Finn Class North American Championships 2014 - Day 1

Canada’s Greg Douglas (r.) beats American buddy Caleb Paine (l.) in Friday’s second race - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 Rich Roberts

Caleb Paine (r.) hails Greg Douglas (c.) and Rob Hemming (l.) about their oversight - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 © Rich Roberts

He is now a training partner for Paine, and the relationship showed in painful conditions for the first of three days of the event that started Friday when Douglas led fellow Canadian Roy Hemming around the windward mark, with Paine in third place - but the first two neglected to round the white bulb offset mark before turning downwind.

Paine noticed their oversight and yelled to let them know about it as he rounded the bulb to move into first place, prompting Douglas and Hemming to scramble back to round properly.

Caleb Paine wins the first race Friday - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 © Rich Roberts

Why did Paine speak up?

'The nice thing to do,' he said, smiling, 'the Corinthian thing to do they're friends of mine.'

And although Douglas and Hemming recovered to finish ninth and sixth, respectively, it may not make any difference when throwouts kick in after five of the scheduled nine races.

Paine, who is from San Diego but now has an Olympic training relationship with St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, emerged from the dismal day in first place with three points after Douglas beat him by three boat lengths in the second race.

Andy Kern patiently waits for the wind that never arrived - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 © Rich Roberts

For the moment, Philip Toth is in second place with a steady five – three for eight points in the 19-boat fleet, one point ahead of Andy Kern (two - seven), who is one ahead of Douglas.

A third race planned for Friday was canceled after an hour's futile wait for wind. The south-southeast winds peaked at a puny (for Long Beach) 4.5 knots on the flat offshore race course outside the breakwater, then faded to 2.5 for a second race before the race committee gave up hope after an hour's futile wait for a third race.

They'll probably make it up. The schedule calls for as many as nine races over the three days in the greater Long Beach Harbor, starting at noon each day, conditions permitting.

Henry Sprague leads the fleet off the start line - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 © Rich Roberts

The conditions were so off-normal for Long Beach that veteran Henry Sprague, in seventh place with a three - nine log, said, 'In the 50 years I've been sailing here I've never seen the current going west at three knots.'

Sprague, 68, said that enigma complicated the challenge of picking the best side of the course, prompting the fleet to split left and right, with better wind one way but a current the wrong way.

Maybe they'll all figure it out before the last two days, or maybe conditions will kick in with the popular Long Beach southwest sea breeze.

Chuck Rudinsky leads fleet to the offset mark in 2nd race - Finn Class North American Championships 2014 © Rich Roberts

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.

The leaders: (After four of nine races)
1. Caleb Paine, St. Francis YC, 1-2, 3 points.
2. Philip Toth, Mooloolaba YC, 5-3, 8.
3. Andy Kern, no club, 2-7, 9.
4. Greg Douglas, Royal Canadian YC, 9-1, 10.
5. Chuck Rudinsky, no club, 7-4, 11.

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