Light winds and tight racing meant racers got up close and personal during the first two days of Sail Brisbane in South Brisbane this long weekend.

Day one expected a southerly change in the afternoon, luckily the racing was delayed because the change didn't arrive until about 4pm. A quick start saw three races completed before the 5.30pm cutoff with riders on kites from 11m to 17m.

For this event the organisers have set short courses aimed at taking around 12mins each race. Kiters start and then tack upwind to a windward marker 0.3nm away.

They then round the mark and fly downwind through a gate near the start, to return to the top mark again. Then back to the finish line which is skewed off to one side of the start line. Unfortunately for the racers, all the markers are the same colour which makes distinguishing the bottom gate and the finish line quite difficult. With lessons learnt over the first two days though it's surely not going to happen on day 2 and 3!

As for tangles, not much happened on Day One with a small tangle on the first start, and Turkish rider EJ Ginyol getting disqualified for missing a marker. In race two, he was claimed to be over the start line but (luckily for him) due to a technical glitch from the start boat couldn't be disqualified for it.

Race three was uneventful with riders getting to grips with the short start and very biased line. Jonno Keys from WA continued to make the gutsy decision port tack start, only just clearing the fleet every time but reaping the benefits of making perfect starts every time.

Day two saw very light southerly wind blowing all day. It was actually stronger in the morning and died off throughout the day, leaving riders with their big kites pumped up and fingers crossed. Wind shifts, big gusts and one very messy start left the fleet varied all day. All it took was one gust or a missed tack and you'd drop back three or four places it was that close! Some riders struggled to plane through the entire race, with winds dropping to below 6 knots at times, anyone with smaller than a 17m kite was left wanting on more than one occasion.

With two days to go, current leader Marvin Baumeister is the event favourite over Turkish rider EJ Ginyol. The light winds again forecast for Sunday and Monday mean it could be anyones game though! All racers have their fingers crossed for a seabreeze this arvo with late racing. Mondays racing is early from 11am, so if this SE'er hangs in there we should get the event max of 15 races completed.

Stay tuned for the results and a final report on Tuesday when it all wraps up.

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