2026 Finn World Masters at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron - Day 3
by Robert Deaves 25 Feb 14:01 GMT
23-27 February 2026
Casey still leads after tricky third day
After two more races on Wednesday, Brendan Casey, from Australia, still leads the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn World Masters at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia. Rafa Trujillo from Spain is second with Karl Purdie from New Zealand in third. Race wins went to Casey and Purdie. There are 107 Finns from 16 countries taking part.
Two races were scheduled to catch up Tuesday's lost race, with a much better forecast in place.
Race 4 was a tricky affair with those on the sides coming in deep. Casey rounded with a nice lead from Australia's Matt Visser and Fabian Lemmel third. Most favoured the middle right on the second upwind but while some sailed themselves back through the fleet, the top three remained the same.
There was a long wait for the next race as the wind began shifting through 50 degrees. Twice the committee boat had to move to reset the course. But eventually it got away with just enough time before sunset. Boats from the right rounded first with Rob McMillan from Australia rounding first from New Zealand's Karl Purdie and Filipe Silva from Portugal. Purdie had the lead at the gate and just held off Trujillo at the top to lead down to win. Silva crossed third with event leader Casey struggling to cross in 15.
Two more races are scheduled for Thursday, however the forecast is challenging with strong winds expected, so racing is in doubt. The event concludes on Friday.
Kerry Spencer is sailing the only wooden boat in the fleet and, "I bought this beautiful timber Raudaschl Finn about five years ago and I thought today it was only fitting that I sailed it in a World Masters title and not only have the timber Finn, but a Bruder mast and a boom. And the sail was made by Florian Raudaschcl. So, this is a Raudaschl tribute day for Hubert and the family. And they've been a great help to me and a great supporter of me buying one of their last remaining timber boats.
"It's 60 years old, from 1966. It doesn't go as fast as the new boats, but it's easy to handle and it's beautiful in the sea because it's so quiet. The boats don't make any noise, and it's a religious experience, of course. It's something that everybody should have a go at, particularly with the wooden mast.
"It quite surprised me today. It actually went faster today with the wooden rig than it did yesterday with the modern carbon fibre rig. You can sell any number of boats, but if you can get an original, traditional, beautiful piece of machinery like this and keep it going, I love it. It's the best thing I've done in years."
Britain's Lawrence Crispin dropped to fourth overall. "One good race, one bad race. First race I got a good start, went the right way, you know, well how it is. Second one, good start again, but went left. And it just kept on lifting and lifting and lifting, so probably finished mid fleet, in the forties somewhere.
"But I enjoyed it, as always. Only a couple of days left before we all go home to the cold of England. I think every day the heat seems to be getting harder and harder."
The Annual Masters Meeting was held Wednesday morning, with the major business being to decide the venue for the 2028 Finn World Masters. With two great bids on the table the meeting decided to head to Pula in Croatia. The class always had a small but strong presence in Croatia but there has been no activity for several years. The 2028 Finn World Masters would be the first major event there since 2015, and at a time when Croatia is rejoining the international fleet, this should hopefully be a great boost to the national fleet.
In Brisbane, two more races are scheduled for Thursday, however the forecast is challenging with strong winds expected. The event concludes on Friday.
Results after Day 3: (top ten, 5 races)
1 AUS 11 Brendan Casey 5pts
2 ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 9pts
3 NZL 111 Karl Purdie 16pts
4 GBR 74 Lawrence Crispin 22pts
5 POR 21 Filipe Silva 25pts
6 GER 501 Fabian Lemmel 28pts
7 ITA 40 Marko Kolic 32pts
8 GBR 790 Nick Craig 38pts
9 AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 39pts
10 NED 148 Peter Peet 40pts
Full results here.