Finn Scottish Nationals 17th & 18th May 2025

The Finn fleet chose to return to Largs for the 2025 Scottish Finn Nationals after two years at Solway Sailing Club.

As always, the welcome in Scotland was fantastic. The Finns joined the Largs Chandlers HARKEN One Design Regatta with two separate race courses hosting RS200, RS400, Musto Skiff, Devoti D-Zero, ILCA 6&7, Solo, and the Finns. Saturday dawned with the sun shining brightly and a light breeze from the North East. The dinghy park was a bustle of people readying, their boats and enjoying the hospitality and fantastic facilities.

As the tide came in the briefing was held and the boats were released to the two race areas. A short sail of only a few minutes saw both groups reach the sailing area and the separate sailing committees swiftly set the courses and began the sequence.

The Musto Skiffs, Finns and RS200 & 400 were on course Bravo slightly to the South of the club. The Skiffs were away first followed by the Finns.

John Greenwood and David Kitchen favoured the left and started towards the pin. Tom Gissane and John Mackie favoured the right. The start was clear and both Tom and John tacked to port and headed to the right. With the tide flowing north South and a stronger breeze, John Mackie tacked back onto Starboard with a near 100 yard lead crossing John Greenwood well ahead. Choosing to continue on Starboard John Mackie made the mistake of crossing a tide line and pressing on into less breeze. At the top John Greenwood had recovered and rounded ahead of John Mackie followed by David and then Tom.

With some debate over where the leeward mark was, John Greenwood rounded first, followed by John Mackie and then David and Tom.

Having followed John Greenwood to the right on the 2^nd beat John Mackie tacked earlier (believing the tide had turned). It turned out John Greenwood had not overstood and indeed had judged the tack back correctly and rounded the windward mark in the lead. John Mackie then tacked back into less wind and David  managed to pass rounding second. Down the final run the wind eased and the last few hundred meters was a test of patience as the Skiffs, Finns and RS fleets all closed together. John Greenwood drifted over the line first with David only meters behind. Tom took advantage of being to windward and as John Mackie was overhauled by the RS 200 Tom still further to windward slide past into third. All four Finns finished within seconds and only a few boat lengths apart.

Despite the efforts of the Committee, who moved location several times racing was eventually cancelled and we returned to shore. All then enjoyed an evening on the club balcony eating pizza from the adjacent restaurant.

There was hope of wind on Sunday indeed the forecast suggested more than Saturday. Overnight the wind blew and we awoke to a breeze on Sunday morning. The race start had been moved to 10:30 and all were rigged and ready. The beach master signalled boats were released to the water and the Finns were first to the bottom of the slip, eager to race. Sadly, before we could launch the sea between the mainland and Great Cumbrae started to have less ripples, the wind died away and the sunny beautiful view became windless. While we waited ashore until 13:00, no new wind arrived and we sadly packed away.

The club, race committee and volunteers were great all weekend and we look forward to returning for the Finn Scottish Nationals in 2026.

FINN Class results

Sailed: 1, Discards: 0, To count: 1, Entries: 4, Scoring system: Appendix A

Report by John Mackie