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Category: News
It’s been a long time in the planning and a dream for the Miami fleet for an even longer time, but finally the 2023 Finn Gold Cup has been opened at Coconut Grove Sailing Club as a single canon was fired on the dock at the club.
The practice race was scheduled for 14.00 and despite the light and unstable winds, around 35 boats made the start and the race committee got in four starts before letting the fleet away. Federico Collanino, from Italy, made the best of the pin end and tacked away to lead round the first mark from Marc Allain des Beauvais, from France and Marko Kolic, from Italy. Most of the fleet carried on and sailed back to the club. A few went downwind only for the race committee to abandon the race.
In the evening the opening ceremony commenced with the Bacardi Bar and a flag parade from the club’s youth sailors, who had given up their sailing to make space for the Finn Gold Cup.
Marc Allain des Beauvais, Vice President of the International Finn Association, began by saying. “The Finn class is a family. We have members everywhere in the world and we are honoured, pleased and glad to be hosted by the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.”
The Commodore of Coconut Grove SC, Dave Martin, said, “I want to start off by thanking the club. We had to make a lot of changes and the club has been transformed into a world class regatta event and I would like to thank everyone who's been part of it. Thank you to the Board and everyone that made this possible, and all the volunteers.”
Finally, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez made a very refreshing, encouraging and positive speech to the club. “I grew up sailing in this bay. I didn't sail the Finn, I sailed puffer boats. I had so many wonderful moments and memories about this bay and I can tell you that sailing is one of the most chill and recreational sports that anyone can engage. For me to be here with all of you at CGSC, which has been here since 1946 is thrilling. I really hope this is a wonderful Finn Gold Cup and hopefully one day my son and daughter will be sailing in this club and will enjoy the wonderful memories that I've enjoyed.”
With a few late entries, the registered fleet now numbers 58 Finns from 16 nations. There are also five U23 sailors taking part in addition to the older generation. The age range is huge from 17 to 87. As always the Finn Gold Cup is a celebration of life as well as of sailing.
Racing is scheduled to begin on Friday with two races each day for five days.
Don’t forget to follow the Finn Class social media feeds (see below) to get the latest updates from hot and sunny Miami.
Highlights from Day 0 (click for video)
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Category: News
The Finn class has descended on Miami for the 2023 Finn Gold Cup with fabulous conditions on Biscayne Bay over the past few days. Much of the fleet have been out training, welcomed into the water by a local manatee, who has been hanging round the pontoon all day for belly rubs. With 10-20 knots, and a sunny 25-28 degrees, everyone hopes it stays like this for the coming week.
Over last weekend the fleet sailed the Midwinters. After two days were lost with no wind on the bay, on the third day there were three good races. Pedro Lodovici, from Brazil, won from Andrew Kern and Pedro Trouche from the USA.
Measurement and registration have been ongoing on Tuesday and Wednesday, with over 50 boats already checked under the watchful eye of Chief Measurer, Dick Batt. The practice race and opening ceremony is scheduled for Thursday. Racing gets underway on Friday with a 10-race series scheduled over five days.
There is already a lot of content on our social media pages (see links below) with Instagram stories, posts and reels, as well as duplicated content on Facebook.
However as usual, there has been a lot of spam online for live feeds. We are deleting them as fast as they appear. The only live coverage will be through the official Finn Class channels, with live coverage through Instagram stories and hopefully Facebook Live broadcasts during the races. Anything else is spam so please do not click those links.
All the links and info you need to follow the event are below.
The event’s sponsors include Bacardi, North Sails, G&B Ropes, Coconut Grove and Fever Tree.
Videos (Click to Open)
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Category: News
Back in the day, Miami OCR in January always marked the traditional start of the northern hemisphere Finn season, so it with some anticipation that the Finn class returns to Miami next week for the 2023 Finn Gold Cup, the first time it has ever been held there. Sixty Finn sailors from 14 nations are taking part. The host club is the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.
This will be the fifth time the Finn world championship has been held in the USA. The first time was in 1974 at Long Beach and the winner that year, Henry Sprague, from the USA, is back for another go. Under the deed of Gift for the Cup, which has its origins at Burnham-on-Crouch in Britain, it must be held outside or Europe every four years. The last time the Finn Gold Cup was held in the USA was in 2010 on the epic San Francisco Bay. The winner that year, Britain’s Ed Wright, has been spotted training in Miami, but is not yet on the entry list.
Also taking part is the 2022 European Champion Miguel Fernandez Vasco, from Spain, hoping to do the double. The World No. 1 and last year’s European Championship bronze medalist, Laurent Hay, from France and last year’s Finn Gold Cup fifth placed Marko Kolic, from Italy are also likely contenders. The 2022 champion, Pieter-Jan Postma, was unfortunately unable to make the trip.
While over half of the entrants are from North and South America, several containers have found their way across the Atlantic from Europe, also bringing in new boats, some of which have been chartered for the event, which will bolster the growing USA fleet. With a USA based Finn builder also about to begin production, the future of the class in North America is looking very positive.
Domonkos Nemeth, from Hungary, won the bronze at the 2022 Finn Gold Cup as well as winning the Finn Silver Cup, for the U23 World Championship. He is joined in Miami by two other U23 Finn sailors, Federico Colaninno, from Italy, and Sjoerd Hofland, from The Netherlands, a name synonymous with Finn sailing.
Last year the Finn Silver Cup was combined with the Finn Gold Cup, but this year the 2023 Finn Silver Cup is being held as a separate event, at Gravedona on Lake Como, from Monday 17 July to Friday 21 July. There are attractive charter boat and accommodation options available. More information here: https://finnclass.org/news/180-eventpage/1177-2023-finn-silver-cup-event-page
The 2023 Finn Gold Cup begins on Tuesday 24 January with measurement and registration. Ten races are scheduled from Friday 27 January to Tuesday 31 January.
The event’s sponsors include Bacardi, North Sails, G&B Ropes, Coconut Grove and Fever Tree.
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Category: News
VENUE
The 2023 Finn Gold Cup (the Finn Class World Championship) is taking place in Miami USA, from 24-31 January, organised by Coconut Grove Sailing Club in conjunction with the International Finn Association.
EVENT WEBSITE
2023.finngoldcup.org
NOTICE BOARD
https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15268
ENTRY LIST
https://yachtscoring.com/current_event_entries.cfm?eID=15268
SCHEDULE
Tues 24 – Thurs 26 January – Measurement/Registration
Thurs 26 January – Opening Day
Fri 27 January – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Sat 28 January – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Sun 29 January – Bacardi Race Day (2 races scheduled)
Mon 30 January – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Tues 31 January – Racing (2 races scheduled) followed by Prizegiving
PRESS RELEASES
The Finn Class will release international press releases each day during the event. Sign up to receive these at: http://www.finnclass.org/media-finn/newsletter-a-press-release
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Daily highlights will be available on https://finnclass.org/finn-tv/finn-tv-2023
And on https://www.facebook.com/InternationalFinnClass/
PHOTOGRAPHY
Finn Class photos by Robert Deaves will be available here:
https://www.facebook.com/InternationalFinnClass/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos
https://robertdeaves.smugmug.com
and also on the event website.
Please send any requests to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event through the Finn Class Social Media Channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalFinnClass/
Instagram posts and stories: https://www.instagram.com/finnclass/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Finn_Class
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thefinnchannel
Please tag our Facebook/Instagram channels with @finnclass
Hashtags for the event are:
#finnsailing #fgc #finngoldcup #finnclass #finn #sailing #worldsailing
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Category: News
The 2023 Finn Class wall calendar is now available to order, featuring some of the best images from the 2022 season.
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