Record entry for 2024 Open Finn Europeans in Cannes
by Robert Deaves 18 Oct 2024 22:54 NZDT
18-25 October 2024
Finn racing © Robert Deaves /
www.robertdeaves.uk
The 2024 Finn Open European Championship opens in Cannes this week, with a record-breaking entry of around 150 boats. Hosted by the Yacht Club de Cannes (YCC), it follows on the back of a hugely successful year for the class as numbers keep rising.
Following nearly 300 Finns at the World Masters in Punta Ala and more than 100 at the Finn Gold Cup in Aarhus, the class is pulling in bigger numbers than ever. Some of this is helped by the open entry, but worldwide, class numbers are well up on pre-2020 levels. The entry in Cannes smashes the previous record entry for the Europeans, which was 103 in 2013.
The 156 pre-entries come from 25 nations. The huge fleet will race in two groups, with a finals series scheduled after three days. The YCC itself has one of the largest Finn fleets in the world, with 25 Finns based at the club. The event follows 20 years after the 2004 Finn World Masters was also held here, which was also a record entry for that event at the time.
The championship also includes the U23 European Championship as well as the European Masters titles. What better way to end the year with a fantastic festival of Finn sailing on the Mediterranean? This has undoubtedly proved a popular end of season attraction as the northern European countries head into winter.
At the end of the week there will be a new European champion, with none of the former winners in attendance, though many have got close over the years.
World No. 1 Laurent Hay will continue his battle against fellow French, Valerian Lebrun. Hay took the World Masters title from Lebrun in June, while Lebrun turned the tables to win the French title later on.
Italy's Alesandro Marega took a well-deserved bronze at the Finn Gold Cup in August and followed that with the Italian title a few weeks ago. Meanwhile Martijn van Muyden, from Holland, will also be in the hunt after a close bronze at the World Masters.
Other names to watch for include the 2023 European Masters Champion, Peter Peet, from the Netherlands, and the new Dutch open champion from Spain, David Terol, who always performs well in Cannes.
From Poland, Bartosz Szydlowski has been sailing well, as has the 2023 Masters champion Filipe Silva. Britain's Nick Craig is getting closer to the front and it's probably a matter of when rather than if.
There is a warmup regatta over the weekend with registration and equipment inspection running from Friday 18 to Sunday 20, followed by a 10-race series from Monday 21 to Friday 25. The long-term forecast for Cannes looks changeable, so it could be an interesting week for the biggest Finn European Championship of all time.