It was perfect weather at Port MacDonnell on Saturday for the sailors of the Port MacDonnell Sailing Club to take to the water.


Eight of the club’s 11 boats were able to race, making for a large mixed fleet for the day’s racing.


Race Officer Steve Dyble set a loop and triangle course, with starboard round of all the marks.


With the help of Chris Jacobs on the committee boat, he set the marks and then swapped with Commodore Jennifer Jones so that he was able to sail all three races.


The first race had a close start, with Denis Illman on Austral20 ‘Mirage 2’ as the first boat across the line and Chris Lynch’s Noelex ‘Sandrine’ shortly after them.


After the start all boats spread out as they sailed to the first mark, with the larger boats and catamaran speeding ahead of the four Austral20s.


This was reflected in the results with Nick Watson on ‘Billy 2’ taking line honours with the larger Farr 20 ‘Farr-mer’ sailed by Dave Evans crossing the finish line in second place.


The second race started in similar conditions to the first.


Austral20 ‘Windy Fred’, skippered by Tom Paltridge, had a great start just beating Don McLennan’s Sonata sport ‘Harmony’ across the start line.


There were some dramas during the second race with one boat sailing over their spinnaker when it unexpectedly dropped, and shortly after another boat had issues with their sails and drifted into the anchored committee boat.


‘Billy 2’ kept clear of all the issues and sailed a perfect race to once more take line honours, while ‘Harmony’ was able to hold onto their good start as the second boat to finish the race.


The final race of the day had stronger conditions, with the wind speed building from 8 knots to a steady 12 knots.


The start of the race was a battle of the Austral20s, with ‘Mirage 2’ once more getting a perfect start across the start line and ‘Windy Fred’ crossing the start line closely behind them.


By the time all boats reached the first mark, the fleet had closed in.


It was a wonderful sight from shore to see all the sails converging around the mark and then racing down towards the in-shore mark closely together.


It was a matter of tactics for all boats to separate out to finish the race, with all four Austral20s tussling as they sailed around the triangle part of the course.


In the end ‘Billy 2’ achieved a trifecta and took line honours for the last race as well, while ‘Farr-mer’ sailed well and was able to come in as second boat across the finishing line.