Seventieth Finn Gold Cup at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron - Day 2
by Robert Deaves 16 Feb 13:38 GMT
12-19 February 2026
Norway's Anders Pedersen extended his lead at the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn Gold Cup with two more race wins in somewhat hairy conditions on the second day of the event.
The event is being very ably hosted by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia. The top three remain the same with Alessandro Marega from Italy in second with Australia's Anthony Nossiter in third.
With a forecast of 15-25 knots, with gusts on the water of already 28 knots, the slightly reduced Finn Gold Cup fleet set sail for two more races in Moreton Bay. With a stiff 25 knots on arrival some boats turned around and went home, though the conditions did moderate as more rainclouds came in and then the second race was sailed in a steadier 15-18 knots, including some intermittent sunshine.
Australia's Kane Sinclair led the first race of the day in the longest first upwind in living memory at 2.2 nautical miles, rounding ahead after a big left shift from Pedersen and Australia's Rob McMillan. However, Pedersen took the lead on the second much shorter beat to lead into the finish from Marega and Australia's Brendan Casey.
The second race was more normal with Pedersen starting well at the pin and building a sizeable lead round the course to win from Nossiter and Spain's Rafa Trujillo. Only 42 boats finished both races. However, the cold, wet weather has hopefully now gone and sailors were pleased to see the return of the sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20s.
Joe Spooner is back in the class for the first time in 28 years. "It was a tough day on the water today. I haven't sailed these things for 28 years. My last gold cup was Athens in 1998. It's good to get back out there today. Not sure what we saw for max breeze but must have been 25 to 30 at max peak. It was a tough course. The legs are still handling in. Good to go around the track and a really good fleet with quality sailing.
On the rest of the week, "Looking forward to some lighter breezes but hopefully not too light so we can hike out. But yeah it's been good."
Brendan Casey is in fourth. "Just finished Day 2 here at the Porsche Centre Brisbane Finn Gold Cup. What an amazing four races we've had. Anders from Norway, well how do I say this, he's like the Porsche GTS Turbo. He's won all four races and is doing awesome."
Rafa Trujillo had a better day and is up to fifth. "We had a big shift in both races. The first race we had a 35 degree lefty and made the upwind even more complicated. Think it was 2.2 miles and everyone was going to the right and the shift left made the upwind huge. The second race was again a 10 degree shift with consistent wind over 18 knots.
"Anders is in another league. The rest of the people are pretty tight battling with the conditions and fitness and trying to survive. I enjoy this really a lot being back in the Finn after my hip operation. I'm pretty happy but hope tomorrow the shifts only are 10 degrees upwind as I figure I get every 10 degree shift wrong way every time so far."
Finally, a shout out to Valerian Lebrun, from France, who risked his boat and himself to help a fellow sailor in trouble, who had capsized 400 metres downwind of the course area and was unable to right his boat. With a support boat helping in the waves and high winds, Lebrun traded places, righted the boat, and switched back to his own Finn just in time to make the start of Race 4. Bravo Valerian! He is currently in seventh overall.
Pedersen has now won all four races, two after playing catch up and two by a significant margin. The event now moves into a new phase with the winds expected to become lighter over the coming days as the temperature creeps back up towards 30 degrees.
Racing continues on Tuesday with two more races scheduled with the event running through to Thursday. Three days and six races remain to determine the 2026 Finn world champion.
Results after Day 2: (top ten, 4 races)
1. NOR 1 Anders Østre Pedersen 4pts
2. ITA 1103 Alessandro Marega 12pts
3. AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 19pts
4. AUS 11 Brendan Casey 21pts
5. ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 26pts
6. AUS2 Rob McMillan 28pts
7. FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 32pts
8. NZL 54 Joe Spooner 50pts
9. AUS 37 James Bevis 51pts
10. POR 21 Filipe Silva 51pts
Full results