PATTAYA - THEY may not be on Cloud Nine, but it was still a fantastic four for Singapore's sailors in Pattaya yesterday.

On the sixth and final day of the sailing competition at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, the Republic bagged four golds - in the 470 Men and Women, 420 Men and Optimist Girls.

In the running for a possible nine titles at the start of the day, the 25-member team also added six silvers and three bronzes to their haul.

The sweetest of the triumphs, however, was probably Rachel Lee's in the Optimist Girls.

Not simply because it was her maiden major individual title in her first SEA Games, but because it marked another victory - over her brother and champion sailor Sean.

'I beat you,' said the 14-year-old Singapore Sports School student, as soon as she got on the phone with her sibling in Singapore.

Sean, 16, had a sterling career in the 15-and-Under Optimist class, collecting one Asean and two Asian Optimist titles since 2005.

But a SEA Games gold eluded him, having been beaten to the Optimist Boys' crown at the Manila Games two years ago.

Yesterday, luck was on Rachel's side. After 10 races, the overnight leader held a slim one- point lead over Thailand's Noppakao Poonpat.

But the Thai faltered in the 11th race, going off course after initially leading the five-girl fleet.

Rachel eventually finished second behind the race winner, Malaysia's Alissa Chew, while Noppakao was fourth.

Then, due to dead wind, the final race was called off. With 15 points, the gold was Rachel's. The Thai (17 points) had to settle for silver.

'I'm happy,' said the shy and soft-spoken Singaporean. 'Now, I hope to win next year's Optimist World Championships in Turkey.'

Her brother, too, was glad, saying: 'I'm very happy for her. I'm not jealous of her at all - she's my sister after all.'

Among the Liu siblings, Justin, 16, and Dawn, 20, though, there was no need for rivalry, for both won their respective events.

Raffles Institution student Justin partnered Sherman Cheng, 16, to claim the 420 Men's crown, while his sister paired up with Elizabeth Tan, 23, to win the 470 Women's title.

Both pairs had started the day six points clear at the top of their respective fleets, and both shared the same secret to their victories: consistency.

'The light winds here were very tricky and it was not easy to take every shift in wind direction, so we didn't take unnecessary risks,' said Justin.

Consistency also showed for full-time sailors Dawn and Tan, who notched 'a keeper result' - that is, first or second in all races.

Dawn, the 2005 SEA Games 420 Women's champion, who is part of Project 0812 in the chase for Olympic glory, said: 'This is my first major 470 title and it means a lot to me. It feels great to finally do something in this class.'

While the final gold had no siblings involved, you could call 470 Men's champions Roy Tay, 24, and Chung Pei Ming, 25, 'brothers'.

Yesterday's victory was the product of a four-year partnership that has seen its ups and downs.

'Losing the 2005 SEA Games gold was a low point for us,' said Tay who, along with Chung, are part of Project 0812.

'We're happy but we're not over the moon, because we expected ourselves to win here.'

SingaporeSailing chief executive officer and team manager Andrew Sanders was pleased that his team had hit the four-gold target, despite falling short of the seven-gold record from the last Games.

After all, the team had an average age of 18, including 18 making their debut in the Games.

Read more stories on the 24th SEA Games here.