Blue skies and light winds greeted Port MacDonnell Sailing Club sailors on Saturday.

With sailing being postponed again the week before due to dangerous conditions, it was with great pleasure that eight boats were able to take to the water for the day’s racing.

Race officer Dennis Illman welcomed back Niell Thomson to the club as rescue boat driver and together they set a traditional triangle-loop-triangle course for the boats to race.

Steve Dyble and Nick Watson on Austral20 ‘Minty’ had a great start as the first boat across the line, followed by another Austral20, Tom Paltridge’s ‘Windy Fred’.

There was ample opportunity for the boats to use their spinnakers and most of the fleet made use of this on three legs of the race.

Court650 ‘Pinky’ missed a buoy at the end of the first lap and withdrew from the race, instead using it as a chance to teach the crew how to steer the boat – to the amusement of the rescue boat and tower.

The first boat to finish race one was Sonata ‘Harmony’ skippered by Don McLennan, who was followed the entire race by Sharon Holmes on 145 dinghy ‘Miki Moto’.

The second race was started straight after the first race had been completed, in much the same conditions.

‘Harmony’ had the best start to the race and was followed by ‘Miki Moto’.

The light wind conditions made for an interesting contest with some boats stalling at the start line and others struggling to find wind in patches throughout the race.

Once more ,‘Harmony’ was the fastest boat on the water and try as they might ‘Miki Moto’ was not quite able to catch them in this race either.