Saturday, the Boothbay Harbor One Design and J80 Fleet 14 class got their last major event of the season underway with northwest breezes shortly after 1 p.m. The course was set up just to the north of Squirrel Island to take advantage of the unusual late summer breeze. Racing started earlier than usual with the intention of getting as many races underway as possible.

With the wind oscillating through 20 degrees during the start sequence at first a port tack start at the pin looked favored then a starboard tack start at the committee boat looked favored.  It was anyone's guess which would be best with only a minute to go. Most boats chose the safe starboard tack and then tacked back to the north shortly after clearing the line. Ghost II skippered by Ken Colburn headed left towards the north end of Squirrel Island into a soft bit of air but soon got a westerly shift and had an early lead. Cathy Latta's Blue Skies, despite a bad start, took the same southerly route and rounded the weather mark close behind in second, while Madeline and Craig Preston's Skyrocket, Chip Baker's Wired, Bill Hunt's Firebolt, and Jeff Curtis' Silkie rounded third through sixth in a tight grouping.

The strategic challenge presenting itself was to go to the south, center, or north to get the next wind shift and increased breeze on the downwind leg. As skippers tried to decide where the next shift was coming from it became apparent that both the southerly was arriving as well as the northwest gusts and the center of the course alternated from breezy to quiet. Ghost went right, as did Blue Skies, Skyrocket led the others to the left or north. Ghost dropped from first to third, and Blue Skies from second to sixth as the other boats found the Northwest breeze gusting back into the low teens. Skyrocket finished first, followed by a tight grouping all within a second of each other of Wired, Ghost II, and Firebolt.

The second race found the wind shifting during the start sequence again and made for a favored port tack start this time, the wind shifted for good to the south on the downwind leg making for a powerful spinnaker reach to the leeward mark and causing the race committee to start thinking about what race 3 would be like. Ghost won this race with Skyrocket not far behind, Silkie came in third, Firebolt again fourth, Wired dropped to fifth, and Blue Skies sixth.

With the Boothbay Harbor One Designs also on the course Eric Hakanson Jr.'s Charisma found the shifts to their liking besting Jon Dunsford's Bittersweet, Carol Maticzywick's C-Fever, and Richard Rush's Mumtaz. The BHOD's second race found all four boats struggling with light air at the weather mark as the wind firmly made up its mind to go south.  The final order saw C-Fever and Bittersweet trade places with Charisma again finishing first even though he had to make the unusual move of jibing to clear the J80s who had started their third race, several under spinnaker going fast, and barely under control.  

The J80s finished their day with two unconventional downwind starts that took them to Fisherman's Island buoy and Spruce Point then to the Squirrel Island government marks. The yachtsmen and women from Boothbay finished their day with a glorious spinnaker ride and more tight finishes just after 4 p.m. at Spruce Point.

J-80 overall results: Skyrocket (1,2,1,1), Ghost (3,1,3,2), Firebolt (4,4,2,3), Wired (2,5,4,4), Silkie (5,3,6,5), and Blue Skies (6,6,5,6).

BHOD overall results: Charisma (1,1,3), C-Fever (3,2,1), Bittersweet (2,4,2), Mumtaz (4,3,5).