2018 Finn Masters North Americans

Thirty-three sailors competed in the 2018 Finn Masters North American Championship, held September 21-23 in San Diego, CA. Although this was a Masters Regatta, skippers under age 40 were welcome to compete, with U40s Eric Anderson and William Alexander taking the two positions. However, Darrell Peck was just three points off the lead to win the overall Masters title in the 8-race series. Sub category winners were Joe Chinburg (40-49), Peck (50-59), Rob Coutts (60-69), and Charles Rudinsky (70+).

Event details – Results

Final Results (Top 10 of 33)

Additional report from San Diego Yacht Club:
Racing was on the Coronado Roads situated just south of Point Loma, with mild temps clear skies, and winds ranging from 8 to 12 knots.

Darrell Peck came out from Oregon for the event after participating in a handful of Finn regattas in August, making for good practice. “I felt like I had great speed and great confidence. I borrowed a newer mast and sail for this event, so it was a great combination and I only had two bad luck races that I was able to come back from.”

While he might have made his success look effortless to his peers, Peck did experience some equipment problems on the course when his tiller universal was damaged in the final day’s races. Thankfully, the Race Committee tossed Darrell some duct tape, he mended his broken piece and stayed competitive.

The real excitement grew in the battle for second with Mike Dorgan and Rob Coutts tied entering the final day. Despite Coutts bullet in the final race, Dorgan’s consistent 3-2 for the day put him two points ahead of Coutts for the regatta. “I had to have a great start and sail fast upwind to compete against Rob’s speed downwind. I tried to sail a conservative race and stay next to him the whole time.”

A unique twist to this particular Finn Masters North American Regatta was to include ‘junior’ (age 40 and under) Finn sailors to participate. “It was absolutely fantastic to have the juniors on the course,” said Dorgan. “The more youth you can have involved in the fleet, the more it is going to help it grow. The US Finn Class mentions in their mission to promote Finn sailing to the youth, so we did exactly that by having them sail with us. Plus, they help us older guys pull the boats up the ramp!”