While restoration of all types and classes of sailing dinghies continues apace, one particular treasure trove is the British Finn class.
With a near 70-year involvement with the Olympic Games, the Finn dinghy has come to represent the very definition of Olympic sailing – the Tokyo Games will be the 18th appearance for the class.
The class is well known for its huge International Masters’ fleets, but interest is not just in the longevity of the helms but also of the boats themselves.
The British Finn Association run two classes for older Finns; Classic Finns which sail with traditional rigs and Classics with Carbon, which sail with a modern rig on a pre-1985 boat.
And while the early wooden hulls are much prized, just to show it’s not just wooden versions being restored, the header image above is of K257, a GRP Butler Finn from 1967 being restored on the Isle of Man . . . Only about 10 were built.
The class have also received requests for full plans to build a new wooden boat and a digital file is now available for a small license fee, contact Peter Vinton via the BFA website.
You can also download the Finn hull lines plan from the British Finn website, so you can build yourself a scale model Finn as this example by Peter Vinton.
The BFA Committee is desperate to exit lockdown as soon as they can be done so safely.
The first event in the Spring Traveller Series at Warsash has had to be cancelled, but the Christchurch one day event in March may still go ahead if restrictions are lifted before then.
And 2021 membership subscriptions are currently being collected.
Whilst a subscriptions holiday was considered, it would prove difficult to administer.
However, the Committee is keen to provide value to all the members through this difficult period and has elected to grant a £50 discount to all members on the 2021 UK National Championship entry fee.
And this also applies to Classic sailors for the Classic Nationals at the Inlands at Draycote Water in September.
This matches the 2021 subscription fee and should encourage a great turnout at the Nationals at the Royal Torbay YC in July, by which time we all hope the Covid vaccine has done it’s work and we are all back racing again!
John Heyes – Chairman BFA
British Finn assocaition website here . . .
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