Seventieth Finn Gold Cup at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron - Day 4
by Robert Deaves 18 Feb 07:00 PST
12-19 February 2026
Anders Pedersen's lead at the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn Gold Cup has been reduced to just one point with one day left to sail after two more races were completed on Wednesday.
A shift to lighter northerlies produced many changes through the fleet. However, the day belonged to Australia's Brendan Casey with a 1, 2 (which was nearly two wins), while France's Valerian Lebrun picked up a 3,1.
Hosted by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday brought scorching hot weather, with wind from 7-12 knots, and free pumping only turned on for the second race. The wind rose from 7-8 knots in the first race to 10-12 in the second but dropped again on the final downwind to 7-8 knots.
Pedersen, from Norway, was left playing catch up in both races for a 6, 4, which reduced his overall lead over Italy's Alessandro Marega, who scored a 2,3. Despite this, the top three remained the same again with Marega in second, one point behind Pedersen, while Australia's Anthony Nossiter is in third, another 16 points back.
Brendan Casey led all the way in Race 7, extending for a sizable win from Marega and Lebrun. The wind was trying to build and though the bottom of the course was 10 knots the top was only 7-8. However Oscar was raised for Race 8 and Australia's Rob McMillan rounded first just ahead of Casey who initially took the lead downwind, only to be passed by Lebrun. Casey then took the lead up the second beat only for Lebrun to again pass him downwind as the wind dropped. Casey crossed in second with Marega in third.
Rodion Mazin, from USA, is up to tenth overall. "I had a good first race, well, good start. I was at the top mark with Rafa. It was great. Downwind was tougher, no pumping, a lot of shifts, and a lot of working with controls. The second race was not as good, not that good of a start, but I was able to crawl back out. That was in the 15s or something like that, but very challenging conditions for everybody.
"There was a lot of tide. I always did it on the left-hand side. That's one of the reasons the first race didn't go as well as planned or as it started. For tomorrow it seems like it's going to be the same stuff, so we're ready. The boat is fast. That's proven today. We hope to finish strong."
Nick Craig, "It was a great day sailing today. We had 10 to 12 knots, 30 degrees, sunny, and what was nice for me was the tide was the other way round, so it was wind against tide, so the upwinds were short, downwinds were long, which suits me because I'm very light for a Finn.
"We had fantastic racing. The free pumping flag came up, so it was really hard work. By the bottom of the last one, I actually thought I was going to explode but managed not to and drink a load of water. Really good day sailing. Well run, because the start lines were pretty tricky with the tide under us. The race officer, she did a very good job of getting us off, using the black flag when needed and not chucking too many people out the way, so that was good."
Marega, "Today we had a wind from the north and yesterday it was from the south and it changed a little bit the racing, the sailing mood and so on. I'm quite happy about my week. I'm sailing good. This is the most important thing for me here and about sailing."
Thursday will be the final day of the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn Gold Cup and up to two races are possible to decide the title. Marega has been incredibly consistent, all but one result in the top three, while Pedersen has struggled in the lighter winds. However, bar a major upset, the Porsche 2026 Finn Gold Cup looks likely to be won by one of these two.
Results after Day 4: (top ten, 8 races)
1. NOR1 Anders Østre Pedersen 15pts
2. ITA 1103 Alessandro Marega 16pts
3. AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 32pts
4. AUS 11 Brendan Casey 37pts
5. ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 38pts
6. FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 44pts
7. AUS 2 Rob McMillan 66pts
8. NZL111 Karl Purdie 70pts
9. AUS 37 James Bevis 75pts
10. USA16 Rodion Mazin 86pts
Full results here.