Three quick-thinking Australian sailors have received Yachting Victoria’s President’s Awards for rescuing three fishermen in the water after spotting a flare.

John Mills, Tanya Lawton and Jason Ettridge won the honour for rescuing the fishermen one day in March while patrolling during a Mornington Yacht Club race day, reports the Mornington Peninsula website.

The trio, on the club’s start boat, Retriever, spotted a flare and reached the disabled boat and the men in the water. Despite a cold southerly wind and big swell, they rescued the fishermen, who were weighed down by their warm clothes.

Tanya Lawton, a nurse, cared for the rescued men, while the stricken boat was towed back towards the harbour until The Coast Guard arrived to take over.