Rafal Szukiel (POL) takes Gold in Kiel

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:27:54 +0000

Leading on the opening day of the event, Rafal Szukiel overcame close competition to win the Medal race and narrowly took his first victory ever in a Grade one event. Szukiel who has been a long time campaigner in the Finn class, is starting to put his mark on the fleet. Second place overall goes to the Semaine Olympique Française winner, Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic. Deniss Karpak (EST) who has stepped on the Finn early this year after competing for many years in the Laser is steadily improving to place third overall after leading the fleet before the Medal race. At the age of 22, Karpak is a confident sailor with his eyes set on a podium at the London Olympic Games.
Ed Wright (GBR) recovered from his 19th place scored on the first day to place 6th overall. With a further 15 points added to his ISAF Sailing World Cup standings, he is unbeatable before the last event in Weymouth and is the first sailor across all classes to pretend to this new title.

Tomas Vika (CZE) is the first Junior sailor in 14th place. Vika is among a group of five Czech Juniors trained by four times Olympian Michael Maier. Maier decided this year to help these five young sailors, to boost the Finn class in his country and pass his knowledge to the younger generation. The Junior team has sailed all the main European regattas so far and will be a strong team for the future Junior World Championship on Balatonfured, Hungary, starting on the 30th of July.
The next main event in the Finn class is the Finn Gold Cup sailed from the Vallensbaek Yacht Club near Copenhagen, Denmark from the 3rd to 11th of July. The six days racing will be filmed and footage available for TV and website on an ftp site. All boats will carry a tracking device to bring racing close to everyone worldwide. With 98 entries from 30 countries, it promises to provide a real show on the water!

Finn sailors to gather at birthplace of Finn

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:55:22 +0000

In 1949 on Lake Ekoln in Sweden, Rickard Sarby launched the first Finn at the Uppsala Kanotförening (Uppsala Canoe Club). It was the start of a journey that has seen the Finn used in every Olympic regatta since 1952.

In August, Finn No. 1 will be back in Uppsala for a special event being organised by the Swedish Finn Association to celebrate 60 years of Finn sailing.

Already nearly 60 sailors from eight nations have pre-entered, with many more expected to attend the three day regatta and party.

Uppsala is where the Finn class started and enthusiasts are getting very excited about returning to the birthplace of the Finn. The clubhouse is more or less the same as when Rickard Sarby built and sailed the first Finn. For many it will be a pilgrimage to a site of huge historical importance to the class.

A highlight for many over the weekend will be the sight of Finn No. 1 – which is being brought to the club especially for the event. S1 was the prototype Finn that Rickard Sarby used to convince the Finnish authorities that the Finn should be the monotype for the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952. The boat will also be on display in downtown Uppsala the week before the regatta, just as it was 60 years ago when Sarby was trying to promote his fledging craft.

Preserved by the local maritime museum, S1 is still in sailing condition. Event organiser Sverker Hard said, “The personnel at the museum didn’t have a heart attack when I brought up the idea of putting the boat back in the water and sailing with it. So you might see it on the race course in August!”

A full racing and social programme is planned over the long weekend and interested sailors are encouraged to sign up via the event website.

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Rafal Szukiel (POL) takes Gold in Kiel

Finn sailors to gather at birthplace of Finn