It is not easy to handle the different aspects of the history of the Finn. There are many different points of view upon the subject. It is possible to sort out some of them and to cover them in special chapters, like the technical development or the history of the most important regattas. However the administrative aspect turned out to be most central and interrelated with all other matters. It reflects in detail the motivation of the leading people in the Finn Class. Therefore this chapter might bear the subtitle of 'General History of the Finn'.

Also there were controversial periods in the history of the IFA. Different people had differing motivations for activities on behalf of the Class. It is understandable that these different people had and partly still have contradicting opinions about the subject matters at stake. Questionable viewpoints are therefore recorded in regard with the authors. The reader has to make up his own mind about these hot issues.

1950
In 1950, Rickard Sarby handed over all the rights of the 'FIN', 'FINT', 'FLINT', 'FINN' design to the Finnish Yachting Association. As the organiser of the Olympic regatta the Finnish Yachting Association published the plans and written description of the dinghy. In mid-1950 the Scandinavian Yachting Union adopted the Finn as a Scandinavian Monotype, but did not yet take over the administration of the Finn. 
The Swedish sailing in the Nordics with reefed sails
 

Rickard Sarby felt burdened by the responsibility of being the designer of the Olympic monotype for 1952, and was afraid that his dinghy might turn out to be a similar failure as the 1948 'Firefly'. In a letter, Sarby wrote that he was not eager to become the designer of an Olympic dinghy. He would prefer to keep up friendships with all his friends from the 1948 Olympic Games in Torquay. Rickard was afraid it would not be possible to create a dinghy that would be accepted by all the Europeans.

 1951
As a preparation for the 1952 Olympic Games a number of nations had asked for the plans and description of the Finn. In Germany 9 boats were built, which were strongly rejected by the majority of the former 1936 O-Jolle sailors.

In the UK Vernon Stratton, the later President of the IFA, Richard Creagh-Osborne, the later Chairman of the Technical Committee, and Charles Currey, the later Silver Medalist of 1952 had the first private Finns built. France built 5 Finns, Holland 5, Belgium 2, Austria 2. In Denmark Paul Elvstrom had his 'Bess' built, in order to compete in the first International Finn Regatta, the 1951 Nordic Championship. In a letter to a friend in South Africa (where the first Finns were also built as early as 1951), Rickard Sarby complained bitterly about the rough and unfair sailing technique of that Danish hotshot. Sarby won that event but Elvstrom eliminated two other competitors for second place by sudden tacks from port to starboard and causing collisions without warning. In those days windows in the sails were not allowed, so it was easy to allure your opponents into that trap.  
In order to promote the Finn, Rickard Sarby exhibited his boat in Uppsala The first three Finns built privately in the UK in 1951
 
 
In the fifties Sarby was against any self bailing equipment. He felt that sailing dry was part of the game, and if you capsize it should be the end of that particular race.

1952
For the first time the Finn was the Olympic monotype. The races in Helsinki dominated the season completely. A number of nations had built or bought some Finn dinghies in order to give their top single handed helmsmen from other classes an opportunity to become familiar with this boat. Because of certain initial shortcomings of the Finn in those days many sailors rejected the Finn and predicted only a short life for the class. In light air the primitive arrangement of the wooden mast on the wooden hog and the wooden boom in the mast slot caused a squeaking noise revealing every manoeuvre. In heavy air every newcomer took his lessons on the reaches and runs with sudden death rolls to windward. 
 
Some even capsized when entering the Finn for the first time because Sarby had not included a word about the trick of how to get past the mast.

In contrast, Paul Elvstrom took a positive approach towards the peculiar characteristics of the Finn. He spent many hours in his boat practising, found out about his and her limits, and developed many new ideas to overcome shortcomings. This experience was the basis of his success at the Olympics. He attached hiking straps which allowed him to keep his boat more upright. While the Finns in Germany and England had the sheet attached to a horse at the transom - limiting the boom - Paul invented a short traveller on top of the thwart, which allowed him to keep his boom down and farther out. 
Spectacular beaching in Forte Dei Marmi

He went faster and pointed higher. He invented, improved and perfected the hiking and sailing technique which is customary nowadays in the Finn, not sitting on the sidedecks but hiking on the gunwale. But not only did he train hard to sail fast he also practised to keep his boat stationary at the favoured starboard end of the starting line which gave him a definite advantage at the start.
 
One of the Swedish Finns built in 1951
 

1953
After the 1952 Olympics interest in the Finn diminished in some countries. However in 1953 it was agreed between the IYRU and the Australian organisers of the 1956 Olympics, that the Finn would remain the monotype for Melbourne. In 1953 the Finnish Yachting Association handed over the administration of the Finn to the Scandinavian Yachting Union. The only international race of importance for the Finn in 1953 was the Scandinavian Championship in Oslo, won by Elvstrom with Rickard Sarby second. In the Scandinavian countries, in Holland and Belgium, and partly in France, South Africa and the UK the Finn remained alive and increased.
Charles Currey and Rickard Sarby acted as technical advisors to the Australian organisers of the 1956 Olympics. Some interesting considerations were not translated into reality at that time. Buoyancy bags and any self-bailing devices were refused, because it was accepted that a capsize should end the race. A reduction of the sail area to 9 or even 8 m2 was not adopted. However kicking straps were refused as well, since it would have prevented reefing, frequently used in heavy air in the early days.
 
Henri Leten, the driving force behind
the formation of the IFA, Secretary
1956-1957, President 1957-1960
 
Currey suggested and Sarby approved to move the centreboard bolt further aft but finally the Olympic Finns were built in accordance with the original plans. The Australian Yachting Federation requested permission to build the Olympic Finns in fibre glass construction, however the Scandinavian Yachting Union denied approval.
 
In November 1953 the IYRU agreed that it would be very desirable to retain the Finn Class as a single-handed class in Olympic regattas for some time. It was agreed that the grant of international status to the Finn Class would be favourably considered if a request for it was received at some time. The addressee of that message was the Scandinavian Yachting Union. However that body remained inactive to the disadvantage of the Finn Class. 
The international fleet gathering at Rickard Sarby's home club in Uppsala Paul Elvstrom's Bess
 
1954
As a preparation for the 1956 Olympics the Dutch Sailing Federation heavily subsidised the construction of Finn Dinghies in 1954. Aside from Sweden, Belgium became the centre of Finn activities with French, British and Dutch participants in the international race at Zeebrugge. The 9 existing German Finns were not used in 1954.
Some new countries were interested in starting Finn sailing. However the development was handicapped by the fact, that the Scandinavian Yachting Union administered the Class. Requests for the delivery of building plans and instructions were answered very late or never. The problem with the Scandinavian Yachting Union was, that English is not the official language and that the administration rotates every other year between the four Scandinavian countries. Only the fact that it was decided that the Finn was to be the Olympic monotype for 1956 kept the Class alive.

1955
The Finn enjoyed the official support from the IYRU as the 1956 Olympic monotype and was already being considered for the 1960 Olympics as well. Newcomers to the Class interested in the construction of Finns were referred by the IYRU to the Scandinavian Yachting Union with limited success. Rickard Sarby gave valuable personal advice, but was unable to help since he had passed on all the rights for the design. Several countries developed differing measurement instructions. The IYRU regretted that no International Finn Association had yet been formed to which it would have been eager to grant international status.

Rinze Koopmans, first President of the lFA 1956-1957
 
 The German speaking countries would have liked to see the Finn fade away again in favour of the 1936
O-Jolle, and hoped secretly, that the Italians would select that old type as the Olympic monotype for 1960. However the Italian Sailing Federation with the present IYRU President Beppe Groce as the leading force supported the Finn and even organised with tremendous expenditure a big international Finn event in Forte Dei Marmi with 31 participants from 10 nations.

The Commodore of the Royal Belgium Sailing Club Henri Leten was the most active and powerful supporter of the Finn outside of the Scandinavian countries. He was well aware of the intention of the IYRU and the discontent of many other nations with the administration of the Finn by the Scandinavian Yachting Union. On behalf of the Belgium Yachting Federation Henri Leten invited all National Sailing Federations of countries with active Finn sailors to attend a conference in Brussels on November 12-13, 1955.

The agenda of that conference read:
1. Unification of the Finn rules.
2. Recognition of the Finn for the 1960 Olympic Games.
3. Choice of the Finn for the 1960 Olympic Games.

Point 1 of that agenda would have been the responsibility of the Scandinavian Yachting Union and points 2 and 3 of the International Yacht Racing Union. 
Richard Murray,
IFA secretary 1957-1961, sailing at Itchenor in 1958
 
After the Scandinavian Yachting Union had not responded to the politely phrased request of the IYRU to unify the rules, to initiate an International Finn Association and to apply for the international status of the Finn Class, it questioned the legality of that conference in Brussels. The four Scandinavian countries boycotted the endeavours of Henri Leten, arguing that the organisation of such a meeting would be their sole responsibility. But the Scandinavian Yachting Union missed again the opportunity to hand in the proper application to the IYRU in 1955. Instead the IYRU itself decided at the 1955 November conference to adopt the Finn as the one design for singlehanded sailing as soon as the rules and plans were revised and given a clean English text, and an International Finn Dinghy Association could be founded.
 
Paul Elvstrom, on far left, keeping his boat very flat at Kiel
 
Encouraging for the Finn Class was the' donation of a Gold Cup by F.G. Mitchell by the end of 1955, to be sailed for the first time at Easter 1956 in Burnham-on-Crouch, England.

1956
With the approval of the IYRU and under the protest of the Scandinavian Yachting Union Henri Leten claimed by January 1956 that the International Finn Association had been founded in November 1955 in Brussels. 
The IYRU approved that the European Championship with a crew of one (previously sailed in the 1936 O-Jolle) be organised by Belgium for 1956 in the Finn Class. Leten pushed to regard the newly created Finn Gold Cup as the world championship of the Finn Class. In addition, in early 1956 it was decided to select the Finn as the monotype for the 1960 Olympics as well. Many nations were preparing for the 1956 Olympics at the end of the year in Melbourne. Even the Germans took the old Finns out of storage (which had been lying idle for 3 years) to sail the selections.

Dr. Soderhjelm from Finland and Henri Leten revised the rules and J. Loeff from the Netherlands redrew the plans of the Finn. The Gold Cup in Burnham on Crouch turned out as a big success with 46 boats from 12 nations participating. Under these circumstances it was easy for Henri Leten to organise the first Annual General Meeting of the International Finn Association at the occasion of the European Championship on August 23, 1956. Disregarding the pending question, whether the meeting in Brussels in November 1955 was legal or not, the results of this conference were accepted, and the legal foundation of the International Finn Association was acknowledged. The Scandinavian Yachting Union had given up its opposition and transferred all the rights of administration and on the plans to the IFA. L.R. Koopmans from Holland was elected as the first president and Henri Leten as secretary of the IFA. A Technical Committee with Rickard Sarby as chairman and Richard Murray (UK) and B. Dotsch (Belgium) as members was created for interpretation and advice on the rules. 
Fred Miller and
Willy Kuhweide at the
Finn Gold Cup in 1961
 

The founding members of the IFA were the national Finn Associations of England, Holland, Belgium, South Africa, Finland as the only Scandinavian country, Argentina, France and Spain. Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Norway, Ireland, and Poland had sent representatives to that first AGM in 1956. Since Paul Elvstrom considered the sailing conditions of the Loosdrecht lakes unacceptable for a European Championship, Denmark was not represented.

M. Skaugen (Norway) proposed Rules for the IFA, which are the first draft of a constitution. They include the suggestion to publish a Finn Bulletin to be sent to members free of charge (later to become FINNFARE).
In the fall of 1956 a national Finn association was founded in the Federal Republic of Germany with Curd Ochwadt as the driving force. In November 1956 the IYRU granted international status (category 1) to the Finn Class.
 
1957
Already in its second year the Gold Cup was generally accepted as the official World Championship of the Finn Class. In 1957 it was organised in Sweden on the huge inland Vanersee by the later third president of the IFA Bengt Hornevall. 70 boats from 13 nations participated which was a record by any standard for that time. The 1957 AGM was also organised at the occasion of the Gold Cup for the first time. Henri Leten was elevated from Secretary to President and Richard Murray from the UK became the new secretary because English was the official language of the IFA.

The national Finn associations of Portugal, Federal Republic of Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, United States, Poland and Denmark joined the IFA in 1957. As early as the 1957 AGM the countries which were to organise the Gold Cups up to 1967 were determined. Surprisingly that schedule was actually adhered to in the following 10 years. Dacron sails and fibreglass boats were considered but not yet accepted at the 1957 AGM.
 
Since the Kiel Week of 1957 was a great success for the Finn Dinghy the new Class bypassed the traditional O-Jolle in the German speaking countries after that date. Paul Elvstrom remained the leading force in the technical development of the Finn. He constantly improved the bendy mast, longitudinally stiff boom and corresponding sail. After 1957 the so called 'Elvstrom bailers' became popular, which several people claim to have invented, including Elvstrom and Sarby.

1958
A number of new national Finn associations joined the IFA. Richard Murray collected the subscriptions and achieved such a good surplus, that he suggested that the fees should be reduced.

In local races in the US dacron sails were used on an experimental basis and proved to be superior, especially after a rain or a capsize. So the IYRU approved to allow the sail to be made of woven cloth
 
of even thickness as from 1st Jan 1960. Pressure to built Finns from GRP increased. In Switzerland Airex built some experimental boats. The IYRU agreed to the new material in principle. The Finn Class had to face the first technical revolution. For the years to come the challenge was to remain the leading single handed boat without outdating the existing hulls. Rickard Sarby built an FD and partly lost interest in the Finn Class.