The 65th Finn Gold Cup opens in Porto, Portugal, this week with around 60 sailors from 33 nations taking part. It is the first time that the whole fleet will race together since the 2019 Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

The event also offers the final opportunities for nations to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, with one European place and one African place on offer and, as Afloat reported earlier, Donghadee's Oisin McClelland is looking for a place for Ireland.

The fleet includes four previous world champions, including the defender Josh Junior, from New Zealand, who hasn't raced a major Finn event since victory in 2019. However, he has of course, along with Andy Maloney who is also in Porto, won the America's Cup in the meantime.

The 65th Finn Gold Cup comes at a strange time in the history of this outstanding class, both because of Covid restrictions and the uncertainty over its inclusion at Paris 2024. In 1956 the Finn Gold Cup was introduced to bring the best sailors in the world together for a week of racing. It is still doing that and there is little doubt next week's battle on the ocean off Porto should be epic.

Registration and measurement run from Wednesday 5 to Friday 7 May, followed by a 10 race series from 8-12 May.

Event website here