Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron will be hosting three major Finn championships back-to-back
by Robert Deaves 3 Feb 23:40 GMT
7-27 February 2026
Italy's Alessandro Marega was fourth at the 2026 FGC © Robert Deaves
In a world that is seemingly going stark raving bonkers it's time for a little bit of sanity. After a decade of hope and years of planning, the Finn world is finally descending on Brisbane, Australia for the next three weeks. Though it might sometimes appear you have to be slightly insane to sail a Finn, the normalisation it brings is the great equaliser.
From 7-27 February, the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron will be hosting three major Finn championships back-to-back. Some sailors are doing one, many are doing two, and some are challenging themselves to the limit and doing all three. Pick your level of insanity. The Australian Championship is followed by the Finn Gold Cup and then the Finn World Masters - three weeks of Finn excess on the challenging Moreton and Waterloo Bays.
There are 80 entries for the Australian Championship, with six races scheduled from 7-10 February. This will be the largest ever entry for the event. The 52 strong Australia fleet will be joined by more than 25 visitors looking to experience Waterloo Bay before the main events. It will also be a great indicator of form ahead of the two world championships that follow. Past champions taking part include Rob McMillan, John Condie, Rafa Trujillo, Anthony Nossiter and Brendan Casey.
After a few days off for rest and equipment inspection the Finn Gold Cup will take place from 12-19 February. To date, 20 Australian sailors will be lining up against 46 from overseas, with containers arriving from New Zealand, Denmark, Portugal and The Netherlands. It will also include the Finn Silver Cup, for U29 sailors.
Brisbane also hosted the Gold Cup 50 years ago in 1976 when Chris Law from UK won from Jonty Farmer of New Zealand and Australia's John Bertrand.
The only former winners taking part are Rafa Trujillo, from Spain, and Thomas Schmid, from Germany, but the competition will be intense. World No.1 Laurent Hay from France, eighth in 2025, is still looking for a first Gold Cup win, after several podiums, along with former No.1 Alessandro Marega, from Italy, fourth in 2025. None of the top three from Cascais in 2025 are attending,
Other strong contenders from last years top 10 include the current European champion, Valerian Lebrun, from France and Australia's Rob McMillan. The tough field also includes Britain's Nick Craig (who won the OK Dinghy World Championship here two years ago), returning Olympian, Anders Pedersen from Norway, Rodion Mazin from the USA, Britain's Lawrence Crispin, Peter Peet from The Netherlands, Fabian Lemmel from Germany and Italy's Marko Kolic. There are a few dark horses entered, and it will be interesting to see how they perform against the established sailors.
Finally, the Finn World Masters takes place from 20-27 February, the first time it has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere, and only the third time outside Europe. The entries to date number 107, including 48 Australians, many returning from taking a break after the nationals. Some of the same names feature, though for a lot of sailors this is the main event, so the fleet is considerable boosted.
While the Nationals and the Masters will be sailed in the relatively sheltered Waterloo Bay, the Finn Gold Cup will be sailed, conditions permitting, in the more exposed Moreton Bay outside Green Island, to provide the challenging conditions that are demanded for this prestigious world championship.
To enhance what will already be an eventful and epic three weeks in Brisbane, the events are being presented by Porsche Centre Brisbane, and it's hard to think of a more apt sponsor for the ultimate sailing challenge than the ultimate driving experience.
Finn sailing - nothing else comes close.