THE Port MacDonnell Sailing Club greeted six boats last Saturday for its weekly competition.
Famous Blue Raincoat, skippered by Kevin Knott was in fine form for the two races on the day and was joined by I Was Once, skippered by Greg Graham, Full Moon, skippered by Nick Rishworth with Robert and Andrew Rishworth, plus the three Austral’s – Mirage, skippered by Dennis Illman with Lui-Wei Spink, Papillon, skippered by Mack Ferguson with Phil Pulford and Jen Jones and Salt Peter, skippered by Robin White with Sharon White and Neville Stone.
Despite some initial difficulties, both races for the day had close starting manoeuvres, which saw Famous Blue Raincoat over the start line first.
With skipper Knott leaving the beach without drinking water, the crew of Salt Peter came to the rescue and threw him a bottle, but it bounced off the sail and into the ocean.
Nevertheless, Knott was able to retrieve it and still zip past to cross the start line in first position.
A traditional course was set by Peter Douglas for the day and on the return to the shore buoy, both Full Moon and Mirage flew their spinnakers.
Famous Blue Raincoat sailed well in this race finishing in one hour and 14 minutes, but it was I Was Once which crossed the line first in a solid 51 minutes, followed by Full Moon with a time of one hour 19 minutes, Papillon with one hour 26 minutes, Salt Peter with one hour 28 minutes and Mirage, which finished in one hour 32 minutes.
However, club handicap conversion saw Famous Blue Raincoat take out the top spot for race one, while class basic handicap resulted in I Was Once in first, Famous Blue Raincoat second and Papillon third.
The second race had a mix in the fleet, as Full Moon did not sail to its full potential and was beaten to the finish by Papillon, but the honours for the day went to Famous Blue Raincoat, which ended up first on both club handicap and class basic handicap, followed by I Was Once and Papillon.
With this race being the last in the Austral Championship, it will ensure Papillon takes the win from Salt Peter and Mirage.
Tomorrow will see the club run the Discovery Bay Coastal classic with the course running down the coast to the South East and into Discovery Bay.
This race is run as a stern chaser, with the format seeing boats starting on corrected time as per their club handicaps.
The event is traditionally around four hours in duration, depending on wind and sea conditions and the hope will see all boats coming over the finish relatively close, with the first boat over the line announced as the winner.
Skippers have been notified of their start times and the first boat will start racing at 11.38am.
The clubhouse will be open from 10.30am and spectators are welcome to come and check out the action on the water or ask around for a place on board for the afternoon.
A full program is available on the Port MacDonnell Sailing Club Facebook page.
