rest of the boat together, he went sailing, coming right back in to telephone 

 a naval architect to come up and make a drawing as quickly as possible. 



"The Finnish authorities chose 'Sarby's sawed-off canoe' over hundreds 

 of other fine design entries. It touched off a new trend in yacht design in 

 what was to become the world's largest singlehander class." 



There are said to be about tliree thousand now in the world, including 

 about a thousand in Russia and three hundred in the United States. There 

 are National Finn Associations in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, various 

 countries in Europe, and in the United States. Leading builders or im- 

 porters in the United States are the O'Day Corporation (9 Newbury St., 

 Boston, Mass.), Newport Boats (Newport Beach, Calif.), John C. Conrad 

 (4939 N. 16th St., Philadelphia, Pa.); the Nautica Corporation (P. O. Box 

 26, Paramus, N.J. ). Construction may be of wood, molded plywood, or 

 fiber glass. Henry H. Anderson, Jr. (50 E. 89th St., New York, N.Y.) is 

 Secretary of the U. S. A. Finn Association, Inc. 



The Finn is a very sporty, planing boat, with an unstayed mast. It is 

 capable of great speeds and it is reported that a Finn was oflficially clocked 

 for a measured kilometer at a rate of 24 miles per hour. She has a rounded 

 cross-section and is decked over. As one man describes her: "Hot Olympic 

 singlehander, planing hull, athletic workouts." 



An unusual feature of the Finn is the way the boom passes through 

 a slot in the mast. It is reported that in spite of the large single sail, the 

 Finn is surprisingly seaworthy in the hands of a skilled helmsman. Among 

 the reasons given for her great speed are the ample sail area, the light 

 total crew weight ( only one instead of the usual two ) , and the absence of 

 rigging windage. To quote the English Yachts and Yachting: "The mast is 

 hollow, 3.9 inches at the deck, tapering to 1.6 inches at the top. When on 

 the wind the main sheet is hauled taut, the mast bends. This improves the 

 aerodynamic eJGficiency of the sail plan, which is unusually high, due to the 

 small gap between the hull and the boom and the absence of rigging.'' An- 

 other man explains that the efficiency of the above process is assisted by 

 the behavior of the boom. "The main sheet is led to the center of the boom 

 so that its pull tends to put a downward bend in the middle, thus pulling 

 out the fullness in the foot of die sail." Price is about $1250 new, $750 to 

 $1000 for used boats. 



VITAL statistics: L.O.A. 14V'; wateilinc i4'6''; beam 5'i''; draft 

 without centerboard 7", with C.B. down 2'6"; sail area 108 sq. ft. (no 

 spinnaker); weight 320 lbs.; trailable; racing crew, one. 



74 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



