Finn Silver Cup

Robert Deaves has a look at the fast approaching Finn Junior World Championship

Next week in Moscow the Junior Finn World Championship – for the Jorg Bruder Silver Cup – will take place on the lakes of Moscow. To date some 54 young Finn sailors from 20 nations have entered making this the largest fleet ever seen at a junior Finn championship. This massive entry is a clear indication of the growing numbers of young sailors taking up the Finn across the world and is also a full justification of the generous invitation and hospitality of the Russian hosts, the Moscow Sailing School.

The adage 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' could be aptly applied to the Moscow Sailing School. In 2003 it announced ambitious plans to run the 2005 Finn Gold Cup on Moscow's lakes and to ensure its success bought in 100 brand new Finns complete with masts and sails for the sailors to use. That championship was a resounding success and since then the MSS have put those same Finns to good use supporting local sailors and generally building Finn racing in Moscow. As a result, the Finn class in Moscow has been revitalised and it now organises a series of ever more popular Finn regattas throughout the year. One of MSS's sailors, Eduard Skornyakov (RUS) even used one of these boats to win the Finn European Championships on Lake Balaton earlier this year.

Now it is the turn of the juniors. In running a second major championship, MSS initially offered 40 of the boats to junior sailors to use free of charge. However, the demand was so great it raised this number to 60 to accommodate all the sailors interested in attending. In some countries, such as Denmark for example, there were so many juniors eager to sail in Moscow that the class had to organise trials to select their sailors.

Moscow Sailing School is located about 15 miles north of Moscow on the shores of Klyazminskoe Lake. It is an impressive modern campus with all the necessary facilities and space to run a large championship. In addition to the 60 Finns, MSS are also providing ten coach boats and the sailors are being accommodated in the grounds of the MSS.

It is very hard to predict favourites from such an untested field of sailors, although there are a few names who have been proving themselves on the senior circuit in the past year. The medalists from the Junior Europeans are all competing. Michal Strusinski (POL) took that title from Frederico Melo (POR) and Piotr Kula (POL) in a tight series on Lake Balaton earlier this year, so it will be interesting to see how these three perform in what will probably be similar conditions.

As would be expected there is a strong eastern European presence, with the host nation fielding the largest entry. Many eastern European countries are starting to build Finn fleets and it is very encouraging to see strong teams from Ukraine, Belarus and the Czech Republic, as well as sailors from Serbia, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania.

A clinic is also being organized by the International Finn Association and Gus Miller (USA) at no cost for the participants. Miller will be using the innovative on-board cameras that were used in the medal race of the Finn Gold Cup in Cascais to record and explain some of the finer points of Finn sailing to the assembled juniors.

This year will be the first time ever that the Finn Junior World Championships will be sailed as an independent event. It was established in 1999 at the Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne and since then has formed part of the main senior event. However, growing numbers of juniors and the restrictions imposed for the ISAF Sailing World Championships made 2007 the ideal year to have a separate event.

The first race of the 2007 Finn Junior World Championship is on Monday 20th August and if the hospitality of the Russians is half of what it was in 2005, these up and coming Finn sailors are in for a great time.