One-Person Dinghy (Finn), Open

The Finn is a catboat, or cat-rigged sailboat, which means that it has its mast well forward on the boat with a single sail. The Finn made its Olympic début in 1952 as the one-person dinghy class, but it became the standard and remained the boat used for one-person dinghy at the Olympics until 2020, at least for open and men’s classes. It was designed in 1949 by Swedish canoe designer Rickard Sarby, a competitor at the 1948-1956 Olympics.

Paul Elvstrøm of Denmark had won the one-person dinghy at the 1948 Olympics, although the class in 1948 was the Firefly. Elvstrøm defended his gold medal by winning three of the first four races, and taking such a large lead that he could have skipped the final three races and won the gold medal. Elvstrøm would go on to win the gold in the one-person dinghy four times consecutively, from 1948-1960. Britain’s Charles Currey easily won the silver medal over the class designer, Sarby, who barely held on over the 1948 bronze medalist, Dutch sailor Koos de Jong.