A Ride of a Lifetime: Here come the Finns!

16 May 2016

Here come the Finns!

No more trips. No more excuses! It was time to start getting on with all those jobs we'd been putting off and start thinking about leaving. We started to re-varnish the saloon floors and give the boat a thorough top to toe clean up. We weren't in North Africa this winter but we still seemed to get our fair share of red rain! Oil changes had to be done and places found for things we'd hidden away in store over the winter months. Frustratingly the outboard engine needed attention and we had to seek professional help. This ended up delaying us but also meant that we were still in Gaeta for the Finn Gold Cup! This is the premier competition in Finn class racing, the "heavyweight dinghy" in the Olympic games sailing events.

Procession starts in the marina

Opening ceremony

Finn boats lined up on the dock

Getting ready to launch

On the move

In the water and off to race

Returning after a hard day racing

Coming ashore

The marina turned into a buzz of frenetic activity and male testosterone. 81 competitors from 26 different countries were signed up to compete. We joined in the fun and followed the procession to the opening ceremony which preceded six days of racing. It was a logistical nightmare getting all the racers and their boats launched and then back ashore again with their own trailers. A mixture of tricky light airs and winds of up to 25 knots tested the sailors. The highlight for us was going out on a marina RIB to watch the final races and see Giles Scott of Great Britain take home the Finn Gold Cup for the 4th time. This has only been topped by Sir Ben Ainslie who has won the Gold Cup an incredible 6 times. Good luck in Rio, Giles. Now that the Finns have departed it's time for us to go sailing ourselves...