma who moved up to 4th and Ainslie who made the largest gain to about 16th. On the final upwind, Cook controlled from the front, but both Postma and Florent started to close in on the run. However by the finish the positions hadn’t changed and Cook took a well deserved win. Ainslie continued his comeback tradition and finished 8th to keep his title chances alive.

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11 POL 7 Rafal Szukiel 15 17 16 10 20 13 5 15 (24) 111 12 FIN 218 Tapio Nirkko 20 23 17 4 4 26 12 9 (31) 115 13 GBR 111 Ed Wright 8 13 8 28 14 2 (bfd) 29 14 116 14 NZL 1 Dan Slater 32 11 7 (ocs) 19 6 16 17 13 121 15 AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 24 (28) 12 23 12 3 9 22 16 121 16 ITA 117 Giorgio Poggi 11 26 15 22 (29) 14 15 25 15 143 17 FRA 972 Ismael Bruno 7 21 23 29 6 (31) 24 28 12 150 18 TUR 211 Ali kemal Tufekci (62) 22 18 17 25 24 14 5 28 153 19 FRA 69 Jonathan Lobert 22 5 24 (27) 13 18 20 27 27 156 20 GBR 625 Ed Greig 26 8 (ocs) 15 32 5 29 18 25 158 21 IRL 5 Timothy Goodbody 27 (bfd) 13 30 22 21 22 2 22 159 22 RUS 9 Eduard Skornyakov (54) 14 22 9 24 25 8 30 35 167 23 GER 771 Jan Kurfeld 37 25 25 6 27 (44) 18 10 21 169 24 POL 17 Piotr Kula 10 10 (41) 14 26 30 37 23 26 176 25 CZE 1 Michael Maier (52) 30 21 37 15 23 23 24 17 190 26 ITA 101 Riccardo Cordovani 21 19 36 35 31 (dnf) 17 12 23 194 27 GBR 88 Mark Andrews 31 33 26 11 28 7 (34) 32 30 198 28 NOR 1 Peer Moberg 23 (bfd) 19 ocs 10 28 11 13 11 199 29 ITA 90 Emanuele Vaccari 5 29 29 (47) 33 38 13 26 37 210 30 AUT 3 Florian Raudaschl 30 20 28 36 21 19 21 41 (dnc) 216 31 CYP 19 Haris Papadopoulos 39 (bfd) 46 31 11 20 19 14 44 224 32 SWE 6 Bjorn Allansson (50) 9 20 26 40 35 39 31 29 229 33 GBR 634 Andrew Mills (ocs) bfd 35 24 17 9 25 19 33 246 34 NED 787 Nanno Schuttrups 34 32 42 18 41 41 (55) 34 20 262 35 CZE 3 Rudolf Lidarik 17 24 30 38 47 34 38 35 (49) 263 36 ESP1 1 Diego Fructuoso (51) 27 34 34 38 42 28 39 32 274 37 CZE 52 Tomas Vika 33 36 33 32 37 37 33 (44) 41 282 38 CAN 1 Matt Johnston 48 (bfd) 44 41 34 22 26 38 34 287 39 GRE 8 Alexandros Dragoutsis 47 37 (50) 25 35 48 31 36 46 305 40 ITA 40 Marko Kolic 13 (dnc) 37 60 23 29 60 bfd 19 325 41 ITA 70 Francesco Lubrano 41 34 49 33 (57) 32 35 56 45 325 42 UKR 5 Andriy Gusenko 25 35 38 48 (51) 43 46 47 48 330 43 BUL 24 Mihail Kopanov (72) 18 47 42 43 39 47 45 50 331 44 NED 45 Dennis de Ruiter 12 45 40 57 45 (63) 43 55 36 333 45 ITA 68 Piero Romeo 68 (bfd) 48 12 49 53 32 62 18 342 46 RUS 14 Dmirtry Tereshkin (70) 43 31 40 55 49 49 49 43 359 47 HUN 8 Marton Beliczay 38 40 (68) 43 46 50 64 42 55 378 48 ITA 97 Carlo Recchi 45 (bfd) 53 46 44 45 52 48 47 380 49 HUN 6 Gaszton Pal 16 31 43 (68) 54 56 58 63 60 381 50 ITA 2 Marco Buglielli 43 42 51 56 (59) 51 42 46 51 382 51 CAN 4 Abe Torchinsky 74 (bfd) 45 45 60 36 27 57 42 386 52 GER 717 Sebastian Kaule 56 (bfd) 27 54 62 46 48 54 40 387 53 POL 1 Michal Strusinski 58 38 64 53 (67) 52 41 37 59 402 54 BRA 10 Eduardo Couto (ocs) bfd 39 44 39 47 30 bfd 39 406 55 ITA 82 Roberto Bosetti 18 49 56 (66) 64 58 50 61 58 414 56 ITA 926 Simone Mancini 49 48 55 51 (66) 54 62 51 52 422 57 NED 41 Karel Van Hellemond 46 (bfd) ocs 39 48 40 51 33 dnc 425 58 RUS 5 Alexey Selivanov (ocs) dnc dnc 21 36 33 44 40 dnc 426 59 DEN 231 Kenneth Boggild 40 (bfd) 52 55 50 60 56 67 53 433 60 CZE 21 Jan Cajcic 53 41 69 (74) 53 57 40 65 57 435 61 CZE 81 Tomas Hrncal 28 60 (77) 63 56 62 57 59 64 449 62 POR 5 Frederico Melo 67 (bfd) 32 50 42 55 dnf dnc 38 452 63 NED 844 Gert Van der Heijden 44 59 65 49 61 75 36 66 (dnc) 455 64 ITA 71 Lorenzo PodestĂ 55 (bfd) 67 64 52 59 54 50 56 457 65 RUS 91 Viacheslav Sivienkov 29 57 73 69 (75) 67 65 43 66 469 66 POL 77 Maciej Pezala 42 54 66 52 65 66 66 60 (68) 471 67 HUN 270 Geza Huszar 36 47 60 72 72 71 45 68 (dnc) 471 68 RUS 17 Vasily Kravchenko 60 46 (74) 71 63 61 59 58 54 472 69 HUN 128 Peter Haidekker 59 53 (72) 62 58 64 71 53 65 485 70 ITA 13 Paolo Cisbani (73) 50 59 59 73 73 73 52 62 501 71 USA 24 Conrad Brown 19 39 54 70 70 (dnf) dnc dnc dnc 504 72 GRE 71 Davourlis Panagiutis 66 44 62 58 68 69 67 (dnc) dnc 518 73 POL 9 Tomek Kosmicki 64 56 61 67 (77) 77 69 71 63 528 74 ITA 27 Andrea Bianchi 57 (bfd) 58 65 69 68 70 64 dnc 535 75 SRB 1 Srdjan Volarevic 69 62 57 73 (78) 72 72 70 61 536 76 SRB 7 Branislav Erac 61 61 70 61 (80) 78 68 74 70 543 77 GRE 3 Constantinos Gnafakis 65 55 71 78 71 79 63 69 (dnc) 551 78 ITA 5 Francesco Cinque (ocs) 51 63 75 79 74 53 dnc dnc 563 79 GRE 2 Eirinaios Gnafakis 75 58 76 77 74 65 74 72 (dnc) 571 80 SRB 71 Darko Burcul (76) 52 75 76 76 76 75 73 69 572 81 ITA 722 Michele Tognozzi (dnc) dnc dnc dnc dnc 70 61 dnc dnc 635 82 ITA 103 Mauro Merlini 71 (dnc) dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc 67 642 83 GRE 7 Emilios Papathanasiou (dnf) dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc dnc 672

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Top to bottom: La Marina di Scarlino, Daniel Birgmark, Guillaume Florent,

Emanuele Vaccari, Chris Cook leads. All photos by Emilio Bianchi and James Taylor

Florent said, “I was really happy about how I sailed today. In the first race I was very fast and I picked the right hand side of the course and managed to stay well ahead of the fleet and in control.” Cook agreed with Florent’s thoughts but added, “For me it was a pretty difficult day. In fact if I had to sum it up I would say it was very stressful. I kept on putting myself in bad positions on the start line and had a tough time getting across all the bows. In the second race the free pumping was really fun and it was great to be able to stretch out.”

and had to tack off and duck transoms. He managed to find a clear lane and worked up the middle to round the top mark just behind Wright. Third round the mark was HøghChristensen, who started right on the pin and also went to the left. Ainslie moved ahead at the end of the first downwind to lead to the finish, with Wright placed second again while Kljakovic Gaspic moved up to third. However, in a bizarre twist, Cook protested Ainslie for a start line incident, and both sailors ended up disqualified for separate incidents. In addition, Wright was scored OCS, so this left Kljakovic Gaspic as the race winner, with Høgh-Christensen in second. Then Vincec was disqualified after a top mark incident with Zach Railey, leaving Railey with the third place finish, after crossing the line 6th. Guillaume Florent, continued to hold a 10 point lead over Ainslie, while Cook had dropped to third. Meanwhile, the battle for the Junior title was hotting up with Kurfeld reducing the points gap on the current leader Kula to just 11 points.

A first and a third moved Florent into the lead while Kula retained the lead in the junior fleet, although Kurfeld had a better day with a 7th and 27th. Day four - Mixed fortunes After one general recall, race six started under the black flag at 12.45 in 10-12 knots. Ed Greig started two boats up from the pin end, sailed to the left hand side, tacked on the corner and rounded the windward mark with a 10 boat length lead ahead of the rest of the British team. Ainslie rounded second followed by Andrew Mills, Ed Wright and Mark Andrews. However Ainslie was soon in the lead and stretched away for his second race win. Anthony Nossiter made the best gains moving from outside the top 15 to third place at the finish. Wright finished second. Race seven was very much the same with those favouring the left hand side looking good. Starting 10-15 boats back from the pin end, Wright sailed to the left hand corner to build a useful lead round the first mark. Ainslie started beneath him but got buried

Day five - Trujillo wins race 8 The eighth race took place today under sunny skies and an 8-11 knot southwesterly. After an indifferent series so far, Rafael Trujillo sailed well to win, followed by Timothy Goodbody and Daniel Birgmark. Ainslie again rounded the first mark low down, but managed to recover to 8th to go into the final medal race with an eight point deficit on Florent, who had sailed his discard in race 8 with a 20th. Day six - Thrilling medal race After a week of drama and ups and downs, Ben Ainslie secured his fourth European title in a decisive manner by first hunting down his main opponent Guillaume Florent and then going on to win the medal race by over a minute.

minute was able to have a penalty inflicted on his opponent, but also collected one himself at the same time. Having offloaded the penalty, Ainslie started in the centre of the line with good speed. All this happened in under a minute. Ainslie sprinted away, keeping the fleet and his direct opponent Florent in check. Florent ended the race in 8th, while Kljakovic Gaspic placed second to secure the silver medal. Florent ended up with the bronze. Ben Ainslie talked about the start of the race, “The wind came in very quickly and so did the start. My plan was to give Guillaume a hard time in the pre-start as I needed to get a few points on him. We had a few incidences where I was on starboard and he on port, but the Jury decided to give me a penalty as well. In the end it worked out fine because it distracted him and I was able to start in the middle of the line with good speed.” After the medal race the rest of the fleet competed in Race 9 with Peer Moberg winning. In the Junior European Championship, Jan Kurfeld won the gold medal after placing consistently higher than Piotr Kula in the closing races. Kula, the 2007 Junior European Championship silver medalist, had led the Junior title race from the first race, but lost the title to Kurfeld by just seven points. Bronze medalist Tomas Vika was some distance behind the these two. Those who want to see the medal race can view it online via www.sailrev.tv, where there are also videos of many of the other races from the week, as well as interviews with the sailors.

To win the title he had to beat the leader Florent by four places. The pre-start was a nail biter with Ainslie hunting down Florent from the preparatory signal. Ainslie managed to corner the Frenchman into the left hand corner during the pre-start and in the last

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IFA AGM 2008 INTERNATIONAL FINN ASSOCIATION 2008 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Puntone di Scarlino, 3rd of May, 2008 MINUTES 1. National Class Associations 14 countries represented, total of 26 votes 2. Minutes from the last meeting Minutes from the 2007 IFA AGM (previously circulated on IFA website, secretaries…) approved 3. Accounts a. Summary of the 2007 accounts approved (appendix 1) b. Budget for 2008 approved (a 5 year budget incl. 2012 will be communicated at a later stage) 4. Elections of Members to IFA Committees a. Election of Zach Railey as VP Development. The assembly and executives thanked VP Development Michele Marchesini for his work and contribution to the Finn development especially through the concept and realisation of the FIDeS programme. Michele Marchesini will remain as a member of the Executive Committee and advise the Executive on development issues. b.Other members of the 2007 Executive have been re-elected for another term.

5. Executive Committee Reports (app.2) a. the President b. the Vice-President Sailing c. the Vice-President Development d. the Vice-President Masters e. the Treasurer f. the Chairman of the Technical Committee 6. IFA Championships a. The following events have been selected: 2010 European: Split, Croatia 2011 European championship: Helsinki, Finland (in conjunction with other Olympic classes). b. To discuss 2012 FGC venue criteria (last Olympic qualifier): the second Olympic qualifier will need to be in Europe (ISAF prerogative), preferably in a location offering similar conditions as Weymouth, centrally located, good infrastructure, and affordable. (among the venues recommended by sailors: Cadiz, Brittany, La Rochelle, Alassio, Falmouth…). c. 2009 FGC update. Please find all latest details on: www.fgc-2009.com d. Frequency of Junior World Championship: the juniors present recommended to hold the Silver Cup every year, in order to keep the interest of sailors, support from federation through junior programme. Criteria: in Europe, opportunity to have provided equipment, clinic prior to the event, preferably during school holidays but possibility to have a week

off for Silver Cup. IFA proposed to speak with masters to address possibility to link the Junior Silver Cup (Junior WC) after the masters with option to use charter boats used by masters.). Some venues have already showed interest in holding this championship. e. Championship rules and documents review (manual and bidding doc.). The IFA Executive will review the championship documents (manual, application form; championship rules) f. Major championship format: After a long debate, all the assembly agreed to change the format as follow: - triangle over 15 knots (or when surfing conditions) with a windward/leeward/triangle and finish on the second reach. (offset mark at top mark and gate at bottom) - 11 races: 2 races per day for 5 days followed on Day 6 by a Medal race and a final race. Maximum of 3 races per day. 1 race max, ahead of schedule. 7. FIDeS a. Update (published in Finnfare) b. Council request Gus Miller to provide an update in order to publish on the website. 8. Technical Committee a. Report of the Chairman, Technical Committee (app. 3). See also page 20. b. Submitted changes by TC chairman (app 4) approved except for points 7 and 11: - 7: digital compass adopted but corrector weight not increased by 2 more kilos (stays 5kg). Council requires TC to finalise the final wordings. - 11 against adopting further head sails reinforcement c. The assembled national representatives also sent a strong signal that they wanted the removal from the required equipment of the bailer and the paddle. Council requests that TC endeavour to change the rule as soon as possible. 9. Olympic selection campaign a. Update on Olympic selection b. Finn sailors at ISAF committees: Finn sailors should be included at ISAF committees. Decision next November so should contact their MNA’s asap. 10. Any other business Please note all appendices and supporting papers can be found at www.finnclass.org.

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Rafael Trujillo at the European Championship, Scarlino Photo (c) James Robinson Taylor

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Finn sailing from across the world

DENMARK Richard Berg-Larsen writes, “The Danish Finn class has benefited from the mild winter. The Royal Danish Yacht Club did in fact sponsor three weekends with training in November and another three weekends in March/April. The club sailors have also been able to sail through the winter with sailing on most Sundays off Dragør, and a Finn clinic was planned for Easter. We had for the first time ever 16 entries to the Masters in Holland in May, and that is not least due to the fact that the Dutch sailors have supported the Danish races, and especially our Nationals with the largest foreign fleet, most of the last 10 years. We have also seen four brand new boats being imported since New Year, and the days when the Danish Finn fleet was known as one of the oldest and most beaten-up fleet in Europe is long gone.

NETHERLANDS Tulip Race 2008 Loosdrecht Paul Kamphorst writes, “During the last weekend of March every tulip should have remained under ground given the weather forecast. Winds, rain and temperatures below 8 degrees Celsius welcomed the 34 Dutch, a German and a Belgian to Loosdrecht. The cold atmosphere outside suited our mood, as Lucio Nodari past away just a week before during a training session.

NEW ZEALAND Black Heart Finn National Championship Waiuku 21-24 March After the first day was abandoned through lack of wind, David Hoogenboom opened the series with a race win and as it turned out, was the only sailor to take a race off the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist Craig Monk during the regatta. From then on Monk dominated, winning the next six races to take his ninth New Zealand national Championship. The last time he won it was in 1996. David Hoogenboom was also very dominant at the front of the fleet taking a convincing second place overall. Further

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The only regatta we have sailed so far is the traditional start of year regatta at Kastrup. We normally have very light winds with lots of small shifts in both directions and strength. The Kastrup Cup was first called Alu Cup, but changed name to Polyester Cup when the last alu mast disappeared. It was later called Polyester Cup, but those fine white sails have also disappeared by now. Kastrup Sailing Club is known as very good hosts for after sailing food, and this year they served a very good hot soup with fresh bread, and that was very popular with all the sailors. Michael Staal proved the best on the water with two race wins and only one place outside the top three. Other races wins went to Søren Svare, Gunter Arndt, Lars Juel Christensen, Michael Bæk and Lars Hall.

Polyester Cup 2008 Kastrup Sejlklub, 12-13 April 1 DEN 7 Michael Staal 15 2 DEN 11 Gunter Arndt 20 3 DEN 196 Lars Hall 31 4 DEN 46 Kaspar Andersen 34 5 DEN 19 Michael Bæk 40 6 DEN 16 Søren Svare 40 7 DEN 5 Søren Oster 44 8 DEN 17 Lars Juel Christensen 47 9 DEN 246 Hasting Molich 68 10 DEN 2 Nicolai Ratzlaff 68 11 NED 63 Kristoffer Svarrer 75 12 GBR 33 Ole Worm 84 13 DEN 192 Johnny Aagesen 89 14 DEN 249 Svend V. Andersen 102 15 DEN 18 Richard Berg-Larsen 115 16 DEN 212 Lars Herman Lyng 116 17 DEN 43 Kim Sistø 117 18 DEN 174 Jan Verner Nielsen 118 19 DEN 178 Ane Zielinski 119 20 DEN 226 Birger Sund-Nielsen 126 21 DEN 190 Torben Sandø 129 22 DEN 172 Ole Blichfeldt Madsen 149

After a postponement due to strong wind, we gave it a try. As it is the first event of the season, many had to get back in sailing mode as the only way to keep the body warm was hike hard and keep moving.

Luuk Kuiper was n the lead with Sander Willems second again. The steady series of Sander Willems made him the final overall winner. Luuk Kuiper, in 4th overall, became the winner of the Master fleet.”

The first race was won by Jan-Willem Kok, followed by Nanno Schutrups. The second race was won by Karel van Hellemond with Sander Willems in second.

1 2 3 4 5 6

On Sunday the weather changed slightly and Bas de Waal won this first race, with Karel van Hellemond second. Gradually the wind dropped and at the end of last race back positions were very closely fought with tight finishes and positions changing in every race. 1 NZL 1 2 NZL 12 3 NZL 235 4 NZL 227 5 NZL 232 6 NZL 14 7 NZL 244 8 NZL 182 9 NZL 55 10 NZL 3 11 NZL 271 12 NZL 27 13 NZL 193

Craig Monk David Hoogenboom Kevin Stone Roger Hall Ray Hall Alan Dawson Geoff Letcher Rex Erickson John Duff Ben Winters Brian Saunderson Craig Canute Gerrit Bearda

NED80 NED41 NED787 NED888 NED29 NED45

14 NZL 228 15 NZL 28

Sander Willems Karel van Hellemond Nanno Schuttrups Luuk Kuijper Bas de Waal Dennis de Ruiter

10 12 18 22 27 28

Bruce Morris Stuart Munro

76 82

6 12 32 35 35 37 40 42 42 44 59 60 64

USA 2008 Finn North American Masters Championships March 27-30, 2008 Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach, CA Over 30 boats from as far as Hayling Island, England, Kansas City, Toronto, New Orleans, Texas, and Oregon gathered in Long Beach to attend the largest Finn regatta in North America. Bill Upthegrove teamed up with Pam Carlen, Adam Nicholson and Darrell Peck to run a clinic in the days before the regatta. Andy Casey was on hand to show everyone how it should be done. He was coaching local Laser rock-star, Vann Wilson but Vann proved too smart for most of the sailors and won the majority of the practice races held in front of Seal Beach. Bob Carlen showed everyone how to hit the eject button on a wavy run. Pam and “D” gave him extra points for making a perfectly clean “head first” entry in to the water. Bill Upthegove sailed a few practice races to show the rookie masters how to do it East Coast style. The regatta started in an unusually light and shifty breeze for Long Beach. Glenn Hansen sailed away from the fleet take first. Peck, Vann Wilson, Adrian Brunton, and Peter Macdonald made up the B fleet behind Hansen and sorted things out on the run and short beat to the finish. The RC set some longer courses for the next two races

with Peck winning the next one over Kern. Phil Ramming led the last Friday race until Peck got a good ‘righty’ to take that one.

enabling Kern to take third in the regatta behind Peck and local hero Vann Wilson.

The next day started in brutally light breeze. Don Jesberg out smarted everyone by playing middle left then right and taking the bullet. Upthegrove came out of the left to finish 3rd just behind Vann Wilson. Light air specialists, John Harrop, Peck, Phil Ramming and Macho Slavich drifted across after.

7 18 27 28 32 34 38 50 68 71 71 79 85 87 87 89 101 105 108 109 125 125 126 126 130 136 146 163 167 173 175 178 195 197

The RC wisely postponed for a while to let some normal Long Beach conditions build. Andy Kern led most of the next race with Peck, Vann Wilson and Adrian Brunton chasing. Peck took the lead at the bottom of the run and that’s how they finished. The last day is why we love sailing in Long Beach. The sailors were greeted by awesome wind and nice perfectly formed waves. To quote our new British friend, “now that’s great sailing”. At the first top mark, Kern was leading with Adrian and D chasing him down the reach. The mark proved difficult to find in the nice swell. At the end of the nice and long, awesome first reach, Adrian, Kern, and Peck rounded the jibe mark overlapped. Peck escaped on the second reach and that’s how they finished with Vann Wilson and Phil Ramming rounding out the top 5. The last race of the regatta had Vann Wilson chasing D down the run. There was an epic battle for third between Kern, Adrian and John Harrop. Places changed a few times with Kern putting Harrop in front of the Brit

Results (7 sailed, 1 drop) 1 29 Darrell Peck 2 55 Vann Wilson 3 78 Andrew Kern 4 4 Adrian Brunton 5 48 John Harrop 6 808 Phil Ramming 7 555 Don Jesberg 8 44 Glenn Hansen 9 81 Scott Griffiths 10 7 Bill Upthegrove 11 27 Jeff Allen 12 33 Robert Kinney 13 112 Steve Landeau 14 92 Peter Macdonald 15 1150 David Beyers 16 100 Jose Oti 17 13 Macho Slavich 18 11 Tad Springer 19 2012 Jim Hunter 20 35 Stephen Hutchinson 21 16 Conrad Brown 22 28 Kevin Carey 23 8 Scott Mason 24 1214 Peter Connally 25 32 Charles Hemler 26 11 Robert Carlen 27 60 Ian Woolward 28 3 Paul Ericksen 29 3 Ian Bostock 30 275 Bryan Nickel 31 1066 Glenn Selvin 32 30 David Herrera 33 495 Holger Grygiel 34 1109 Nick Salvador

Technical Committee report

sailmaker wastes time going round with a pair of scissors. This is stupid, so the maximum limit can go.

On May 3rd, at the AGM in Puntone di Scarlino, our Council agreed to change some Class Rules.

4. For some years, Jüri has been worried that somebody will be disqualified because his sail (on a normal halyard) has gone too high when the Cunningham is released. AGM last year rejected the idea that we should simply require a stop, because it would make the usual halyard lock unworkable. This year, on Jüri’s behalf, I submitted an alternative proposal that there must be EITHER a stop fitted at the top of the mast, OR a halyard lock fitted within 1 metre of the head of the mast. The proposal was passed by AGM.

by Richard Hart

In addition to some changes to the ‘small print’ that doesn’t require us to do anything new, there are six significant changes: 1. Council voted to allow the simpler sort of Digital Compass. These tell you your heading, or heading ± the tacking angle, but don’t tell you that you are on a lift, or pointing higher than you were ten minutes ago, and don’t have internal lighting or electronic correction for compass deviation. The Digital Compass is easily removable and much lighter than a spherical compass, so it will be removed for weighing the boat (any fixed mounting bracket would be left in position). 2. Because the Digital Compass is lighter, we have to look at weights, weight distribution and correctors. After discussion, Council decided to reduce the weight for the hull plus centreboard by 3 kg. A new figure for the minimum radius of gyration is being worked out so that existing boats will not be at a disadvantage. It is not necessary to change to the new compass if you don’t want to. The down side of the change is that we will need to re-weigh and re-swing the boats, which is a lot of work. Hopefully we can get the rule changes passed quite soon, so that people can get sorted before the Christmas regattas in the Southern Hemisphere. 3. The exhaustive list of things you can have in your sail includes “batten pocket patches” with a maximum diameter of 100 mm. The standard size that sailmakers buy is slightly larger, so the

5. As an ISAF Class, we support and work through our various Member National Authorities, and have Race Officials trained and appointed by ISAF and/or the MNAs. However, over many years, some National Finn Associations have not had National Authorities that are able to provide suitably trained measurers for our class. In one recent example, I was told that the MNA “by policy, has no authority to appoint nor recognise a Finn class measurer”. We are therefore applying to include in our rules the authority to appoint Class Measurers. There is no wish to replace the ISAF International Measurers, nor measurers properly appointed by a MNA for the Finn Class. The aim is simply to enable us to make local measurers available if a MNA cannot do so. 6. Council has directed us to remove the requirement for a bailer and paddle. Your Technical Committee now has to agree the detailed wording for the rule changes with the help of ISAF, and have the formal Submission approved by the Class Rules Sub-Committee.

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Photo: www.deltalloydregatta.org

Results Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia 14-21 March 2008

Semaine Olympique Francaise Hyeres, 17-25 April 2008

1 GBR 3 2 CRO 524 3 USA 4 4 ESP 100 5 SWE 11 6 NED 842 7 DEN 2 8 NOR 1 9 CAN 41 10 GBR 41 11 POL 12 12 POL 7 13 POL 17 14 ITA 117 15 FRA 73 16 GRE 7 17 IRL 5 18 FIN 218 19 SWE 736 20 GBR 634 21 GBR 88 22 SLO 5 23 TUR 211 24 AUT 3 25 CZE 1 26 ESP 836 27 FRA 69 28 GBR 625 29 FRA 972 30 UKR 1 31 ESP 161 32 ESP 1 33 RUS 9 34 CZE 52 35 SWE 6 36 EST 7 37 VEN 1 38 FRA 9 39 UKR 5 40 BRA 10 41 GER 24 42 ESP 981 43 FRA 99 44 UKR 23 45 GER 21 46 UKR 7

1 DEN 2 2 GBR 111 3 SLO 5 4 NED 842 5 SWE 11 6 CRO 524 7 AUS 221 8 CAN 41 9 USA 4 10 FRA 73 11 ESP 100 12 NZL 1 13 NOR 1 14 RUS 9 15 SWE 736 16 CZE 1 17 FRA 972 18 POL 7 19 ITA 117 20 POL 12 21 GBR 88 22 AUT 3 23 FRA 69 24 IRL 5 25 GBR 634 26 SWE 6 27 GBR 625 28 ESP 1 29 CHN 1 30 POL 17 31 RUS 14 32 CYP 19 33 BRA 10 34 GRE 8 35 ESP 836 36 RUS 49 37 POR 5 38 GRE 7 39 VEN 100 40 CHN 7 41 CHN 11 42 NED 41 43 ESP 161 44 CHN 226 45 CHN 563 46 HUN 6 47 AUS 241 48 FRA 99

Ben Ainslie 27 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 47 Zach Railey 77 Rafael Trujillo Villar 82 Daniel Birgmark 87 Pieter Jan Postma 91 Jonas Høgh-Christensen 100 Peer Moberg 106 Christopher Cook 111 Giles Scott 114 WacLaw Szukiel 198 Rafal Szukiel 199 Piotr Kula 202 Giorgio Poggi 204 Guillaume Florent 211 E.Papathanasiou 221 Timothy Goodbody 227 Tapio Nirkko 230 Johan Tillander 234 Andrew Mills 234 Mark Andrews 237 Gasper Vincec 251 Ali Kemal Tufekci 275 Raudaschl Florian 276 Michael Maier 278 Alejandro Muscat 285 Lobert Jonathan 293 Ed Greig 298 Bruno 298 Borysov Oleksiy 306 Miguel Fernandez Vasco 309 Diego Fructuoso Pérez 310 Eduard Skornyakov 313 Tomas Vika 319 Bjorn Allansson 325 Harles Liv 338 Johnny Bilbao 342 Ponsot Pierre Alexis 344 Gusenko Andriy 345 Eduardo Couto 350 Thomas Reger 354 Jano Toro Prieto-Puga 406 Allain D. Beauvais Marc 406 Yefremov Illya 409 Anian Schreiber 417 Anton Sadchikov 423

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HØGH CHRISTENSEN Jonas 42.00

WRIGHT Edward 45.00 VINCEC Gasper 46.00 POSTMA Pieter Jan 54.00 BIRGMARK Daniel 63.00 KLJAKOVIC G Ivan 67.00 NOSSITER Anthony 72.00 COOK Christopher 78.00 RAILEY Zach 90.00 FLORENT Guillaume 92.00 TRUJILLO Rafael 81.00 SLATER Dan 84.00 MOBERG Peer 91.00 SKORNYAKOV Eduard 106.00 TILLANDER Johan 109.00 MAIER Michael 115.00 BRUNO Ismael 121.00 SZUKIEL Rafal 122.00 POGGI Giorgio 125.00 SZUKIEL Waclaw 137.00 ANDREWS Mark 139.00 RAUDASCHL Florian 144.00 LOBERT Jonathan 147.00 GOODBODY Timothy 151.00 MILLS Andrew 156.00 ALLANSSON Bjorn 170.00 GREIG Edward 171.00 FRUCTUOSO Diego 180.00 ZHANG Peng 187.00 KULA Piotr 201.00 TERESHKIN Dmitriy 201.00 PAPADOPOULO Haris 206.00 COUTO Eduardo 211.00 DRAGOUTSIS Alexandros 211.00 MUSCAT Alejandro 227.00 LARIONOV Egor 233.00 MELO Frederico 238.30 PAPATHANASI Aimilios 243.00 BILBAO BAND Johnny 251.00 GONG Lei 253.00 REN Tianyu 262.00 VAN HELLEMO Karel 264.00 FERNANDEZ V Miguel 266.00 LIU Bo 271.00 CHEN Aiming 279.00 PAL Gaszton 281.00 CASEY Brendan 282.00 ALLAIN D. BEAUVAIS Marc 309.00

49 HUN 8 50 GER 21 51 ESP 981 52 POL 1 53 POL 77 54 USA 24 55 DEN 196 56 NED 43

BELICZAY Marton SCHREIBER Anian TORO PRIETO Jano STRUSINSKI Michal PEZALA Maciej BROWN Conrad HALL Lars VAN HELLEMO Jack

311.00 318.00 333.00 340.00 347.00 375.00 376.00 388.00

Delta Lloyd Regatta Medemblik, The Netherlands 21-25 May 2008 1 ESP 100 2 SLO 5 3 GBR 111 4 NED 842 5 CRO 524 6 NZL 1 7 POL 7 8 AUS 221 9 AUT 3 10 SWE 3 11 IRL 5 12 FRA 972 13 CZE 1 14 BRA 10 15 NED 80 16 FRA 69 17 FRA 73 18 VEN 100 19 RUS 9 20 POL 17 21 CAN 1 22 NED 45 23 NED 41 24 DEN 9 25 ESP 836 26 HUN 6 27 NED 787 28 NED 844 29 USA 9 30 HUN 8 31 USA 24 32 DEN 231 33 GER 165 34 NED 18 35 GER 500 36 NED 722 37 NED 8

Rafael Trujillo 29 Gasper Vincec 29 Edward Wright 34 Pieter Jan Postma 39 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 41 Dan Slater 56 Rafal Szukiel 67 Anthony Nossiter 82 Florian Raudaschl 93 Kristian Åderman 104 Timothy Goodbody 91 Bruno Ismael 99 Michael Maier 105 Eduardo Couto 105 Sander Willems 108 Jonathan Lobert 117 Guillaume Florent 124 Johnny Bilbao 130 Eduard Skornyakov 131 Piotr Kula 138 John Romanko 140 Dennis de Ruiter 150 Karel van Hellemond 153 Thomas Morup 163 Alejandro Muscat 164 Gaszton Pal 172 Nanno Schuttrups 180 Gert van der Heijden 199 Ian Cook 203 Márton Beliczay 205 Conrad Brown 219 Kenneth Boggild 222 Dirk Meid 228 Johan van Straalen 236 Philipe Fischer 255 Siebe Ekels 263 Rodrick Casander 271

Ben Ainslie at the European Championship, Scarlino Photo (c) James Robinson Taylor

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21b

Golden award for Didier

French Finn Masters superstar Didier Poissant has recently been awarded the Gold Medal by the French Sailing Federation. Didier started sailing at age four and has never stopped since. Despite his old age, many sailors would like to match his level. A friendly champion, he is famous for his legendary discretion whenever asked about his achievements. He is also always ready to converse with youth and other sailors; he is the typical example of a hero who is avoiding fame. He is a true champion who never said no to training and went to Denmark to train with Paul Elvström.

Didier also sailed keelboats with equal success. In particular he won the Dragon selection trials for the 1964 Olympics but could not go for professional reasons. He has also sailed the Star and offshore boats competing in many regattas including the Fastnet race and winning the Tour de l’Ile de Ré in 1961. However it is the Finn class for which he is best known. He was the French Champion in 1954, 1956 and 1957, competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, placed second in the first European Championship in 1956 and competed in 11 Finn Gold Cups. After a long break and time with his family, Didier decided to start again in the Finn in 1996. He now races in many competitions including French Championships and Masters Worlds. He competes in all races, even the windy ones and is a serious threat in lighter conditions. He has also been a major part in the rebirth and growth of the Finn fleet in France. Didier’s motto is Go on, Go on, always! This year, the French Sailing Federation has honoured Didier Poissant with a Gold Medal. But Didier’s path has not reached the end...

His many achievements and racing success include diverse results across a wide range of classes. He had many good results in the Pacific class, was twice second place in the Caneton French Championship and second in the French Sharpie Championship. In the Snipe class he competed in 17 French championships, including 12 wins, three times second and once third. He competed in the European Championship eight times, winning it once and was three times third. In the Snipe worlds he competed four times and once was fourth. He also won the Mediterranean championship twice. In the 505 class, 2nd in the 1958 World Championship behind Paul Elvström and then 5th in 1960.

Major Finn regattas 2008

Eastern Championship USA North American Championship USA Travemunder Woche Germany Palic Cup Serbia OLYMPIC SAILING COMPETITION China Golubac Cup & Open Championship Serbia Djerdapa Cup Serbia International Sailing Week Poland Lipno Regatta Czech Republic Delta Lloyd Dutch Championships Netherlands Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta Great Britain International Finn Cup Italy

4-5/10/2008 17-19/10/2008 18-26/10/2008 14-16/11/2008 28-30/12/2008 5-9/12/2008 13-16/12/2008 17-22/12/2008

KSSS Olympic Regatta Finn US Nationals Buenos Aires Week Cup Opatija Go for Gold Regatta Canarian Sailing Olympic Week Sydney International Regatta Christmas Race

Sweden USA Argentina Croatia Australia Spain Australia Spain

More details can be found on www.sailing.org or on www.finnclass.org

Photo: www.deltalloydregatta.org

11-13/7/2008 18-20/7/2008 18-27/7/2008 24-27/7/2008 9-21/8/2008 23-27/8/2008 28-31/8/2008 28-31/8/2008 4-7/9/2008 12-14/9/2008 17-21/9/2008 3-5/10/2008

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