The Finn

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

is a single-handed,

cat-rigged A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat) is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast (sailing), mast set well forward in the Bow (ship), bow of a very Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#beam, beamy and (usually) shallow Draft (hull), draft hul ...

sailboat, and a former Olympic class for men's

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

. Since its debut at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, the Finn featured in every summer Olympics until 2020, making it the longest serving dinghy in the Olympic Regatta and one of the most prolific Olympic sailboats,. The Finn is a physically demanding boat to race at the highest levels, especially since the class rules now allow unlimited boat rocking and sail pumping when the wind is above 10 knots. The event did not feature on the Olympic programme from 2024.

Design

The Finn was designed by Swedish canoe designer, Rickard Sarby, in 1949 for the Helsinki Olympics. in 1952 the hulls were built of timber and the sails were of cotton. Initially there was little understanding of the role of a mast which could bend to reduce power. However over time the Finn sailors learned how to plane timber off the front of their masts for heavy winds and to glue on strips of timber on the front of the masts for lighter winds.personal experience Although the Finn hull has changed little since then, there have been developments to the rig. The original spars were made of wood until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when there was a gradual change to aluminum masts. Aluminum masts are significantly more flexible and allow more control over sail shape, and became commonplace after the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

when they were first supplied to Olympic sailors. More recently,

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

masts have become commonplace in competition Finns. The sails, too, have evolved and are now commonly made of various

laminate Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

s such as Technora, polyester, and

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

. The class rules are overseen by the International Finn Association.

Events

Olympic Games

World Championships

* Finn Gold Cup Open Worlds * Finn Youth World Championship for Under 23 * Finn Masters World Championship for sailors above 39 The following league combined table of medalist is below

Continental Championships

* 2006 Finn Open European Championship

References

External links

International Finn Class Association - Official Website

International Finn Class Assoiciaton - Magazine
* * {{Authority control Classes of World Sailing Dinghies Olympic sailing classes 1940s sailboat type designs Sailboat type designs by Swedish designers Sailboat types built by Newport Boats Sailboat types built by W. D. Schock Corp