Festive Cheer to you all   

Tis the season of goodwill with wishes of looking forward to a new year of promise and plans.


2021 is a special year for the class as it celebrates its ‘Golden Anniversary’, 50 years since its formation back in 1971 and we are determined for our class to celebrate it in style.

We are delighted to be commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Phantom Sailing and our plans are well underway to make 2021 a special year. I am pleased to announce the class has recently secured the venue to host our National Championships with lots more planned through the year”

In 2021 the Championship hosts will be Stone Sailing Club between the 17th-19th September, a firm favorite with Phantom sailors and going back to its roots in the south east of England.  It is also fantastic news that Allen Bros will be the headline sponsors for the event, who continue to strengthen their relationship and support of the class.
It’s even rumored that Ben Harden – Head of Marketing at Allen Sailing will be competeing !!


The class will also be supporting the Ovington Winter Championships on the 27/28th March 2021 at Grafham Sailing Club and looking forward to a big turnout of Phantoms. Our Inland Championships are being hosted by Northampton Sailing Club over the weekend of the 5/6th June 2021 .

Looking further forward, the class is thrilled to have also secured it’s National Championships venue for 2022. Famous for it’s perfect sailing conditions, rolling swell and huge waves, the premier sailing location of Lyme Regis Sailing Club (provisional dates of 2nd -4th September).


There’s much to look forward to, when we emerge from the winter months with spring in the air and we can again feel the warmth of the sun on our faces.
Here’s hoping …………

May I wish you a safe Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

I look forward to seeing you all on the water in the in 2021.


Phil Longley
Chairman

2021 National Championships

The Class is pleased to confirm that the 50th National Championships are to be held at Stone Sailing Club in Essex on 17th – 19th September 2021.  A bumper Entry is anticipated with past Champions being invited and anticipated to attend.

More details will follow in due course but it is worth noting that a training day is also being considered for 16th September with shore based tuning/tweaking and on the water coaching.

EVENTS UPDATE

The Class Association has been carefully considering how the class returns to racing and the impact that of the Corona Virus on future events.

The current restrictions are such that clubs are unlikely to be able to host events and in this regard the current regional events should be reviewed on a club by club basis.  The regional representatives will keep members advised of any updates on the status of any forthcoming events.

Similarly the proposed National Championships at Rock Sailing Club in September are going to be reviewed at the end of June.  This will involve the Committee and Club considering how any restrictions will impact on the viability of the event.  

In this regard it is easiest to regard the event as neither on or off.  A decision will be made at the end of June and members advised accordingly.

Looking to future events the Committee has been working hard to secure future Nationals venues and dates.  At this time of uncertainty we hope that these are of interest and will allow you to plan ahead.  

In particular the class will be celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary next year and the Nationals will be returning to Stone SC on 17-19th September.  In addition to this consideration is being given to a European Event in 2021 (most likely Medemblik) and again more details will follow on this in due course.

Following the Dinghy Show which we were fortunate to be able to conclude before the lockdown period there has been a marked increase in interest in the class.  This has been seen in increased membership of the Facebook Class Association Group and the associated sales page.  Boats are now selling quickly and there is a demand for most styles of boat ranging from woodies to the latest boats.  Ovington report that new boats are being ordered and they are maintaining a stock boat as required by the Class Association.  

If you do have spare gear or a neglected boat then now would appear to be an ideal time to move them on.

Phantom Class Information Booklet

Updated Phantom Class Information Booklet now available - Click Here

New South East Region

Following discussions with "interested parties" it has been decided to try splitting the existing Southern region into two regions - South East and South West. The rationale is that the distance between Downs SC and say Salcombe is just as great as that between any Northern or Midland events.
 
Richard Cumberbatch will remain the representative for the South West region, whilst Chris Shelton (Downs SC Phantom 1211) has kindly volunteered to act as the initial South Eastern representative.
 
The initial aim is to run a limited number of events in the region to gauge interest and hopefully form a cadre of travelling sailors. Remember, it's important to support away events if you want sailors to visit your club when you want to host an event....
The initial plan envisages the following events:-
12th/13th April - Shoreham SC (Easter regatta)
16th May - Downs SC (practice/training)
17th May - Downs SC (open meeting)
13th/14th June - Felpham SC (regatta)
3rd October - Broadwater SC (joint with Southern region)
 
Remember that the regions are not exclusive to one another and you can "pick and mix" to suit your own location.
Hopefully this will give all Phantom sailors something to look forward too in the coming season!

Phantom Class at 2020 Dinghy Show

To start off the year the class will be exhibiting two boats at the RYA Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on 29th February / 1st March. Stand F34. 

Having not attended for a couple of years, we thought that it was important to show our faces again and promote the class.

We will have two boats on the stand, one being a brand new Ovington boat that is going to Tim Platt of the growing Broadwater SC fleet whilst the second is an Ovington hull completed by JJ Boats, with a deep cockpit well and low buoyancy side tanks.

Come and see us.

2020 Midland Traveller Series

GET INVOLVED WITH THE PHANTOM MIDLAND SERIES 2020
OPEN TO ALL AND WELCOMING OTHER REGIONS
FRIENDLY AND FUN FOR ALL LEVELS OF PHANTOM SAILING
COMPETITIVE AND PASSIONATE RACING
LEARN AND IMPROVE YOUR SAILING

Best four results to count from six events to qualify

Phantom Midlands Sailing
Contact :  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The P+B Phantom Midlands Series  - 2019

The Phantom Midlands Series has drawn to a close with the final event of being hosted by Grafham Water Sailing Club. A lower than expected turnout possibly due to the shocking forecast of 38knt gusts and the England’s Rugby World Cup semi-final match against the All Blacks !!
Despite this, Phantoms travelled from far and wide and were treated to two full days of back to back racing as part of the Ovington Winter Championships, racing in much better conditions than were predicted.
Overall podium places were awarded to:
 1st -  Martin Watts  Netley S.C.
2nd  - Alister Morely  Salcombe Y.C.
3rd  - Richard Sims   Carsington S.C.

The P+B Midlands Series as a whole was made up of 5 events:
Northampton S.C – inland Championships
Carsington S.C.
Shustoke S.C.
Blithfield S.C.
Grafham Water S.C.

Our thanks to each of these clubs for hosting the Phantom events, all of which were well organized, friendly and welcoming.

With a total entry 33 boats spread across 19 clubs it has been a reasonable start to reigniting Phantom Sailing in the Midlands after a gap of several years.
There were notably some consistent travellers attending most of the events, but clearly room for improvement in 2020 to attract more ‘club’ sailors and encourage them to hitch up their boats and venture forth !

The racing has been competitive with venues being centralized to try and reduce long journey times for midlands sailors. It was great to see people from other regions taking part and enjoying the friendly atmosphere.

Congratulations go to the 2019 Series winner - Jim Hopton from Shustoke Sailing Club who sailed consistently well and will receive the Midlands Series Trophy. Full details below of the overall series results. Our thanks go to P+B the sponsors for the series who provided some great prizes for each event and continue to support the Phantom Class.

In addition to the event prizes and in an attempt to encourage more travelling Phantoms, P+B provided a ‘Golden Ticket’ series raffle prize of a mast bag.
Every sailor at each event received a ‘vitual’ raffle ticket – the more events entered the more tickets they received !
    
Drawn out of the hat, Winning Ticket  1447 – Richard Sims. Congratulations Richard and many thanks to P+B for their generosity.

With the 2019 season coming to a close thoughts are already being made towards next seasons series.  So if you would like your club to be considered for the 2020 Midlands Series contact Mike Webster- Midlands Area Representative via the Phantom Website.