Finn-Filled September in San Diego
Not one but two Finn regattas were held in San Diego over the last few weeks. The Finn Pacific Coast Championships was on September 15-16, and the Finn Masters North American Championships were held from September 21-23.
The Masters had a 33-boat fleet, and were technically for sailors age 40 and over, but there were two "kids" out there — Eric Anderson and William Alexander — mixing it up with the old guys.
Designed in 1949, the Finn was conceived by Swedish canoe designer Rickard Sarby to be the "monotype" dinghy at the 1952 Olympic Games, but it’s been an Olympic class ever since, according to finnclass.org. The Finn has also seen some famous names in its ranks, like Sir Ben Ainslie. And don’t forget the legendary Paul Elvstrom, who reputedly toned his quads for hiking out by reading newspapers while perched on the edge of his bathtub. "Whatever else [Sarby] was thinking on that day, he cannot have imagined that sailors across the whole world would still be enjoying and racing the same design 60 years later," the Finn website said.
For results from the Pacific Coast Championships, click here. For results from the Masters, click here. Special thanks to Casey Allocco at SDYC Communications, whose Finn-filled pun we borrowed (OK, stole) for our headline.
