Finn (boat class)

Notation

Boat dimensions
Length above :	4.50 m
Width above sea level :	1.51 m
Draft :	Max. 0.85 m
Mast height :	7.1 m
Weight (ready to sail):	≈ 140 kg
Sail area
Sail area close to the wind :	10 m²
Mainsail :	10 m²
Others
Rigging type:	Cat
Yardstick number :	depending on version 110, 112 or 114
Class :	Olympic since 1952

Ripped Finn dinghy

The Finn also for a more detailed explanation Finn-Dinghy or Finn- Dingi is an Olympic one-man sailboat. It was designed in 1949 by the Swedish boat designer Rickard Sarby . Since the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , the Finn has been used as a one-man dinghy in Olympic sailing competitions.

history

In January 1949, the Finnish Yachting Association (FYA) organized a design competition for a new Olympic one-man dinghy for the upcoming 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The Firefly dinghy of the 1948 Olympics and the O-dinghy of the 1936 Olympics did not appeal to Scandinavian sailors so much. In Finland, the host country of the Olympic Games, the Snipe dinghies were very common, in Denmark there was a large fleet of pirate dinghies , Norway had Snipe dinghies and many Oslo dinghies . In Sweden there were many pirate dinghies in the south due to its proximity to Denmark and some snipe dinghies in the east. In terms of numbers, however , the most important were around 500 sailing canoes that no other Scandinavian country had. The FYA's design competition for a new Olympic dinghy was therefore primarily based on the idea of finding a new inner Scandinavian dinghy as a usable dinghy for the Olympic sailing competitions. The Finns unselfishly left all the technical details to the Swedes, as they believed that they had greater competencies in the field of construction of smaller boats.

Rickard Sarby won the competition after a series of test races with a Fint design that turned out to be the fastest dinghy. The shape of the hull was reminiscent of a canoe and was kept very simple. On May 15, 1950, the Finnish Yachting Association decided to take over the Fint as an Olympic one-man dinghy. The name was changed to Finn (= fin) and two blue waves were used as a sail symbol. The FYA later acquired full rights to build the Finn.

In addition to the 1: 1 drafts, Rickard Sarby also delivered the first prototype. The Finn class has been fighting for Olympic medals without interruption since 1952. All well-known sailors in the world have fought for top positions in the Finn boat class during their sailing careers. The first gold medal and two more in a row in this boat class was won by the Dane Paul Elvstrøm , who dominated the development of the Finn for many years through his own innovations.

From 1949 to 1960 the hulls were made of wood, from 1961 plastic hulls were officially approved by the international class organization. Nevertheless, the Austrian Hubert Raudaschl won the Gold Cup in 1964 with a self-made wooden hull. The masts were still made of wood. The leading designer was Jörg Bruder from Brazil, who later also manufactured aluminum masts. For the Olympic Games in 1972 off Kiel, identical aluminum masts from the Needlespar¨ company were introduced for all sailors .

Boat builder

The hulls were made by the following boat builders :

Fairey Marine, Great Britain: 1955–1964, built more than 100 hulls, which were particularly durable, so that many still exist today, many hulls were delivered to the sailors for individual completion.

Vötterl, Starnberger See: The sailing magazine Yacht reported in 1980 that some sailors from SC-Wörthsee had commissioned the first German Finns from Vötterl with financial support from the DSV. The total price was DM 1,600. The grant from the DSV was 400 DM.

VEB Yachtwerft Berlin, built hundreds of GDR Finns in series from 1956 to 1990, approx. 100 units per year, originally in wood construction, later from approx. 1970 from GRP. Numerous boats were exported to Comecon countries, especially the USSR.

Bootswerft H. Schreiber, Berlin-Köpenick, built around 10 Finn in-house designs per year from the 1970s until the end of the 1980s on behalf of the GDR competitive sports / FES for GDR club sailors. Jochen Schümann won Olympic gold on Schreiber-Finn (1976), numerous Schreiber-Finns are still in national class in German areas.

Elvstrom Finns, Denmark: until the mid-1970s, one of the first plastic hulls to be very successful.

Pearsson, Great Britain: 1962–1973, built the "Bread and Butter" Finns and were never able to place competitive Olympic boats. The Dunhill company used a fleet of these Finns for "Finn Finder" junior sighting regattas.

Tiptree Marine, ( Essex ), UK: 1967-1969, the hulls were not as good as Pearson's and too heavy for top sport but were used for club fleets.

Butler, UK: 1967–1968, few hulls were built, similar in quality to Pearson boats but more successful. They were mainly used for club regattas.

Newport, USA. Newport Finns, known for their speed, were only built until around 1968.

Teel, USA: Teel-Finns, which were considered the successors to the Newport-Finns, were also very fast and of high quality. The Teel-Finn G1 by the Hamburg resident Thomas Jungblut was particularly well-known and achieved very good results with the boat in high-ranking regattas.

Lanaverre, France: Lanaverre Finns were manufactured from 1961 through the early 1980s. Wolfgang Gerz became German champion in 1980 with a five-year-old Lanaverre-Finn, G 1573. The Lanaverre hulls were made of GRP in a sandwich construction. The deck was made of marine plywood.

Roga, Spain, Barcelona: Roga-Finns were among the fastest boats in the 1970s and were best known for the great success of Luis Doreste Blanco . In the late 1970s, when the Vanguard-Finns became dominant, the Roga-Finns could still keep up. Roga no longer builds Finns, but rather 420s, Europe, Vaurien, Estel and Optimist.

Raudaschl-Finn, Austria: Hubert Raudaschl , who took part in the Olympic Games ten times and, in addition to two silver medals, also won five European and two world championship titles, said he built around 770 Finns in wooden slat construction between 1965 and 1972, which in the 1960s was very were successful and have been sailed on all five continents. The most famous Raudaschl-Finn is Willi Kuhweides Darling with whom he became world champion in 1966 and 1967. Darling is exhibited in the Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven.

Peter Taylor, Great Britain, made very good wooden hulls. He was the first to build a Finn with a raised floor. The hulls were very successful and dominated the Gold Cup and World Championships in 1976 . He built almost all of the Finns registered in the UK from 1979 to 1993.

Bootswerft Hein, Elmshorn: Gustaf Hein first built planked Finns and also removed molded hulls. From 1971 Kurt Hein built GfK-Finns with a plywood deck and cockpit floor, partly in GfK or plywood. Hein-Finns are considered to be of particularly high quality. The last Hein-Finn was made in 1985.

Bootswerft Mader , Germany: built very good wooden hulls and was known worldwide for the plastic hulls for the 1972 Olympic Games.

Vanguard Finns, USA: Produced by the brothers Peter and Olaf Harken ( Harken, Inc. ) from 1975 , Vanguard also made the Finns for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1992 Barcelona . The hulls were first made with a wooden floor and later with a double floor. Various very successful designs were produced. The company provided the most successful Finns worldwide for many years.

Devoti Finns: after 1993, Tim Tavinor (England), who built the boats, and Luca Devoti (silver medalist 2000), who was responsible for sales, ended the dominance of the Vanguard Finns from the USA.

Today the hull of the Finn is manufactured by the shipyard Mader (Germany), Devoti Sailing (Czech Republic), Pata (Hungary), Ch. Wilke (Switzerland), and JIbetech (USA), where the Lemieux-Finn is also produced. Finn dinghies are also manufactured in Brazil (as of 2009).

A new era for the Finn dinghy began in 1993 with the introduction of the carbon mast, the reduction of the mast weight from 10.5 to 8 kg (1994) and the sails made of Mylar material in 1998.

The sail numbers are assigned in this boat class since 1993 no longer in the order of manufacturing of the boat, but personal.

hull

The class rules, first enacted in Swedish in September 1950, contained only provisions on timber construction with Karweel planking , which resulted in a constant planking thickness due to the even plank thicknesses. This probably also applies to the boats later made from molded plywood.

1961: With the approval of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP) as a hull material, fin hulls could be produced due to the different laminate thicknesses, which were very light in the bow and stern area.
- The vertical center of gravity was shifted downwards by the concentration of material in the underwater area. These boats turned out to be faster because the hydrodynamic drag in the wave was lower due to weaker pitching or pitching movements.
- The effectiveness of the rig was increased because the mast and sails were more calm in the wind.
- In order to create equal opportunities and in the interest of long-lasting Finn hulls, the Finn class was forced to introduce new surveying regulations.

The rule changes (Rule Changes) of 1962/1964 should bring the Finn back as close as possible to the Karweel-planked boat by stipulating and determining the bow weight:
- A boat supported by frame 3 had to have a bow weight of at least 21 kg.
- The vertical weight distribution was also prescribed and checked during the measurement. Placed on the rubbing strake (Schandeck), the boat with all counterweights was allowed max. Balance 50 cm from the vertical surface.

In 1973, the chairman Technical Committee Gilbert Lamboley introduced the pendulum test to determine the mass distribution, allegedly to enable double bottom boats and the sandwich construction and to make the measurement easier and faster.

1996/1997: The hull weight (including the sword) was reduced by 5 kg to 120 kg. The keel bands are omitted except for the front. An 8 mm sword is required.

2008: The hull weight (including the sword) is reduced from 119 to 116 kg and electronic compasses are approved.

Regatta and races

Olympic games

In 1964 Willi Kuhweide won the Olympic gold medal for the Federal Republic of Germany .

In 1976 Jochen Schümann was the German Olympic champion for the GDR .

1972 Walter Mai with a Hein-Finn (12th place)

2000 and 2004 Michael Fellmann .

Ranking regattas

In addition to the ranking regattas and the national championships, the Gold Cup (world championship) as well as the Masters (world championship for Finn sailors over 39) and the European championships are held every year.

The German ranking list, for which approx. 65 ranking regattas are counted, comprised around 160 sailors in 2010 who had participated in 9 or more races.

Classic Finns

For older Finn dinghies that are no longer competitive in current ranked regattas, participation in yardstick regattas is an option in the leisure area. Due to the different numbers of yardstick sticks, Finn oldies with wooden or aluminum masts have almost equal opportunities. The following yardstick numbers have been in effect since 2007 :

Finn with carbon mast and any sail - 110
Finn with aluminum mast with any sail - 112
Finn with wooden rig with dacron sail - 114.

Modern Finn dinghy
Lemieux-Finn with carbon wing mast and foil sail
Hein-Finn, built in 1980 with GRP hull, wooden deck, dacron sails
Raudaschl-Finn, built in 1972, in wooden slat construction with foil sail

literature

Finn primer, Curd Ochwadt, Klasing + Co, 1967
FINNLOG 1, Edited by Peter MOHILLA, 1986
FINNatics, The History and Techniques of Finn Sailing, Edited by Robert Deaves, First Edition 1999