Dear Finn Master friends,

Four weeks after the FWM in Maubuisson I start getting my life in a proper shape again. I think we had a good Championship, in spite of some discussions about scoring, etc. Still I think I did the right thing by changing the 4 starting groups into 2 starting groups. Most of you agreed with it, but some did not. As I said in the meeting: we are with 264 individuals with 264 ideas and we will never succeed in pleasing every Master for the full 100%. I am aware of that and I can live with it.
I thank the CVB in Maubuisson for their perfect organization and their hospitality. The venue is perfect, but nobody has influence on the wind conditions. I remember the FWM in 1999 with more constant winds, when we had no shifts up to 50 degrees.
We had a constructive and positive Annual Masters Meeting on the Wednesday. I was pleased to welcome Corinne Rolland-McKenzie, who attended our meeting. I thank all of you for your input and specially Richard Hart for presenting his scoring proposal, Gareth Roberts for presenting Pwllheli as a candidate for the FWM in 2011 and Pietro Piram and Bruno Catalan for doing the same for Punta Ala. After these presentations the meeting voted for Punta Ala in Italy as the venue for the FWM in 2011. I am looking forward to visit them and, of course, in 2011 to sail there. Pwllheli looks like a great venue, too and I am glad that they remain candidate for 2012.
Now I am trying to make an appointment with the Labud Sailing Club in Split for the preparations of the FWM in 2010. I will probably visit them in July.
I wish Richard Hart a lot of success with creating a proposal for a scoring system by the end of September. Some of us (we are working on this group) will assist him in this job and I hope the outcome will satisfy most of you.
I wish everybody a good sailing season with good winds and good results and, most important: a good health.

Kind regards,

Fons van Gent,
President Finn World Master's Fleet.