News

President's Report to the AMM

It is with heartfelt thanks that I extend our sincere gratitude to Medemblik and Finn Club Holland for all the input given in attempting to host the Finn World Masters. Subsequent to the cancellation, the FWM committee unanimously decided to offer the 2025 Finn World Masters to Holland, in the hope that it would be third time lucky. We are pleased they have accepted our offer to host in 2025.

On behalf of the Finn World Masters we are also deeply grateful to the Spanish sailing authority and the province of Murcia for stepping in and hosting our championship later this year. We remain hopeful that this can go ahead.

Thank you all for being understanding. You can rest assured that the decisions taken have been guaranteed by the committee and our sole intent was in the interest of the Finn Masters. With this in mind, we will need to tweak our rules to accommodate any future pandemic/catastrophes. We set a task that was effectively a vote on the change for Mar Menor. By setting a target of 100 entries before this AMM, the fact that we had 124 entries on day two of the announcement, was enough for us to proceed.

I would like to welcome Phil Chadwick and Andreas Bollongino to the committee and extend my huge thanks to Philip Baum and Rolf Elsasser, for the time, effort and energy they given to us over many years. Fortunately, it’s not a departure from the class.

Congratulations to Greece and welcome to the new venue on the outskirts of Kavala for 2023 in this pretty unspoilt area of Nea Peramos. Once again, we look forward to the Greek hospitality and the opportunity to sample the fine delights.

The next big event is the Europeans at Thiany, which for a number of you, is a perfect stop off to the world championship. The sponsors and organisers of the Europeans have put a huge amount of effort into hosting the event and I hope that you take the opportunity to get together in large numbers and enjoy a fine regatta.

Hopefully, the world will start to get back to some form of normality and we can resume our business as usual.

See you all soon.
Andy

Other news
• The 2021 Annual Masters Meeting voting paper has been sent to all those who entered the 2020 and 2021 Finn World Masters. If you entered those events and did not receive the link, please check your junk folders first, and if you cannot find it, please reply contact media (at) finnworldmaster.com.

• The 2021 Finn World Masters has been rescheduled to take place in the town of Los Alcazares from 8-15 October. The Notice of Race will be published shortly with online entry open soon. The name of the venue is 'CTD Infanta Cristina' at Los Alcazares, the same place where the Masters was run in 2007. Further information will be published on finnworldmaster.com shortly.

• There was only one proposal for the 2023 Finn World Masters, Kavala in Greece. The FWM Committee is delighted to accept and approve this proposal and everyone is looking forward to returning to Kavala, albeit at a different venue to last time.

• With the 2024 Finn World Masters scheduled to be in Punta Ala, Italy, the FWM Committee offered the 2025 FWM back to Holland and this has been accepted. The next available year is now 2026 and this will be voted on in 2024.

• Two proposals have been received for future editions of the Finn European Masters. Because they were received after the two-year deadline for proposals, the FWM Committee has provisionally accepted them, subject to completion of formalities.

- The 2022 Finn European Masters is provisionally scheduled for Club Náutico Hospitalet-Vandellos, Spain (subject to confirmation)
- The 2023 Finn European Masters will be at Campione on Lake Garda, Italy

The 2021 Masters Magazine is being printed and will be ready to be mailed next week. Thanks to all those who have provided content and advertising.

The Finn Masters Magazine is distributed free of charge to sailors who have taken part in recent editions of the Finn World Masters and Finn European Masters.

However, in last year’s survey many of you asked to only receive the online edition.

So we decided it is about time to update our mailing lists to reflect this. This will also allow us to update your addresses and remove those who are no longer interested, making the publication more cost efficient.

If you wish to receive a printed copy of the magazine please fill in the form below.

The form is open now and the deadline for this is February 22. Mailing will commence at the end of that week. The online edition will be published around the same time.

Please make sure all details are correct. There is no possibility to edit, so if you make a mistake, please repeat the process and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to explain the error.

UPDATE YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS HERE OR SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW EDITION

On the occasion of the Finn World Masters in Skovshoved in 2019 the Finn Masters were kindly presented with Godet Challenge Trophy by one of the event sponsors. Godet is a producer of fine Cognacs in La Rochelle, France. It was presented in Skovshoved to Richard Hart on his achievement of winning the Super Legends, but as this was a duplication, the Master’s President decided to follow up on a suggestion to widen the scope of the cup to recognise exceptional work or achievement towards the objectives of the Finn Masters events.

As Richard Hart was the first recipient of the trophy, it was decided to backdate the winners to 2017 to acknowledge his extensive work on the early development of the randomised fleet controls that we still use today. Richard therefore appropriately remains the first name on the trophy.

On Richard’s suggestion, it was felt that two other persons had made a great contribution to our events in recent years and it was decided to make the 2018 award to Vasilis Pigadas, for not only organising the superb 2015 Finn World Masters in Kavala, Greece, but also arranging to have Richard’s allocation system set up as a computer programme rather than on an Excel spreadsheet, continuing its development.

The 2019 winner was Ray New for his extensive work on redesigning the system programme to allow us to continue with the randomised fleets and to avoid ties without a Medal Race.

It did not take long to decide who to award the Cup to in 2020. It is not any kind of compensation for the disappointment, but the 2020 winner is Jan Zetzema and his team on the organising committee for the Port Zelande Finn World Masters. The Masters Committee would like to acknowledge again the huge amount of work and enthusiasm that went into the event that never happened.

For the future, the trophy will be awarded to a person or group connected to the Finn Masters, not necessarily always a Finn sailor, who in the opinion of the Masters Committee has made an outstanding contribution to our community, to our events, to the objectives of promoting the Finn Masters.

Winners
2017 Richard Hart, GBR
2018 Vasilis Pigadas, GRE
2019 Ray New, GBR
2020 Jan Zetzema & FWM2020 OC, NED

Martin Atzwanger has sent us the sad news that our Finn friend Heini Unterhauser has passed away at the age of 77 years.

Heini started his Finn career on Lake Caldaro in the 1960s and won the Finn World Masters in 1983 in Port Camargue and again in 1986 in Lago di Bracciano.

Due to his victory in Port Camargue and his commitment, the Finn World Masters was held with great success on the small Lake Caldaro in 1984. That was the first time the event attracted more than 100 Finn Masters.

Martin writes, "He was known as a very funny person and Finn sailing was his life. The entire Finn fleet of Lake Caldaro with its 30 Finn dinghies mourns his death. He leaves behind a wife and a daughter."

The Finn Masters sends its deepest sympathies to Heini's family and friends.

This week should have been the 2020 Finn World Masters in Port Zelanda, in The Netherlands. Entries were approaching 250 when the decision was made to cancel back in March, with more than 300 Finns expected to turn up. Across the sport of sailing many major events have been postponed or cancelled, but for the Finn Masters the cancellation of this year’s event was especially poignant as it was the 50th Anniversary Finn World Masters.

Fifty years ago, a group of aging Finn sailors gathered on the Silvaplana See, close to St. Moritz in Switzerland, to sail the first ever Veteran Gold Cup, as it was then called. Over the past half a century that inaugural event, attracting just 18 entries, has evolved into the colossus that is today known as the Finn World Masters.

Today, Monday 1 June, around 300 Finn Masters should have been sailing the first races of the 2020 Finn World Masters at Port Zelande in The Netherlands. Sadly, they are not, but during this week, the spirit of the Finn Masters is being kept alive with online activities and events. To follow these activities, head over to the Finn Masters Website at NOT the 50th Finn World Masters or the Masters Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FinnWorldMasters.

The 2020 Finn World Masters should have been a great party, celebrating 50 years of the Finn Masters, half a century of Finn sailors not being able to give up Finn sailing, but that will now have to wait until next year when the 2021 Finn World Masters is scheduled to take place in Medemblik.

However until then it might be interesting to look at some data from the events over the past 50 years.

Highlights from recent Finn World Masters

The Best sailors

It would be interesting to look at the best sailors at the Finn World Masters over the 50 years. The top is surprisingly close. In total 69 sailors have taken a top three place overall, with Michael Maier, from the Czech Republic, picking up six wins as the best sailor by one point from André Budzien, from Germany, who only won three, but was second seven times. In third place is Larry Lemieux from Canada, who took five victories.

The table is calculated by giving 6 points to first, 3 to second and 1 to third. The full table of all 69 sailors can be found here.

Apart from 2020, the event has only once failed to be sailed, when in 1973, poor weather prevented a series being held. Otherwise 48 editions have taken place. Up until 1983, attendance was not very spectacular, but from 1984 to 2007 it increased dramatically to attract 100-190 entries. Many thought it couldn’t get any bigger, but over the coming decade it broke through 200 and then in 2016, recorded its highest ever entry of 355 at Torbole on Lake Garda.

France and Italy have been the most popular destinations for the event. It has been sailed 15 times in France and 10 times in Italy. It was sailed eight times at Port Camargue in France.

This table shows the best performing country by adding up all the points. Not surprisingly Germany is the clear winner here, regularly fielding the largest team for many years.

History
The first suggestion for a special Finn Veteran Gold Cup for sailors over 40 years of age was presented by Dr. Fred and Heidi Auer at the 1969 IFA AGM in Bermuda. The first Veteran Gold Cup was held on the Silvaplana See and even the Finn’s designer, Rickard Sarby, sailed in that first regatta.

For the first 12 years, the fleet was around 30-50 boats, kept alive by a group of enthusiasts and generally sailed in central Europe or Port Camargue in France. Then in 1984 it went to Lago di Caldero in Italy and suddenly there were more than 100 entries, needing the fleet to be sailed in groups for the first time.

In those days it was the custom for the winner to decide the venue for the following year, but by then some of the professionals from the senior fleet were starting to show their face and walk away with the title.

Age categories were introduced with Masters, Grand Masters and Grand Grand Masters. Later Legends were also added and more recently Super Legends (over 80 years old) were also included. During this time, the rule to limit racing in winds of under 20 knots was introduced.

By 1990, things were getting more organised and the Masters started to organise their own AGM each year and changed the name to the Finn World Masters. It has twice been sailed in conjunction with the Finn Gold Cup, in 1996 in La Rochelle and 2000 in Weymouth.

The numbers kept growing, hovered around 130 for a few years and then went past 200 and now on two occasions it has passed 350. Before the current world crisis it was fully expected to break through 400 boats in the next few years. We might now have to wait a little longer for that milestone.

NOT the 50th Finn World Masters

All this week the Masters are keeping the spirit of the event alive. Everything will be posted on the Finn World Masters website and the Finn Masters Facebook page.

There will be several key announcements and events during the week. The 'NOT the Opening Ceremony' was held Sunday evening night, the drinks party and Annual Masters Meeting will also follow on Wednesday.

Join us in helping to celebrate 50 Years of the Finn World Masters.