Junior Finn sailors speak out

Junior Finn sailors speak out

Many up and coming young Finn sailors have set their hopes on 2012...with a little help from their friends

Across the world, Finn sailing among juniors is at an all time high. The recently concluded Junior Finn World Championships – for the Jorg Bruder Silver Cup – in Moscow attracted a record number of 50 young sailors from 18 nations. The reasons for these high numbers are twofold. Firstly, studies show that people are getting bigger at an earlier age and are growing out of smaller boats faster. Secondly there has been an increase in the amount of support that young sailors are receiving, resulting in more being able to compete on the international stage than was perhaps the case 10 or 20 years ago.

Among those sailing in Moscow were Jan Kurfeld (GER), who took the title, Piotr Kula (POL) the runner up and Søren Svare (DEN), who was competing at his first international championship. Here these three young sailors talk about themselves, their hopes for the future and the Finn.

Jan Kurfeld

Jan Kurfeld is a product of the innovative - and yet blindingly obvious - German led Finn Foundation. Designed to promote Finn sailing to youngsters, the foundation sources equipment and provides coaching support to promising young sailors with the aim of bringing them up to a level necessary to start receiving support from the German Sailing Federation.

Last year, long time Finn sailors André Budzien and Friedrich Müller (President of the German Finn Association), got together with some current and former successful Finn sailors and invited a bunch of German youth sailors who were too heavy for the Laser to a Finn training camp. The result was the Finn Foundation, which is currently providing assistance to four promising juniors, including Kurfeld.

Kurfeld first stepped into a Finn only in September 2006. At just 19 years old, he is already 1.87 metres tall and weighs in at 95 kg. He is one of the increasing numbers of youngsters who find themselves too large and too heavy for a Laser at a relatively young age, so getting into the Finn is realistically their only chance at competitive Olympic class racing in the foreseeable future.

He is quite optimistic about his chances, “The Finn Team Germany and their members help us where they can and they do their job very well. We all hope that we will continue to be successful in the future, to be successful on the international circuit and to send the best to the 2012 Olympic regatta to sail for the gold medal for Germany.”

“To win the Finn Junior world championship is such a great and indescribable feeling. I am just enjoying it right now. Moscow was a tough regatta, where we had almost every kind of wind condition. It was very tough to stay focused on the last day and keep the tension, but there was a lot of time to cope with the situation. It’s not easy to become a World Champion.” Following his success in Moscow, a few weeks ago he took the German Championship against a field of 94 boats.

Kurfeld is positive about the Finn fleet in Germany, “The Finn scene in Germany is great, because the German Finn Association has almost 300 members, and the Finn sailors are like a great family. That makes it a lot of fun to compete in local competitions and to meet all the guys.”

“Although I am sailing for the Yachtclub Wismar, I train in Warnemunde/ Rostock. Wismar and Rostock are close to each other and are located on the beautiful north coast of Germany on the Baltic Sea. There are three to four Finns who I regularly train together with. I enjoy racing and competing with international top sailors very much. I love the challenge and I like to fight with the elements. It’s a very clean sport.”

However, despite Germany traditionally having the largest Finn fleet in the world, it has produced relatively few international stars in recent years and very few on the international circuit, with the exception of Michael Fellmann (GER) who has dominated the German class for the past decade and sailed in the past three Olympics. Kurfeld. “I think the reason for this is that the Germans have missed opportunities in the past to support the youth in the class and then the cheaper Laser became a Olympic class. But perhaps this situation is now changing for the better.”

Piotr Kula

Piotr Kula was runner up to Kurfeld in Moscow. He explains that while there is not a specific junior programme in Poland there is help available. “The points that we get from junior competitions in Poland gains money for the clubs from the Sport Department. Then the money that the club gets from the points, are used for the following season.”

“However, thanks to last three years of good results in Juniors, (Norbert Wilandt won bronze at the 2005 Worlds and Europeans, Michal Strusinski won gold at the 2007 European Championship, and I won bronze in the 2006 Worlds, silver in Europeans and then bronze in the 2007 in Europeans and silver in World Championship) has meant that the interest in the Finn in young sailors is growing. I think that in Poland we may expect some new sailors from the Laser in the near future.”

“For me, I can’t imagine sailing any other class, because there is no other Olympic boat that gives any opportunities for so heavy sportsmen. There is the Star but it demands a crew and a lot more money than the Finn. I want to fight for Olympic gold, so I hope that Finn will be Olympic class for at least the next decade.”

Søren Svare

The Finn class in Denmark has also recently experienced a period of growth. Søren Svare said, “There is a slow but steady expansion. A lot of new or almost new boats are finding their way to the clubs. In my club we have expanded from four to 11 Finns in the last three years and there are many more people showing interest.”

He is supported by a new kind of sponsorship programme from RISK International Insurance Brokers A/S. “The Risk programme is mainly based around Jørgen Leschly. He co-operates with some different companies, thereby raising money for the programme. The sponsorship includes another Finn sailor, Kenneth Bøggild who takes me with him to some of the European regattas in order to give me some experience. The programme has also arranged some Finn clinics for further development of the fleet in my club.”

Svare continued, “I had shifted from the Laser to the Finn a year before Mr Leschly joined the same club as me. The Finn racing was not that organised in the club at that time. It was only local races and I had no real ambitions, I just liked sailing. Then things started to develop. We began to go out of town and the idea was born during the Danish Nationals in 2006 where I won the junior title. Mr Leschly considered that I had the potential to develop further and then the whole programme started.”

Growth

Many national Finn associations across the world, as well as the International Finn Association (IFA), have realised the benefits of providing support at an early age. In particular the IFA’s FIDeS programme (Finn International Development Support) has been instrumental in sourcing equipment and providing coaching support for both juniors and older sailors from nations that starting o appear on the international Finn scene.

Kula commented on the rise in the number of Junior sailors in the Finn this year. “I think the fact, that both the European and World Championships were held on lakes this year has caused many young sailors to decide that now is a good time to change class and try the Finn. As the biggest singlehanded boat, the Finn can seem hard to sail, but Balaton and Moscow provided a great opportunity to get know the competition with a big number of opponents.”

Svare stated the importance of assistance to help junior sailors get past the initial hurdles of starting a campaign. “Without the assistance from Mr Leschly I would not be where I am now. So it is very important for me. Most of my expenses for overseas regattas have been paid by Mr Leschly. I am presently attending collage and this combined with a full regatta calendar is not leaving that much time for an after-school job. Therefore the help from the programme is really appreciated. Concerning coaching it could not have been better. If I had stayed at my local club and not received the help and coaching from Mr Bøggild there would have been no development. I spent last winter in Copenhagen and was training with some of the best Danes. This helped me a lot as well. And of course all the help from friends and relatives has also helped me on my way.”

Speaking of the Finn Foundation, Kurfeld said, “Finn Team Germany supports young Finn sailors who are under 25 years old, have the possibility and the physical fitness to be successful in the Finn class and who don't earn any money.”

The Finn

Svare’s enthusiasm for the Finn is obvious. “It’s a great boat to race. It is easy to transport and get ready upon arrival. And then it is a beautiful boat to look at. If you grow too large for the Laser the only true option is the Finn if you want to continue in a singlehanded dinghy. And the Finn offers great opportunities concerning sail, mast and trim that you don’t see in the Laser. Your body weight doesn’t have to be within a very specific range thus giving you more individual freedom concerning your size. And the size of the class means that you are meeting the same people all over the world and thereby building up a network faster. The young people of today are generally larger and heavier than 20 years ago so the Finn is the logical choice when you are growing out of everything else.”

Kula agrees with this. “The Finn demands strength and endurance that you don’t find in many classes. The visual shape of hull and sail, carbon mast and the quality of hardware are the factors that make the Finn very attractive for me. But the most important point is that I can sail Finn in all conditions from 3 knots to 35 knots, which we did actually sail in at the ISAF Worlds in Cascais this year. My friends from the 470 were fixing their boat for hours, but I don’t think there was there any Finn damage.”

He concluded, “Another point is the ability to make your equipment specifically for your needs. Devoti Sailing, the manufacturer of my boat provides the option to construct the hull more stiff or more flexible, the bow and stern can be more narrow or wide than standard, whatever the competitor wants, all within the tolerance of the rules of course. I can also change the mast position and angle, put centreboard stiffeners, or relocate the centreboard horizontally. Also the mast can be produced specially for each sailor’s weight and the weather conditions. All this makes sailing the Finn require the highest level of skill and even the best competitor must still practice and work on his boat to remain on top.”

Kurfeld sums up, “What makes the Finn attractive to me is the speed of the boat, that you can be heavy, and that many of the world’s best sailors were successful in the Finn class first.”

Olympics

All three youngsters are convinced of the need for the Finn to remain part of the Olympic Games. Svare commented, “The Finn is the perfect boat as the heavyweight dinghy. It allows a greater variety of sailors to participate due to the flexibility of the mast/sail combination. And it is not enough to be strong, fast or smart. You have to have it all to win, thus fulfilling the Olympic ideal. If the Finn is ever removed from the Olympic the true loser will be the Olympic Games.”

Kurfeld agreed, “The Finn class is one of the most impressive classes in the world and it is important that it fills the slot for the heavyweight dinghy class in the Olympics.”

Kula is more emphatic in his answer, “Only the Laser and the Finn are single handed Olympic boats. The other boats require crew. Sailors who weigh from 75 to 85 kg can compete in Laser, and those from 90 to 110 kg have the Finn. The range for the Finn is 30 kilograms. Without the Finn there won’t be any alternative for sailors whose body conditions are larger than the average size of men today.”

And what next?

For Kurfeld, 2007 has been a dream come true, taking the German and World Junior titles. Although currently undertaking his military service in Germany and preparing to start college next year he is looking ahead to more Finn sailing. “At the moment my boat is on the way to Melbourne to compete in next year’s combined Finn Gold Cup and Junior World Championship. My ambition next year is to win another medal at the Junior Championship.”

Svare’s answer is similar, “While I have the time to race the Finn I would like to train harder in order to see how good I can do. I have a dream about doing well in a Gold Cup or even sailing at the Olympics - but it is just a dream. I am aware that it is a lot of hard work, however thinking just a year back I can see that the RISK programme has given me a lot already.”

Meanwhile Kula seems much more focused on future Olympic campaigning. “The Finn is my target class, because I am heavy person. At the moment, I am planning on sailing the Finn for at least the next nine years, until the 2016 Olympics. My biggest dream and target is to be the Olympic Finn Champion.”