1987
John Hofland (Holland) replaced Jose Luis Doreste as Vice President (Sailing). The Gold Cup was held at Kiel in conjunction with many others classes to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the KYC. The Gold Cup was dominated by Jose Luis Doreste while Stuart Childerley won a high scoring Europeans as well as the Pre-Olympics in Pusan, Korea.

The IFA Treasurer, Andreas Muller brought out a single issue of FINNFARE at the Kiel Gold Cup and in the Summer Ines Sague from Spain became the new editor.

It was hoped that the Finns that were being built for the 1988 Olympics in Korea, would provide the class with a new builder in a new region of the world. However, although these hulls turned out to be very consistent and similar, they were not proved to be competitive against the standard hulls of the day.

1988
The Gold Cup was early in the year in Brazil, the first time it had been held in South America. It was won by Thomas Schmid (Germany) in a much reduced fleet due to the long travelling distance. Jose Luis Doreste won the Europeans in Medemblik, Holland to add to his Gold Cup of the previous year.
 
The season was dominated by the Olympics in Korea. The 1987 World Champion, Jose Luis Doreste, won a very close series, while one of the favourites Stuart Childerley performed worse than expected after having his best masts broken in transit and another favourite, Lasse Hjortnas broke his mast in the second race. Larry Lemieux was awarded a medal for giving up a second place in race 5 to go to the rescue of a Singapore 470 sailor who had lost contact with his boat. The IFA received a grant from the International Olympic Committee towards clinics throughout the year and prior to the Olympics which were run by Gus Miller and were very successful. The IFA was the only International Sailing Class which received money direct from the IOC. At the November IYRU meeting the Finn was again selected to be used in the 1992 Olympics Games.

At the Europeans Peter Mohilla brought with him his own personally designed and built portable station jig and computerised Lamboley test equipment for the measurement of the Finns present. It was generally agreed by those measured to be an accurate indicator of legal Finns. The IFA also published a new version of 'Major Championship Rules' which all organisers of Major IFA Championships have to follow.

1989
After 6 years in the post, Robert Neilson retired and was replaced as Vice President (Administration) by Chris Pratt (Australia) and Andrzej Ostrowski was replaced by Richard Hart (UK) as Chairman of the Technical Committee. The new Rule Book was published in 1989.

Stig Westergaard recaptured the Gold Cup whilst Hans Spitzauer from Austria won the Europeans. The dominant hull at this time was still the Vanguard from the US with a Needlespar mast and a North sail. The President, Gerardo Seeliger proposed at the AGM to add into the Rule Book a list of Olympic Medal Winners as well as a list of sailors who have made a significant contribution to the class. Peter Mohilla was named as the Chief Measurer of the Finn class. There were discussions to change some of the characteristics of the Finn: hull weight, length of boom, aspect ratio of the sail, although no radical changes were made. 
 

1990
At the 1990 AGM Bjorn Westergaard replaced John Hofland as Vice President (Sailing) and Pat Healy became Vice President (Development) when Chris Pratt who was Vice President (Administration) retired. The Vanguard Finn was selected as the hull to be used in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. The Finn Veterans was renamed the Finn Masters. Robert Laban was appointed as the Chief Measurer of the Class. The discussions on improving the basic concept the Finn continued: making it easier to measure, easier to handle in strong winds, faster to sail and more attractive to a broader range of sailors. The class faced opposition for selection for the 1996 Olympics from the Laser Class who were making a strong bid to be part of the Olympic Games.

The reigning World Champion, Stig Westergaard, won the Europeans in the UK but performed poorly at the Gold Cup in Greece. Hank Lammens became the first Canadian to win an major Finn Championship when he won the Gold Cup after a close finish.

Ines Sague published her last issue of FINNFARE in the spring and handed over the job to Josje Dominicus from Holland, who was to go on to produce more issues of FINNFARE than any of the previous editors (22 issues in all). At the end of the year, the contract that had been held with Emil Achermann, who had acted as the accountant of the IFA for two decades, expired and was not renewed.

1991
At the Gold Cup in Kingston, Canada, Hank Lammens retained his title in his home town while the distinctly non-European Larry Lemieux, also from Canada, finally won a major title by winning the European Championships in Anzio, Italy.

In 1991 the Finn class lost two of its most long standing and energetic supporters. On 13th May Peter Mohilla, former IFA Chief Measurer and former FINNFARE Editor and Austrian Finn Association secretary died. On October 7th, the Chief Finn Measurer Robert Laban died.

In 1981 David Howlett had suggested that the IFA hire an Executive Director to run the business of the IFA. It was refused then but at the AGM in Kingston, Canada, the idea resurfaced and the current FINNFARE editor Josje Dominicus from Holland was elected to the post. That AGM also saw the retirement of Nikos Kouklelis who had been the class secretary since 1975. He was made a Life Honorary Member of the IFA. It was decided that the entry quota for the Europeans and the Gold Cup should be the same as from 1st Jan 1993.

1992
After a number of failed attempts, Mexican Eric Mergenthaler finally won the Gold Cup; a very windy one held in Cadiz in which 57 year old IFA Development Coach Gus Miller won the second race. About 20 sailors attended the pre-Gold Cup clinic for which the class received a $10,000 grant. Stuart Childerley again won the Europeans before achieving a 4th in the Olympics later that summer; the same result he achieved in the Olympics 4 years before.

Andreas Muller retired as IFA Treasurer after eight years service and was replaced by Othmar Muller von Blumencron. Juri Saraskin from Estonia was appointed as the new Chief Measurer. After a long absence the South African Finns were back on the scene. Ian Ainslie was amongst a team of five South Africans at the Gold Cup in Cadiz. 
 

The Olympics in Barcelona were won by Jose Maria van der Ploeg in one of the deepest Finn fleets ever. World Champion Mergenthaler could only manage 19th whilst co-favourite (and 3 times Laser World Champion) Glenn Bourke finished 20th. After the Olympics, the IFA President, Gerardo Seeliger, bought one of the Olympic Vanguard hulls and donated it to the class as a development boat.

Gus Miller was awarded an IYRU Silver Medal for his work with coaching and clinics. The change over to carbon masts was started. Kurt Andersen from Sweden started developing and testing composite masts with a number of top Finn sailors. The Finn was again selected as the men's singlehanded dinghy for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

1993
1993 was a year of much technical development in the class. At the Gold Cup four different boat builders: Devoti, Lemieux, Pata and of course Vanguard all had boats in the top five. The Devoti hull had outstanding results in its first season. It won both the Gold Cup (with Philippe Presti helming) and the Europeans (with Stig Westergaard helming).
Many sailors were using and experimenting with the new carbon fibre masts which were starting to show good results. 1993 was also the year that much experimentation was done with courses and event formats, which did not prove too popular with the sailors (although the Gold Cup and Europeans were left alone).
At the IYRU conference it was again decided that the Finn hulls would be supplied at the 1996 Olympic Games, maintaining the tradition in the men's singlehanded event.
 

1994
After twice losing the Gold Cup on the final day, Fredrik Loof finally fixed it and won it in Parnu, Estonia, in what was described as one of the best Gold Cups ever. The Olympic Champion Jose Maria van der Ploeg won the Europeans in Turkey. The experimentation on courses and formats continued. The carbon mast debate also continued with many fearing the lack of availability and the cost of the new masts.
The Devoti Finn was announced to be the supplied hull at the 1996 Olympics in Savannah.

The IFA development Finn was widely used all over Europe by sailors from Ukraine, New Zealand and Japan before being shipped to Australia for the 1995 Gold Cup. This provided developing sailors the opportunity to sail a Finn and compete at the highest level without the expense of transporting a boat. 
At the 1997 AGM, ISAF President Paul Henderson
made a presentation to retiring IFA President
Gerardo Seeliger after 20 years service,
Treasurer 1977-1981, President 1981-1997 
 
1995
The season started off with the Gold Cup in Melbourne, Australia, the first Gold Cup in that region for 15 years. Hans Spitzauer won a very close series after the last race could not be started with the time limit. Almost everyone was now using the carbon masts, with Spitzauer using one of the first 'wing' masts that he had developed. At the AGM later in the year, the Technical Committee was directed to come up with recommendations to ensure that a financial arms races does not develop.

Many Finn sailors were involved in the America's Cup in the US. Russell Coutts, the 1980 Finn Olympic Gold Medalist won it convincingly.

On 25 April 1995, long time former IFA secretary Nikos Kouklelis died.

On Lake Balaton, Jose Maria van der Ploeg successfully defended his European Championship title. One of the favourites for the 1996 Olympics, Fredrik Loof won the Pre-Olympics in Savannah.

1996
For the first time ever the Finn Gold Cup and the Finn World Masters were held together at the same venue and at the same time. The idea was to show everyone how big the Finn class really was. 192 Finns came together in May at La Rochelle, France for the biggest Finn event so far. Philippe Presti won his second Gold Cup and gained qualification for the Olympic  
 
regatta in the summer. Roland Balthasar won the equally competitive, if a bit older, Masters fleet.
Just before the Olympics, Jose Maria van der Ploeg won his third consecutive European title in fine form, becoming in the process only the third Finn sailor to win a major Finn regatta three times in succession. (The others being Paul Elvstrom, Olympics: 1952, 1956, 1960 and Jorg Bruder, Gold Cup: 1970,1971,1972.)

The four favourites for an Olympic Medal didn't win anything. Just after winning the Junior European title for the second time, Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Poland) won the Gold medal with a race to spare. The other two medal winners, Sebastien Godefroid (Belgium) and Roy Heiner (Holland) were ranked by coaches outside the top ten.

The Finn had to fight off perhaps its strongest challenge yet to Olympic Status. Many saw the Laser as a threat, but many also saw it as good for sailing, offering top quality singlehanded racing for helms of a  
 
different weight requirement to that of the Finn. At the ISAF (formerly IYRU) conference in Brighton, in the UK, the Finn argument won the day and the Finn was selected again for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney

1997
Luca Devoti had never won a major event, despite being one of the most experienced sailors in the Finn fleet, but in 1997 he won the Europeans in Split, Croatia. Fredrik Loof won the Gold Cup for the second time, this time in Gdansk, Poland, winning the title from Luca in the final race. 1981 Gold Cup winner Wolfgang Gerz won the Masters event.

A 'rookie' place was introduced for the Gold Cup and Europeans for any sailor who had never before sailed in one of these events.
At the AGM in Gdansk, Gerardo Seeliger, who had been President of the IFA since 1981, retired and Philippe Rogge (whose father Jacques had been IFA President immediately before Gerardo) became the tenth President of the IFA. Gerardo was then presented with a model Finn by ISAF President Paul Henderson. The first thing Philippe Rogge did as the new IFA President was to appoint Gerardo as IFA President of Honour.

Also retiring at that AGM was Josje Dominicus after 6 years as Executive Director and 7 years as FINNFARE Editor. Josje's replacement as Executive Director was Sarah Kingston, while Robert Deaves who was the British Finn Secretary took over as FINNFARE Editor.

1998
The IFA Major Championship rules were altered to allow a minimum of 10 stickers to be paid for by a country (it had been 36). With the forthcoming 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the Southern hemisphere circuit in Australia and New Zealand attracted many European sailors. After looking forward to a Gold Cup in Durban, the South Africans had to withdraw at the last minute due to lack of funding. Fortunately, the IFA is always     
Paul McKenzie
IFA Treasurer
since 1996 Marc Blees
Marketing Chairman
since 1997 Karlo Kuret
Vice President Sailing
since 1997 Philippe Rogge
tenth President
since 1997 Sarah Kingston
Executive
Director
since 1997
 
welcomed by yacht clubs around the world, so the Gold Cup was superbly organised in very short time in Athens, Greece.
After dominating most races early in the year, Sebastien Godefroid won the Europeans without winning a single race. The 1996 Olympic Gold Medal winner Mateusz Kusznierewicz won the Gold Cup. The last race in both these events was cancelled due to lack of consistent wind. All year sailors were experimenting with hard cloth such as kevlar, mylar and vectran. 
 Sails made of these materials were gradually gaining success and numbers during the season.

After being founded in 1961 by Fred Miller in the US, 1998 saw FINNFARE celebrate its 100th issue with a special issue with contributions from many of the sailors and personalities who had been part of its history.
 
 
1999
The 50th Year of the Finn started with the Gold Cup in Melbourne once again, with a massive combined World Championships in Port Philip together with 13 other classes. Fredrik Loof won the Gold Cup for the third time and became the most successful Gold Cup participant of all time, having scored top three in the last seven Gold Cups.
It was decided to publish a new book on the history of the Finn, to bring the material in Peter Mohilla's FINNOG up to date.

Summary
This is the remarkable history of the Finn. For 50 years the Finn has remained the leading singlehander in yachting and hopefully will continue so in the future. In all these years the pivotal issue was to keep the boat modern and at the same time not to outclass the existing hulls. Changes were necessary, but the people in charge had to agree on the proper pace of development. Inevitably different characters had different opinions.
 
There was quite a bit of controversy, but in total the history of the Finn Class was peaceful and productive. In this class everybody has enough trouble to negotiate the boat on the water. So you are glad if you have friends when returning to the harbour to get your craft out of the water. Studying the past of the Finn, it can be expected for the future, that this boat remains the most athletic, elite-conscious, rewarding, and the most Olympic class you can ask for.