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It was a slow start to the 2013 Open and Junior European Championship in Warnemünde, Germany as the sailors waited patiently onshore all day as the wind failed to stabilize at anything more than a paltry 4 knots. It was finally abandoned for the day at 17.00.
Several of the coaches here are former Finn sailors now passing on their experience to the younger generation. John Bertrand (USA), silver medalist at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 is coaching the Australian team of Jake Lilley (AUS) and Oliver Tweddell (AUS), while John Culter (NZL), bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics, is coaching Josh Junior (NZL) and Andrew Murdoch (NZL).
Cutlter said, “I'm only in the coach boat but it's good to be back in the Finn fleet. It's great to see what's happened in the past 25 years, and it's all looking pretty positive for the class actually. Josh and Doc are both new to the class, and we just take it as a methodical process, so we rig it up, make a few changes one at a time and see what seems to work best. We're not trying to be super clever, we're just running a methodical programme stepping through the controls and the tuning and seeing what works.”
On his return, “I always had a good time in the class and always look back with good memories of my time sailing the Finn and the Olympic campaign, so I thought well, if I can fit this is with my other sailing and things I am doing, it would be a good thing to do and especially having two sailors who are good and motivated, it's good to be involved again.”
On his two sailors, “I think there is a lot of potential left. They are both new to the class and this is their first season and they've done pretty well already, so the good thing is they both have good skill set and they had good results in the Laser class, so they know how to start and sail, so it's just about getting a better understanding of the equipment and how to sail a Finn really quickly.
“Just looking at the results, Josh is a little bit younger and probably doing a little bit better, but it's still early days at the moment, and I think the important thing is that as a group we keep learning about what makes the boat go fast.”
New Zealand is bidding for the 2015 Finn Gold Cup, a decision that will take place at the 2013 Finn Gold Cup in Tallinn, Estonia next month. “It would be great if we can get the Gold Cup down to Takapuna. We all know there are great sailing condition there, and it will be in the European winter. I am sure there will be a couple of lead up regattas such as Sail Auckland and the Nationals beforehand, so rather than sitting in Europe freezing away, come down to New Zealand and do some sailing.”
When was the last time he sailed a Finn, “Surprisingly I sailed one for about five minutes here last week and I quite liked it. Before that it would have been when I sailed against Craig Monk leading up to Barcelona for about a month and then before that the last race of the Olympics in 1988.”
Image by SailCoach
