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Finn enthusiasts claim area waters

By DAVE ELLIS
Published December 27, 2006

An international group of sailors has discovered the convenient venue, open waters and warm climate of Clearwater.

The second week of December saw 27 Olympic Finn sailboats training out of Clearwater Community Sailing Center on Sand Key.

These one-person boats are difficult to sail well. The men are almost always over 6 feet and not the sort who mind a bit of pain to excel. It has been said that if a Finn sailor is not bleeding and bruised at the end of a regatta, he is not trying hard enough.

The boat that old-timers remember as the Finn Monotype was designed in Europe in 1949 and has been an Olympic class since the Helsinki games in 1952. Denmark's Paul Elvstrom won the Olympic Finn competition that year and also 1956 and 1960, an accomplishment no other sailor has achieved in any class. Elvstrom, along with Canada's Hans Fogh, won the 1962 Flying Dutchman Worlds held at St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

In the early years, cotton sails and wood spars were used. In 1959 synthetic materials were first allowed for sail cloth. Today a custom carbon epoxy mast is designed for the weight and high-tech sail of each sailor. An accomplished racer can sail the Finn for years and still learn something new about the boat. Hence, racing clinics have long been part of the class' philosophy.

Clearwater Yacht Club's Zach Railey is the top-rated American sailor in the Finn class and a member of the U.S. Sailing Team. But the participants in this racing clinic included world-class sailors: current world champ, Jonas Christensen, of Denmark; European champ Ed Wright of Great Britain; Chris Cook and John Romanko, both top Canadian sailors; Wietze Zetzema of the Netherlands; Aaron Ograndy of Ireland; and Australia's Brendon Casey, who won the Laser Midwinters at Clearwater this year.

The Finn has had a surge of popularity among sailors who were stalwarts of the class three and more decades ago. A Masters division includes the likes of August "Gus' Miller and Henry Sprague, names in the sailing news in the 1960s. While Miller's knees now relegate him to coaching from a powerboat, Sprague surprised the younger sailors by his expertise. "Really cool California guy," was a description of "Super Henry' from Tommy Wharton, the Canadian coach.

Other coaches included area sailors Kurt Taulbee and Kenneth Andreason. It was their mandate to have a variety of race courses and drills. After on-shore stretching and exercises, a race was started off the beach of the sailing center with a destination under the Sand Key Bridge and out into the Gulf south of Clearwater Pass. There were conventional short windward-leeward race courses. Then there were slalom races, match races and a race back to the beach area. Some events counted more for scoring than others, but none could be dismissed.

The wind was generally light all week. On Saturday morning it appeared there would be the best breeze of the week, so the sailboat racing rule that prohibits jerking the boat and sails around to make the boat faster was suspended.

These boats at under 15 feet in length weigh more than 260 pounds, so it is not as effective to rock and pump and lunge as it is on a lighter boat. As it turned out, the wind slowly diminished as the day progressed.

Railey accumulated the most points at the clinic's end to show that in light air our local sailor is equal to the best in the world. The Canadian sailors took the next two positions, with world champ Christensen in fourth.

Sailors agreed the winter clinic at Clearwater should be staged next year as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach.

BACK IN BUSINESS: Annapolis Sailing School has re-established a branch in the St. Petersburg area. Richard Johnson was the leader of the St. Pete branch for many years when it was based on Pinellas Point. Now based at the Harborage Marina, Johnson has been re-hired to take the lead.

[Last modified December 27, 2006, 06:37:06]