THE Port MacDonnell Sailing Club held its inaugural Sprint Series on Saturday, with changeable conditions greeting the field.
Six 20-minute, back-to-back races were held by the club with a ‘two gates and finish off the club house course’ set by Race Officer Nick Watson.
The first race was held in 18-knot wind conditions, with most boats electing to use smaller sails and reef their main sails in the stronger conditions.
The first boat across the start line was Sonata, Harmony with Don McLennan and Adrian Romescu on board.
The fleet stayed together for most of the race, until two boats misread the course and opted to do an additional lap, leaving them to finish well behind the other three boats in the fleet.
The first boat across the finishing line was Farr-Merr, with Dave Evans, Brad Mann and Damien McMahon onboard.
Wind conditions began to drop off by the start of the second race.
It was an exciting start and difficult to tell which boat was the first across the start line.
On replay of footage it was Austral20 Wind Fred, with Tom Paltridge and Darrin Brown on board who started first.
Despite the close start, Harmony was able to take the lead and hold on to cross the finishing line in first place.
In what was going to become a pattern for the day, the wind speed had dropped further by the time the third race was started.
A shift in the wind direction also saw the boats take the start line in different approach than the previous races.
The lighter wind conditions saw a change in the order of boats as the different sails saw the boats handle the weather differently.
Despite Windy Fred starting first, Harmony once more took line honours, with Farr-Merr behind them.
Between the third and fourth races, the crews were given 15 minutes to take a rest and make any sail changes necessary for the much lighter wind conditions.
Most took advantage of that and removed the reef in the main sail or put up a larger jib sail.
Windy Fred was again the first across the start line in the fourth race.
With the new sail configurations and lighter winds, the order of the boats changed yet again, with the two larger boats still in front of the three smaller Austral20s, but the Australs continued to have a good tussle between the three of them.
The sail change worked in Windy Fred’s advantage, which was able to pull ahead of Mack Ferguson, John Kain and Graham McKay on Papillion.
Farr-Merr crossed the finish line first.
Race five had a dramatic start with two boats nearly colliding.
Three boats headed into shore after crossing the start line, while two boats head out to sea, with the latter two reaching the first gate in first and second positions.
Yet again Harmony was first across the finish line.
An incident during a sail change saw Austral20 Minty withdraw before the last race started.
The drama of the previous race seemed to have made all of the skipper’s nervous, as the start was spread out and no boat crossed the line on the start signal.
Harmony was the first across the line.
The now 6-8 knot wind conditions favoured the smaller Austral20s, but they were still unable to hold of the two larger boats and Harmony held the lead the entire race to cross the finish line first.
The sailing club will haold a themed sail on Saturday, March 25, with boats and crew decorated in line with the Fringe theme Into the Deep Blue.
Spectators are welcome to check out the boats at the Port MacDonnell boat ramp, or watch them sail from the foreshore or club house.
Race results
Race 1: Farr-Merr (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay); Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley); Windy Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown).
Race 2: Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Farr-Merr (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay); Windy Fred Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown); Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley).
Race 3: Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Farr-Merr (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay); Windy Fred Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown); Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley).
Race 4: Farr-Merr (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Windy Fred Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay); Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley).
Race 5: Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Farr-Merr (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Windy Fred Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay); Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley).
Race 6: Harmony (D. McLennan, A. Romescu); Farr-Mer (D. Evans, B. Mann, D. McMahon); Windy Fred Fred (T. Paltridge, D. Brown); Papillion (M. Ferguson, J. Kain, G. McKay). DNF – Minty (S. Dyble, J. Ingley).
