Held at Nea Iraklita, Kavala, Greece, 31 May at 10.00

1. Opening address

The Master’s President Andy Denison welcomed all the sailors to the 2023 Masters meeting 

2. Apologies-- there were no apologies.

3. President’s Report

The Masters President reported he has completed the visit to Punt Ala and will make the presentation available after the meeting. He was very positive about the changes that have been made and improved since we last held a Championships at Punt Ala. Expecting to need facilities for 300 boats with the potential for rubber matting on the beach. He expressed the importance of the initial visit.

Camping, Motorhomes pitches and the small chalets will be available for Finn Sailors to book from November 2023 - this is prior to the official opening of the camping facility.

Masters Europeans on Garda this year - some initial confusions have been dealt with to make the event practical

4. Election of Officers

Henk de Jager is due to stand down from the committee but has offered to continue as a Masters Committee member. His continued support was unanimously accepted by the membership.

5. Proposed Rule Changes to Masters Event Manual 2023
   a)Dates of the Championship

The President introduced the reasons for the Championship date changes. The Committee had discussed the reasoning behind the change and felt it would be beneficial to the future running of the event. He explained if the event is to be held in the Southern Hemisphere the date will most likely be in January

At a vote - 4 objections - motion carried.

b) Entry Fee penalties

The President explained the reasoning that the current rule of requiring doubling late entry fees is excessive as the cost of entry continues to increase. The change reflects current practice and gives the OA more breathing space when ordering supplies and shirts etc for changing the Masters ruling on entry fees to 

Fully completed entry forms and payments should be received no later than five (5) weeks prior to the event. After completing and sending the Entry Form the competitor agrees to pay the Entry Fee as defined in the NoR, however, only after receipt of payment is a competitor’s entry valid. Entries and/or payments received less than five weeks before the first race, will be charged a late penalty of €100. The OA may close entry one week prior to the regatta, but entries and/or payments received and accepted after this date will be charged a late penalty of €150. No shows without notification will be expected to pay the full entry fee before any entry will be accepted in future years. Late payments are at the discretion by the OA.

The proposal was carried unanimously. 

c) Bidding period for events

The President explained the current rule is too restrictive and the proposed amendment gave greater flexibility for lead times and longer-term planning.

Change to:

Nominations for a venue shall be sent to the Master’s President prior to February 1st up to three years before the desired year of the Championship. 

 Normally venue nominations can only be accepted three years in advance, but in special circumstances, a venue can be voted on further in advance. However, the venue proposal can only be heard, and voted on, on approval of the Masters Committee and if there is a majority in favour of this at the meeting.

The proposal was carried unanimously. 

A modified proposal from Bob Buchanan (AUS6) seconded by Steve Sampson (GBR) that Super Legends pay half the entry fees at World Masters (including Europeans) events. The proposal was carried (with 5 votes against).

6. Accounts/Budget

The President explained the current financial situation for the Masters, any losses incurred were mainly due to a shortfall on the magazine costs, reduced entries to the Europeans and World Masters, and the purchase of merchandising that will cover the next few years. However, increased income from the IFA to £5,000 offsets the deficit

7. Website and magazine

Website now has a series for micro sites to allow easy access to extra information and resource. IFA have now stopped the second edition of FinnFare, which will allow us to maintain the /Masters Magazine. 

8. Proposal to host the World Finn Masters in Brisbane Yacht Club in 2026

Phil Chadwick delivered a detailed presentation proposing Brisbane YC as the venue for the 2026 World Finn Masters. The intent would be to combine the event with the Australian Nationals, and Finn Gold Cup. This will enable sailors to participate in 3 events, that follow in close succession. 

A PowerPoint presentation is available on the Finn Masters Website.

Current Flag officers at Brisbane YC are Finn sailors and keen to support the event. The Club already has 38 Finns onsite. 

Expected Weather 32 degrees water is 27 degrees, expected 8-12 with sea breezes 15-20, this is a tropical sea breeze that is easy and not dense. Race area is around 30 minutes sail from the Club. A hotel and camping is available onsite, with three launching ramps. 

The Club is 20 minutes drive from Brisbane international airport. 

Shipping boats to Australia - expect to have some major sponsors - to help with shipping. Containers can be left onsite. 

At the vote - 2 against - the motion to attend the FWM in Brisbane in 2026 was carried. 

The Chairman conformed the Masters Europeans will be an easy access Central European Venue in 2026.

9. Date of next meeting

The date for the 2024 event in Punta Ala is likely to change and be in the second week on June 2024.

Meeting closed 10:30

The new dates for the 2024 Finn World Masters have been confirmed as 7-14 June.

Filipe Silva, from Portugal, has won the 2023 Finn World Masters at Nea Iraklitsa, Kavala, Greece, after no more races were possible on Friday. Laurent Hay, from France is second with Peter Mosny from Slovakia in third. 

While the weather remained hot and humid, low cloud prevented the sea breeze becoming established. The fleet was towed out to the race area and though the race committee kept the fleet afloat as long as practical there was no wind before the 15.00 deadline, so the fleet was towed back to the beach. 

At least everyone here has become an expert in towing this week.

It has been a very difficult week for wind, with various weather systems across Europe in the past weeks, and only one day of the weather that was expected this week. However, there was not a sad face on the beach, or the bars or the tavernas. Every has had an amazing time and at the prizegiving, a promise was made to invite the fleet back in the future. There will be a lot of takers for that.

Just four races were completed, and Silva sailed very well to finish with just over one third the points of second placed Hay, never placing worse than fifth in the 145 boat fleet. However, there was no discard and that may have changed everything.

The prizegiving was held where the event started, back on the beach but without the threat of heavy rainstorms passing over, and on a warm sunny evening.

There were two Super Legends here this week with Howard Sellars from Britain placing 102nd overall to take the title from Jan-Eric Floren, from Sweden in 144th overall.

There were also 18 Legends taking part and this category is getting more and more competitive with sailors remaining in the Finn for longer than ever. Jiri Outrata, from Czech Republic took the title in 19th overall from Peter Vollebregt of the Netherlands and Finland’s Derek Breitenstein.

Antal Szekely took the Great Grand Masters, the largest age category group this week, while Laurent Hay again won the Grand Masters and Filipe Silva took the Masters category title.

So that’s it from the beautiful beach at Nea Iraklitsa. 

In 2024 the championship heads back to another beach, this time in Italy at Punta Ala, for an event that was delayed three years because of the pandemic. Again, as this week, it is a welcome return to a popular venue and it is hoped the class will start to return to pre-pandemic entry levels with at least 300 boats expected.

Final results 
1 POR 21 Filipe SILVA 13
2 FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ 31
3 SVK 1 Peter MOSNY 49
4 HUN 7 Antalo SZÉKELY 50
5 NED 148 Peter PEET 62
6 HUN 30 Kantor ZSIGMOND 76
7 AUS 98 Lucas PRESCOTT 82
8 CZE 43 Ladislav HYRS 86
9 HUN 50 Akos LUKATS 93
10 GBR 18 Nick CRAIG 94

Super Legend
1 Howard Sellars GBR 777
2 Jan Eric Floren SWE4

Legend
1 Jiri Outrata CZE 8
2 Peter Vollebregt NED 39
3 Derek Breitenstein FIN 70

Great Grand Master
1 Antal Székely HUN 7
2.Philippe Lobert, FRA 66
3 Valentyn Klymentyev UKR 10

Grand Master
1 Laurent Hay FRA 75
2 Peter Mosny SVK 1
3 Peter Peet NED 148

Master
1 Filipe Silva POR 21
2 Kantor Zsigmund HUN 30
3 Lucas Prescott AUS 98

Lady
Tina Weinreich AUR 330

Classic Boat
Giancarlo Pelosi ITA 1101

Golden Crutch (11th)
Simon Percival GBR 635

Sailing Club Trophy
Thunsersee YC (Christoph Burger, Philippe Raemy, Till Klammer)

Nations Trophy
Hungary (Antal Székely, Kantor Zsigmund, Akos Lukats)

Full results here: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/FWM2023#!/results?classId=FWM23

Full gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720308764150