Publication of 'Photo FINNish - 60 Years of Finn Sailing'

Unique book celebrates 60 years of Finn sailing

by Robert Deaves

Marking the end of the Finn's 60th anniversary celebrations, the International Finn Association is delighted to announce the publication of 'Photo FINNish - 60 years of Finn Sailing', an extensive and highly illustrated volume compiled and edited by Robert Deaves, but largely written by some of the biggest names in sailing.

This book primarily contains a photographic record of 60 years of Finn sailing from its beginnings in Uppsala, Sweden in 1949 right up to the 60th anniversary regatta back in Uppsala in August 2009. There are more than 1,000 colour and black and white photos covering six decades of Finn sailing by some of the world's greatest yachting photographers.

In addition, more than 60 sailors have put pen to paper to describe their unique and personal stories in the class. The vast majority of the written accounts were specially commissioned for this book, and the sailors talk candidly and personally about their time in the class, and what it meant to them. Some are inspirational, some humorous, some emotional, and some even death defying.

The book brings together more Olympics medallists and former world champions than ever before. In all there are contributions from 22 Olympics medallists (9 of them gold) and 23 world and European champions.

Find out what happened to Jochen Schümann's gold medal winning mast of 1976, how Cam Lewis won his two Finn Gold Cups, how Stig Westergaard funded his campaign selling strong Danish lager, how Ralph Roberts met Paul Elvstrøm, how Peter Holmberg won a silver medal with a broken mast, how Oleg Khoperski defied death while training in Cuba, how Hubert Raudaschl started in the sail making business, how Estonian Finn sailors were the first free Estonians to compete in an international sports event, and Gus Miller's part in that, how John Bertrand became involved in the Finn class while at college, how Ian Ainslie went training with sharks and about what went wrong
when Ben Ainslie first stepped into a Finn.

Other contributors include: Paul Elvstrøm, Paul Henderson, Hans Fogh, Valentin Mankin, David Howlett, Peter Harken, Jose Luis Doreste, John Cutler, Jose Maria van der Ploeg, Oleg Koperski, Stuart Childerley, Xavier Rohart, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Luca Devoti, Iain Percy, Gilbert Lamboley, Zach Railey and many more.

This book is a 'must have' for anyone who has ever sailed a Finn or anyone who aspires to sail a Finn, or indeed anyone who ever wondered what it takes to be a Finn sailor. In this book you can find out, through the words of countless Olympic and world champions just what it takes to sail a Finn at the highest level.

Copies of this book are available through various National Finn Association or direct through the Finn class website at www.finnclass.org. A full list of those national associations holding stock is available on the website.

Photo FINNish - 60 Years of Finn Sailing
Price: GBP 25
ISBN: 978-0-9559001-1-2
Pages: 224
Binding: Softback
Release date: December 7th

Order online now at: www.finnclass.org/finnshop.htm
Sample pages at: http://issuu.com/robert124/docs/sample_pages

Finn Class