2026 Finn World Masters at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron - Day 1
by Robert Deaves 23 Feb 07:04 PST
23-27 February 2026
Brendan Casey, AUS - 2026 Finn World Masters day 1 © Robert Deaves
Brendan Casey is the early leader at the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn World Masters at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia, after two race wins on the opening day, Monday.
Spain's 2016 Masters World Champion Rafael Trujillo is in second with Britain's Lawrence Crispin in third. There are 107 Finns from 16 countries taking part.
After some early rain, the opening day brought a building wind from 8-15 knots, high temperatures, sunshine with cloudy patches and two great races inside Waterloo Bay.
Race 1 started in 9-10 knots with Rob McMillan leading Casey and Trujillo around the top mark. Casey made the best of the downwind to lead up the second beat, after which the positions stayed the same. However, McMillan was deemed OCS, so Trujillo ended up second with Portugal's Filipe Silva, the 2023 World Masters champion in third.
The wind increased to 14-15 knots for Race 2, and Oscar flag displayed for free pumping. Casey led at the top from Britain's Lawrence Crispin and Joe Spooner from New Zealand. Casey sailed away for a second race win, while Trujillo climbed from about sixth at the top to cross second while New Zealand's Karl Purdie crossed in third.
Casey said, "We had a magic day today and I am happy to say I won both races. Today we sailed in an 8 to 12 knot easterly breeze in flat water conditions, which suited my sailing style. With 110 boats on the line, it was pretty awesome to finish in front of everyone.
"I think for the next two days we'll have a similar wind forecast and then with the breezes increasing from the south-east later in the week."
Trujillo, "The first day of the Masters and we had a building breeze. In the first race we started at 9 knots, but we ended with a nice 11-12 knots. And the second race, we have a nice breeze between 12 and 13 knots with the change of current in between. It was quite challenging with a big fleet.
"You need to execute well the start and choose a side to approach the top mark. But I think that everyone had quite a lot of fun. Not big waves, quite flat water, but nice conditions. The weather forecast is the lighter day of the master. It was a pretty nice day. And the weather looks pretty amazing for this week. It will be a great championship.
Two more races are scheduled for Tuesday at 13.00. The event continues until Friday.
Results after Day 1: (top ten, 2 races)
1. AUS 11 Brendan Casey 2pts
2. ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 4pts
3. GBR 74 Lawrence Crispin 10pts
4. GBR 790 Nick Craig 11pts
5. POR 21 Filipe Silva 15pts
6. NZL 54 Joe Spooner 16pts
7. NZL 4 Mark Perrow 19pts
8. AUS 98 Lucas Prescott 19pts
9. AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 21pts
10. ITA 40 Marko Kolic 21pts
Full Results