The FINN dinghy fills the slot for the HEAVYWEIGHT DINGHY in the Olympics. It was designed in 1949 by Rickard Sarby and was first used at the Olympics in 1952 in Helsinki. It has been used at every Olympic regatta since then.
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.
(From the class website below)
Class website: