Winning the Finn Gold Cup, 40 years later

In 1977, 115 sailors from 27 countries gathered in Palamos, Spain, for the 22nd running of the Finn Gold Cup – the World Championship for the class. However, after the Spanish Government refused to accept the entry of the two South African sailors, the International Finn Association withdrew the Finn Gold Cup from the event.

That event was renamed Finn World Week and has become a scar on the grand history of the class; a decision that cost the 21 year old Spaniard Joaquín Blanco, who went on to win the event, his right to lift one of the greatest trophies in sailing.

The wind at that 1977 event matched the mood of the competitors, with only five races possible in unusually light and feeble breezes. Blanco, who was already European Champion, won two races, was always in the top 10 and finished 23.3 points ahead of second placed José Luis Doreste, also of Spain, who would go on to win gold in Pusan at the 1988 Olympics.

Blanco himself finished fourth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

And now, four decades later, on Saturday June 23, the Finn Class has rewritten history, awarding the 1977 Gold Cup title to Blanco.

Racing at the 1977 Finn Gold Cup in Palamos

The occasion was in Palamos with the Nàutic Club Costa Brava-Vela Palamós organizing a regatta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1977 Finn World Week. More than 30 sailors competed in the same waters of Blanco’s victory, including many from 1977, with Blanco himself as well as Doreste, in the fleet.

This gathering of Spanish Finn talent past and present seemed like too good an opportunity to miss to finally acknowledge Blanco’s achievement. On Saturday evening he was presented, albeit 40 years late, with the Finn Gold Cup, his name newly engraved to finally recognize his victory. Winning the Finn Gold Cup is a supreme achievement in the sport of sailing, and his name now sits alongside some of the greatest names in sailing of all time.

Holding the trophy for the first time, he remarked, “It’s so emotional for me because I have been waiting for this for 40 years; it’s too much. After the 1977 races in Palamos I thought that I could also win in Manzanillo in 1978, but I could only finish second to John Bertrand (USA).”

How did he feel at the time? “I was not sad. I did my best sailing in 1977 and won and I was very happy then. I also won the Europeans that year as well. I know there were problems politically and the Finn class made the correct decision, and at that moment they couldn’t give the prize to me.

“It was OK for me at the time; it’s very difficult to say but it was very important for me to be in the list of world champions in the Finn Class.

“Now, after all this time, when you are getting old and your name is still not on the Finn Gold Cup, then you feel sad, but now my name is on the Finn Gold Cup I am very happy.”

Joaquín Blanco receives the Finn Gold Cup from Finn Class President of Honour Gerardo Seeliger

IFA President, Balazs Hajdu explained, “The decision taken 40 years ago to remove the Finn Gold Cup from competition is not in question here. We cannot, and shouldn’t, comment at such a distance, in such a difficult and different political climate. It was a very different time. But we can, and should, acknowledge the achievement of Joaquín Blanco.

“South Africa has moved on a long way from 1977, and in the atmosphere of reconciliation and restoration, we feel that Joaquín Blanco should be acknowledged for his achievement by his peers and that is all we are doing today. We are rectifying the regret that Blanco felt at winning the regatta but not being able to lift the Finn Gold Cup. It is now time we did that.”

IFA President of Honour, Gerardo Seeliger, who competed in 1977, presented Blanco with the Finn Gold Cup and a Finn half model to remember the occasion, said, “Correcting a decision is the great privilege of wise men. At the time we were pressed by politics, and we, the Class, had a long fruitless debate. As a member of the then Executive I feel proud to give to the sport what belongs to the sport. We have in Olympic sport so many similar precedents.”

Another competitor in 1977, Gus Miller from the USA wrote, “Congratulations to Joaquín Blanco again. The event showed the collective wisdom of Finn sailors. When they were confronted with an international political situation that could have prevented there being any racing at all, the Finn guys found a solution that solved the problem at the time. Now that the roots of the larger problem have evolved, it is time to call Blanco the 1977 Finn Gold Cup winner.”

Source: Robert Deaves