Finn Class North American Championships - Caleb Paine wins at ABYC

Paine (l.) shadows Douglas Rich Roberts

Henry Sprague leads Dorgan to finish in first of his two wins © Rich Roberts

As an onshore breeze fell short of forecasts at only six to ten knots, Paine was doing the math.

Everyone thought Douglas had thrown out his opening ninth place that resulted from failing to round the windward offset mark, but Paine, trailing by two points entering the last day, brought it back into play by forcing a worse finish in the next-to-last race.

'If I made him count his ninth it would change everything,' Paine said. 'So I raced him to the back of the fleet.'

Greg Douglas (l.) tracks Caleb Paine (r.) downwind in last race of Finn North Americans at ABYC © Rich Roberts

When Douglas tried to escape, Paine was able to stay in control, as the rest of the fleet sailed its own race. Although Douglas eventually passed Paine, the tactics resulted in Douglas finishing 13th---third from last to Paine's 14th---in the next-to-last race.

But it was delicate strategy. In the last race Paine placed fourth to Douglas' seventh, which left the latter with 23 points, only one ahead of Sprague, while Paine discarded his 14th for a final tally of 16.

Now the top pair, each 23 years of age, will continue training together into the Finn world championships at Santander, Spain in September. No hard feelings?

'We've been sailing against each other since we were kids,' Paine said. 'It's a lasting friendship.'

Greg Douglas tries to squeeze past the pin at the start © Rich Roberts

Douglas: 'Let's just say we both plan to go to the (2016) Olympics.'

Paine, a member of San Francisco's St. Francis YC, currently is sixth in ISAF's Finn world rankings; Douglas, of the Royal Canadian YC in Toronto, is 21st---mostly because, Douglas said, 'I haven't sailed as many events.'

This was Paine's first Finn North American title. Douglas won it two years ago.

The result also was meaningful for Sprague, who at 68 is old enough to be their grandfather but still going strong.

'It's been a good year,' he said. 'I won the Zellerbach Regatta at San Francisco this year. I also won it in 1964---50 years ago.'

The Finn dinghy, designed by Rickard Sarby in 1949 and first sailed in the 1952 Olympic Games at Helsinki, Finland, has been raced in every Olympics since as the longest enduring Olympic class. The two-man Star class is gone from the Games but the Finns sail on as a singlehander for heavyweights, while smaller people sail Lasers.

Mike Dorgan (l.) moves to overtake Philip Toth for second place in seventh race © Rich Roberts

The final leaders: (Eight races, one throwout)

1. Caleb Paine, St. Francis YC, 1-2-(3)-2-1-3-(14)-4, 16.
2. Greg Douglas, Royal Canadian YC, 9-1-1-1-2-2-(13)-7, 23.
3. Henry Sprague, Long Beach/no club, 3-9-(11)-4-3-5-1-1, 26.
4. Erik Lidecis, ABYC/Bahia Corinthian YC, (13)-8-2-3-6-1-5-2, 27.
5. Philip Toth, Mooloolaba YC, 5-3-5-5-5-6-3-(10), 32.

Complete Overall Results:

Rank	Fleet	SailNo	HelmName	Club	Nat	R1	R2	Total	Nett
1st	Finn	6	Caleb Paine	St. Francis YC	USA	1	2	3	3
2nd	Finn	USA 75	Philip Toth	MYC	USA	5	3	8	8
3rd	Finn	USA 741	Andy Kern		USA	2	7	9	9
4th	Finn	5	Greg Douglas	Royal Canadian YC	CAN	9	1	10	10
5th	Finn	USA 40	Chuck Rudinsky		USA	7	4	11	11
6th	Finn	69	Rob Hemming	Balboa YC	CAN	6	5	11	11
7th	Finn	74	Henry Sprague		USA	3	9	12	12
8th	Finn	USA 1214	Peter Connally	Newport Harbor YC	USA	11	6	17	17
9th	Finn	59	Mike Dorgan	San Diego YC	USA	4	14	18	18
10th	Finn	USA 505	Erik Lidecis	BCYC/ABYC	USA	13	8	21	21
11th	Finn	23	Jim Hunter		USA	8	13	21	21
12th	Finn	132	Jim Hecht	Mission Bay YC	USA	10	11	21	21
13th	Finn	USA 303	Joe Chinburg	Denver Sailing Assoc	USA	16	10	26	26
14th	Finn	401	Craig Johnson		USA	15	12	27	27
15th	Finn	USA 1066	Glenn Selvin	Alamitos Bay YC	USA	12	15	27	27
16th	Finn	USA 333	David Wilson	Ventura YC	USA	14	16	30	30
17th	Finn	66	Rich Wright	Mission Bay YC	USA	17	17	34	34
18th	Finn	100	Santiago Reyero	Mission Bay YC	USA	20 DNC	20 DNC	40	40
18th	Finn	1213	Andras Nady	St Francis YC	USA	20 DNC	20 DNC	40	40