From the International Finn Association - refer to Website listed.

The Finn was born from the hand of Swedish canoe designer Rickard Sarby in 1949 as his entry in a design competition to select a new monotype dinghy for the 1952 Olympics Games in Helsinki, Finland. Whatever else he was thinking on that day, he cannot have imagined that sailors across the whole world would still be enjoying and racing the same design 60 years later. In 2012 the Finn will be sailed for the 16^th time at an Olympic Games and is the longest serving dinghy in the Olympic Regatta.

For over six decades this thoroughbred singlehanded dinghy has had an incalculable influence on the sailing world, being a blend of a popular club boat, Olympic legend and teacher of many top sailors. The Finn is one of the survivors of the sailing world. It has survived numerous re-selections of Olympic classes and 60 years of careful technical development, from the wooden hulls, wooden masts and cotton sails of the 1950s to the GRP hulls, to the carbon masts and kevlar sails of the 1990s. It has sustained criticism over the years for being hard to sail and expensive to campaign but it has always won through. And in spite of all this it has strengthened its position as the world's premier dinghy for tactical as well as technical singlehanded sailing.

If the Finn has proved one thing, it is that change for the sake of change is rarely a good idea. The Finn is still providing the yachting world with top-calibre sailors who move from the class onto greater things. It is perhaps no coincidence that two of its most famous helmsmen - and both Finn Olympic medal winners (John Bertrand (AUS) - Bronze 1976; Russell Coutts (NZL) - Gold 1984) - have both helmed to America's Cup glory.

But the Finn is salo much more than just the Olympics - a pinnacle that many aspire to, that few reach but that all Finn sailors can identify with and learn from. Sailing the Finn goes hand-in-hand with developing strength of character, perseverance, tenacity and the challenge of doing something difficult really well. To many, the Finn is the perfect embodiment of the Olympic ideal, wherever it is sailed, and perhaps this is the ultimate attraction of a dinghy that has thrived for half a century as a leading class on the world yachting scene.