The 2025 Open and U23 Finn Europeans, and incorporating the European Masters, is taking place in Naples, Italy, from 5-12 April.
Under the imposing shadow of Vesuvius, the 2025 Open and U23 Finn Europeans opens this week in the Bay of Naples, Italy, for the first time in 58 years, with 125 entries from 20 nations.
Naples has a special place in Finn Class history, as it was here, way back in 1960, that Paul Elvstrøm won his third Olympic Gold Medal in the class.
The last time the Finn class had a major event in Naples was the 1967 European Championship, which included legends such as Willy Kuhweide, Hubert Raudaschl and Valentin Mankin. The second ever European Championship was also held in Naples in 1957.
Predictably the large fleet includes a sizable and very competitive Italian group, led by the current European Champion and World No. 1, Alessandro Marega (top image). He is joined by the World No. 2, Peter Peet from The Netherlands, and World No. 3 Christoph Burger, from Switzerland. Long time, former World No.1 and current World Masters champion, Laurent Hay, from France, is also competing.
There are also some notable returns to the fleet. Double Olympian Deniss Karpak, from Estonia is back, having not competed since the 2016 Rio Olympics. Also, Italy’s Arkadiy Kistanov is sailing his first major event for five years, having won the Mandelli Trophy on Garda a few weeks back.
It’s a big fleet and there is a host of talent from all over Europe, including Britain’s Nick Craig, Spain’s David Terol, Hungary’s Kristóf Kaiser who won the bronze in Cannes last year, Britain’s Lawrence Crispin who has figured well at many events this year already, Portugal’s Filipe Silva, and France’s Valerian Lebrun, last year’s runner up.
SCHEDULE
Sat 5 April – Sun 6 April – Measurement/Registration
Mon 7 April – Practice Race and Opening Ceremony
Tues 8 April – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Weds 9 April – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Thurs 10 April – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Fri 11 April – Racing (2 races scheduled)
Sat 12 April – Racing (2 races scheduled) followed by Prizegiving
