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Two New Zealand sailors are setting the pace after the opening day of the Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne.

New Zealander's Andy Maloney and Josh Junior are leading the way after the opening day of the Finn Gold Cup - the premier competition in Finn Class sailboat racing - taking place in Melbourne.

Racing on Port Phillip got underway on Monday with an hour's delay to give the breeze a chance to fill in and the first race started in a 9-12 knots southerly, which later settled around 10 knots.

Junior won the first race, in which his compatriot finished fifth and their positions were reversed in the second race, giving them both six points.

In the first race, Junior finished ahead of Spaniards Alejandro Muscat and Joan Cardona, respectively.

In the second, Maloney led throughout with a clear start on the second attempt after a general recall in the first, with Croatia's Nenad Bugarin and Dutchman Nicholas Heiner filling the next two places.

Bugarin is running third overall on 10 points.

The highest-placed Australian was Queenslander and 2016 Rio Olympian Jake Lilley, who ended Monday 12th on 33 points after improving on his first race 19th with a 14th in the second.

"We had a tricky, light building sea breeze," Lilley said.

"We woke up with pouring rain as it does in the morning in Melbourne and the sea breeze filled in to about 10 knots, and we got two good races away in really challenging conditions."

Lilley was just below two of the big names in the six-day event - Britain's reigning Olympic gold medallist and four-time world champion, Giles Scott and Hungary's defending world champion, Zsombor Berecz, who are 10th and 11th respectively.

Both improved markedly in the second race, with Scott rising from 16th to sixth and Berecz from 23rd to eighth.

Victorian Oliver Tweddell was the next best-placed Australian to Lilley in 19th, after a 22nd and a 17th.