The Vaikobi British Finn National Championships returned to Brixham Yacht Club over the 3-5 July, with one of the most competitive fleets for years, for a great three days of racing in Torbay. PRO Sean Semmens conjured up tropical conditions with wall-to-wall sunshine and enough wind to get all 8 scheduled races in.
Friday opened with 3 races in a South Easterly of 8-14 knots, with the Oscar pumping flag raised for most of the day. Matt Howard, previously a British Sailing Team member and later Giles Scott’s Finn coach for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, won the first two races before finishing a close second to Under 29 sailor and 3-time previous National Champion Cameron Tweedle in the third. Tweedle ended the day in second with another returning British Sailing Team member, Pete McCoy, in third.
Howard (GBR 550) was always in the leading pack at the top mark and then worked his way through to the front in all three races. In the third race, Cameron Tweedle picked the final shift perfectly to cross just a few boat lengths ahead of Howard.
The current resurgence in the British Finn class was well evidenced by both the many new faces in the fleet and returning British Sailing Team members, who, in turn, have inspired several other U-29 sailors to join the class. Alistair Higgins (GBR 708) from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC, fresh from taking Bronze at the D-Zero Nationals, borrowed the BFA loan boat and was soon pushing the top half of the fleet.
Saturday brought lighter westerly winds, from off the Brixham shore, which were very shifty. After Matt Howard won the opening race with ease, Martin Hughes (GBR 567) led the second race by anticipating the forecast right-hand shift correctly and going hard right, until just before the finish, when he was handed a yellow flag, gifting the win to Howard.
In race 6, the increasing and shifty breeze that saw the Oscar flag flown for one lap, Howard had to work hard to recover from a mid-fleet top mark rounding to cross in fourth. Multiple class champion Nick Craig (GBR 24) took the win after a close battle with Cameron Tweedle, showing his mastery of the conditions, but it uncharacteristically proved to be his only podium of the championship.
Sunday dawned with a forecast for very light winds. The race team was out on the course early and, after a short delay, reported a steady 7 knots southerly. There was also a significant tidal stream entering Torbay, which made the beat even longer, amplifying the effect of the regular windshifts. Allen Burrell, (GBR 2), returning to competition for the first time since a knee replacement, led the fleet but was eventually overtaken by the consistent Howard, the two sailing their own race, well clear of the chasing pack. Third place was taken by U-29 new member Jack Acton (GBR 799) from Christchurch SC, who claimed his fifth top 10 finish of the regatta.
Although the wind built slightly for the final race, the combination of variable tidal flow across the course and increasing right-hand shifts saw Norway’s Arild Heldal lead around the top mark, but 2025 National Champion Lawrence Crispin (GBR 74) in his new TT2 Finn, came through to win from Mark Spruce, another new recruit to the class who enjoyed a solid last day with a 9 and 2 score.
The conditions proved to be the trickiest of the week, with both Matt Howard and Pete McCoy recording their discards. Howard rounded very deep in the first mark, and recovered well to 8th, with McCoy also struggling, finishing in 15th. Both could easily take the discard, due to their consistent single-digit scores in every other race.
Crispin’s win was enough to lift him to third overall, ahead of the experienced International Finn Class President, Rob McMillan, who stopped off to take in the event before his return to Australia.
The Winner of the prestigious Sunday Times Gold Cup, adorned with so many famous Finn sailor’s names over the years, was presented to Matt Howard, who, in his very gracious speech, mentioned he had won it once before in 2025, and was delighted to add his name once again to the impressive list of Finn UK National Champions.
The top five finishers. From Left: Lawrence Crispin, Matt Howard, Pete McCoy, Rob McMillan, John Greenwood.
The British Finn Nationals was generously sponsored by sailperformance.co.uk and Vaikobi, and was also Leg 4 of the World Tour of Finns Grand Slam series, and counts towards sailors’ world rankings.
Report by John Heyes
Photos Robert Deaves
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