The 56th Finn World Masters opens in Brisbane
by Robert Deaves 22 Feb 09:23 PST
23-27 February 2026
The Finn World Masters Gold Cup © Robert Deaves
The Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn World Masters was opened Sunday evening at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia. Just over 100 sailors from 18 nations are entered for the event.
A series of eight races is scheduled from Monday 23 February to Friday 27 February.
Just a few days after the end of the Finn Gold Cup, many sailors are still recovering and licking their wounds after a week of hard Finn sailing. Many of the same names will be back, joined by many more who have arrived or shared a charter boat with someone doing the Finn Gold Cup.
From the top 10 at the Finn Gold Cup the bronze medalist Brendan Casey from Australia is joined by Anthony Nossiter and Rob McMillan, Spain's Rafael Trujillo and Karl Purdie from New Zealand. When the wind went light at the end of the Finn Gold Cup, Casey was almost unbeatable. However, the fleet for the Masters is larger and is also racing inside Waterloo Bay, so the conditions will be very different with flatter water, changeable currents and certainly more wind shifts.
Other names to watch will be World No 1, Laurent Hay, who had a terrible Finn Gold Cup after some equipment problems. Britain's Nick Craig, should also improve on last week's 13th in the flatter water and lighter winds. The fleet also includes the world ranked No. 10, Peter Overup, from Sweden.
At the opening ceremony on the RQYS's lawn, Finn Masters President, Andy Denison, welcomed the sailors and received the Masters Gold Cup on stage from former Finn Gold Cup winner, Thomas Schmid, from Germany, representing last year's winner, Pieter-Jan Postma, who is not here to defend his title. The only previous winner here this week is Trujillo, who won in 2016. After presenting the Finn Masters flag to RQYS Commodore, Curtis Skinner, Denison officially opened the championship.
The Masters is the final of three back to back Finn events in Brisbane. They have has been a long time coming and the result of a lot of work between the IFA, RQYS as well as IFAA to make these event happen following initial conversations back in 2016. It took a lot to convince the Finn sailors that sending both the major championships to Brisbane was a good idea, but eventually it all came together, and the club is delighted with the response, with about half the fleet from outside the region.
Racing is scheduled to begin at 13.00 on Monday.