The Finn is Affordable According to Sail Canada - Really?

Finn sailing - yes it takes some muscle
to displace a 236 lbs - 107 kg - hull!
In its recent submission to World Sailing, Sail Canada calls for keeping the Finn as an olympic boat for 2024.

Now why discussing this here? Well simply because Optimist - Open Bic sailors of today are typically the olympians of tomorrow!

One of the key arguments for keeping the Finn as an olympic boat is, according to the submission by Sail Canada, that it is « affordable. »

Now let's discusss this - and look at available alternatives ...

Really, is the Finn Affordable?

To discuss this, let's start with the pricing of  the olympic Laser. A fully equipped, race ready, Laser is now US$ 7350 - i.e. CAD$ 9250.

Not cheap, but way way cheaper than a Finn.

A new race ready Finn can easily cost CAD$ 35,000 (for a top level brand, with quality sail and carbon mast).

And sailors typically spend fortunes trying various combinations of masts and sails. CA$ 50,000 may be a more realistic budget!

Finn sailing may be great, but it’s an old design (1949 - the boat was already olympic in 1952), and it’s real heavy - which actually does not rime with speed and performance.

A Finn’s hull weight is 236 lbs for 14 ft 9 inches in length, which can for example be compared to a RS Aero hull, which is 66 lbs for 13 ft 2 inches in length. Yes — the Finn is over three times the weight of the RS Aero, for a similar length!

Another modern design is the Melges 14, which is 14 feet long and 120 lbs — half the weight of the Finn.

The Melges 14: a  Reichel Pugh Design
RS Aero 9 has a 8.9 square meter, i.e. 93 square feet sail. The Melges 14 largest sail is 9.1 square meters (98 square feet) - both are close to the  10.6 square meters (114 sq ft) of the Finn. (as a comparison point, a Laser full rig sail is 7 square meters (76 square feet)

Both the Aero and the Melges can support heavy sailors (say between 195 and 210 lbs or even more for the Melges, apparently).

It's importan to note that, with time, and the evolution of the equipment, the weight of Finn sailors has declined. Today, a majority of Finn sailors weight less than 95 kg (210 lbs) - check this article for details https://www.finnclass.org/news/20-news/980-analysing-weight-distribution-of-finn-sailors

Melges 14 pricing is US$8900, including mast and sail, which is about 11,000 CAD$ — i.e. the third of a high end Finn. The RS Aero is similar in pricing as the Melges.

So there are already boats on the market that can be sailed by sailors too heavy for the Laser, and they are way cheaper than the Finn. Are they affordable? Answer to this is all relative. But is the Finn affordable? The answer is clearly no - especially in light of the availability of these two alternatives. And there are others to consider, not analyzed here.

Question to ponder: as Sail Canada offers very little support to prospective olympians, wouldn’t it be more coherent to recommend boats that are actually affordable?

And by the way, the question of a single-handed dinghy for light male sailors, in the 150 lbs - 175 lbs weight range, would also be worth addressing - as these sailors are presently excluded from olympic single-handed dinghy racing.

And for such a boat, we have at least one readily available solution: the Laser Radial - with a range of contenders, including the RS Aero and the Melges 14 - with their medium size sails.

Popular posts from this blog

Green, White, Blue & Red Fleets: What is it all about?

Image
If you were present at a prize giving ceremony for the Optimist class, you may have been puzzled by the number of categories and prizes that are involved. The reason is simple: the Optimist class is big, and there are kids sailing from age 5 or 6 to age 15, and there are some kids new to the class, and other kids with years of experience  So it's normal to recognize the efforts of everyone according to age and experience. So here is how it is organized. Green Fleet : when your kid starts mastering the boat and do short races at your club, (s)he may be ready for doing a regatta in the Green Fleet. This is a regatta where advice can be provided by the coaches during the race. And it is typically a shorter course than the white/blue/red fleets. The importance in the green fleet is to participate. So there is typically no ranking announced at the prize giving. But when your kid starts performing well in the Green Fleet, it's then ... time to move on and join the White, Blue o
Read more

20 Reasons to Choose the Laser 4.7 (part 1)

Image
A frequently asked question is: « Why the Laser 4.7? » While the 4.7 rig is very well known in Europe, it is less so in some places elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Canada. The reality is that there are many reasons to choose this rig, which entails a sail of 4.7 square meters (1 square meter less than the Radial sail) and a slightly shorter mast. This rig is especially suitable for youth sailing. Let's take a look at the reasons - and there are many of them - why the Laser 4.7 is an excellent choice. Below are 10 first reasons. The second part of the article, presents 10 additional reasons to choose the Laser 4.7, and can be found at this link . Note: this article is available in French . Also, don't miss our upcoming webinar on Nov. 13 " The Laser 4.7 for Youth Sailing: All You Need to Know! " 1. A Considerable International Success The Laser 4.7, launched only twenty years ago, has achieved a considerable international success. For exampl
Read more

Laser or ILCA Dinghy: Which One is Fastest?

Image
A Mix of Lasers and ILCA Dinghies at the Laser 4.7 Worlds in Kingston "There's no such thing as bad publicity." -- Phineas T. Barnum The Laser is usually referred to as a single manufacturer one design boat (SMOD). But in reality, there are 3 builders (assuming LaserPerformance will be reinstated) and possibly more to come. The ILCA Dinghies are actual PSA Lasers, rebranded to circumvent the Laser trademarks. Boats from the third, Japanese, builder are much less common, except in Japan and South Korea. So, are the PSA and LaserPerformance boats the same? As indicated earlier, only one supplier of charter boats - PSA - was promoted by the Laser class at the Youth Worlds, so that many sailors did not sail by choice on the Aussie ILCA Dinghies. The fact that many of the top competitors used ILCA Dinghies for those championships is not necessarily an indicator that these are better boats. Most of the top international competitors were sailing the ILCA Dinghies
Read more