Rafa Trujillo has been inducted into the Finn Class Hall of Fame during the closing ceremony of the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn Gold Cup at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia.
Trujillo is most famous in the Finn class for having won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2007 Finn Gold Cup in Cascais, Portugal. After four Olympic Games appearances, three times in a Finn, he turned to coaching and was behind the youngest ever winner of the Finn Gold Cup, Jorge Zarif, in 2013. Since then, he has become a coach for Australian Sailing, most notably coaching Matt Wearn to Olympic Gold in Paris 2024. His other sailing achievements and awards are well renowned.
IFA President, Rob McMillan, said, “There is someone amongst us today who has made an absolutely extraordinary contribution to the class and to sailing in general and without his sparkling personality we would be far poorer.”
Trujillo said, “Thank you for this recognition. One year ago, I was only available to sail 2.4 Metres. Then I had a hip replacement. My last Finn Gold Cup was 2012. When I stopped sailing, I was bigger than I am now. But what the class gave me is health. And thanks to all the Finn sailors that give me the motivation to come back and get my health back and enjoy this event.”
Legends
The Finn Class Hall of Fame is an acknowledgment of many of the legends of the class, from Paul Elvstrøm, Jørg Bruder, Hubert Raudaschl and Willy Kuhweide through to John Bertrand, Lasse Hjortnaes and Jose Doreste to Ben Ainslie, Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Fredrik Lööf. They are all absolute icons of the class and being inducted into this exalted list is the highest honour the class can bestow, both for exceptional skill on the water, or having been instrumental in the amazing legacy and success of the Finn Class.
The last inductions were made in 2015, so on the occasion of the 70th Finn Gold Cup, the International Finn Association is reinvigorating this fantastic celebration of class heroes and legends. Stay tuned for more…
They are all listed here: https://finnclass.org/the-finn/hall-of-fame
Robert Deaves
#finnsailing #finnclass
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