Nationals Preview

For those of you who haven't seen it yet.... here’s the Y&Y version of the Nationals Preview 

Yachts and yachting - Allen Phantom UK Nationals preview

------------------------------

The ALLEN Phantom National Championships 2024

Preview 

Fellow Phantom Sailors and any other Ghostbusters out there,

Scary as it may seem it’s now just under two months until the event of the year – the 2024 National Championships.
That’s around 54 haunting Nights! (although for all you haunted insomniacs, that’s only 5 more, horror filled, sleeps!)

A lot has been happening in the background and we are delighted to be partnering again with Allen Brothers Ltd. as headline sponsors for the event and present The ALLEN Phantom National Championships and the opening of the National Championship Entry System and the Notice of Race.

Ben Harden - Head of Marketing, Allen Brothers said ….

“We’re pleased to once again be the title sponsor of the Phantom Nationals.  The Phantom represents everything we believe in here at Allen – A performance product made in the UK.”

Allen is a UK manufacturing company which specialises in the production of performance sailing hardware for dinghies and keelboats. From their factory in Essex the company exports goods across the globe to many of the world's best boat builders, sailmaker and chandleries. Allen has been a long-standing supporter of the Phantom class. www.allenbrothers.co.uk"

We are also pleased and grateful to be supported at the event by Optimum Time, HD Sails, Pinnell and Bax and Ovington Boats, continuing our long-term partnership with leading suppliers in our sport.

Along with some practical details to help you organise your stay and racing in the wonderful, friendly North-East, here’s what’s in store.

First of all, when is it ………?
That one’s easy as it’s been on the calendar for a long time: -

• Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 6^th, 7^th & 8^th September 2024

Where is it ……..?

• Sunderland Yacht Club
  https://www.sunderlandyachtclub.co.uk/

Located on the Old North Pier at the entrance of the River Weir, the club is right on the sea front of Roker Beach. The clubhouse is modern with great facilities, has a welcoming atmosphere with the attractions on Marine Walk on the beach front and beautiful panoramic views from inside and out.

Access to the water is direct from the beach into sheltered water inside the harbour arms and the racecourse is close to the shore with minimal sailing distance.

Sunderland is not difficult to get to – it’s well connected by good roads and, when I checked, its only 20 – 30minutes drive longer than last year’s drive to Aberscoch for me from the south coast (and an easier, largely Motorway / Dual carriageway route too!)

What’s on offer …….?
The best National Championship of the best, friendliest class out there!

Racing in a quality but friendly fleet – a great way to learn about the boat and make new friends.

What’s included and available …….?

• 7 Championship races on an open sea racecourse.
• Racing run by an experienced Championship club with a well-respected Race Officer – Howard Stevenson and team.
• The ‘Championship Dinner’ on the Saturday evening – included in entry fee!
• A fun, prize giving event early evening each day after sailing.
• Free Pint and a pasty on coming ashore at the daily prize giving.
• The famous Phantom social evenings.
• The Annual General Meeting – your chance to get involved and voice your views
• Well priced food available at the club: -
  • Thursday Evening Meal - bookable
  • Friday Evening Meal - bookable
  • Saturday Evening Meal - bookable
• A hearty breakfast bun with either bacon or sausage - Including “help yourself” extras
• Catering and bar facilities through the event in the state-of-the-art clubhouse.
• The Club will be open to early arrivals from Tuesday 3^rd September
• Camper van parking (limited numbers) - ALL spaces allocated
• Camping space for tents on site. (limited numbers – first come first served)
• Car park immediately next to the club @£3.00 /
• A huge option of local B&B’s, Air BnBs, hotels, guest houses and local Camp Sites.
• Polo Shirts can be Ordered and Purchased from Vicky’s Embroidery Services/John ‘Titch’ Wayling. Details will be posted on the Class Website & Phantom Class Association Facebook page. 

https://www.visitnortheastengland.com/places/sunderland/

https://www.mysunderland.co.uk/

Sunderland is a great gateway into the North-East, close to Newcastle and Durham and the North Pennine - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and designated UNESCO Global Geopark, so there’s plenty to do for non-sailing partners and family.

Entry is only £115 with the Early-Bird Discount (ends close of business, Friday 16^th August).
After that it is £140 so get your entries in early!

So, all you sailing Spooks out there, have the vision to cast your spell on this event and get your entry in to join the best Phantomry event in the world!

National Championship Entry System , the Notice of Race.

See you on the water

The Phantom Committee

-------------------

Phantom Northern Series at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

by Andy Pyett 9 Jul 09:24 BST  7 July 2024

Stop two on the 2024 Phantom Northern Series saw a fleet of six sailors descend on the historic tourist resort of Hollingworth Lake, for a day of racing to be shared with the Solo fleet.

Sailors were greeted on the Sunday morning with a Manchester summers day of grey skies, with light showers of drizzle, heavier showers of rain and a light southerly breeze that in places was causing a few ripples on the lake, conditions that improved throughout the day.

With much of the fleet sailing in the recent sporty winds of the Rudyard Lake open and Northampton Inland Championships there weren’t many complaints about the more leisurely F2-3 that had built as the morning progressed, with the major deliberation being made around if rainwear was required (it certainly was for the 10:30 briefing and launch but it wasn’t by the second beat as six boil-in-the bags made their way upwind).

Race one - Race officer Chris Massey and Assistant officer Sally Townend placed the start line at the northern end the of the lake, setting a course to give racers a good tour of the water. With conditions enough to allow some sitting on the side of the boat and the occasional hike, Adam Froggatt continued his recent dominance to lead at the starboard rounding windward mark and took the pack round for the following four laps, with some close racing in the chasing pack that saw Jim Hopton, and Martin Knott take second and third.

Following lunch where logistics and accommodation arrangements were being made for the forthcoming Northern Super Series event at the 2024 Bassenthwaite Regatta weekend (hopefully see you all there!) racers returned to the northern end of the lake where the Race Committee were trying their very best to set a decent start line. With Burgee’s spinning, the clock counted down and approaching the line on Starboard became somewhat difficult, as the gun went the fleet could be seen pointing in differing directions and one on the wrong side of the committee boat. Martin K and Jim H got the best of the committee boat end with Andy P away on port at the pin end, with the three of them reaching the Windward mark in that order, only for Martin to decide he’d attack the mark for a Starboard rounding, before realising a more conventional course had been set. After a few laps of windward leeward legs, linked with a couple of fetches it seemed like everyone could have been in contention at some point, Martin K settled into a decent lead half a leg in front of the fleet to win, with Adam F match racing his way back up the fleet to make the second. Third, fourth and fifth almost required a Tour-de-France photo finish as Andy S, Jim H and Andy P converged on a run to the finish line where nobody was quite sure on final positions.

The final race started in a more traditional fashion with all the fleet on Starboard, starting close together, with Adam F on a recall, Martin K made it to the windward mark first followed by Andy P with the chasing pack constantly looking for opportunities to pass. As the wind swung further to the west most legs became more of a fetch with mistakes providing the best opportunity for position changes. Into the final lap it remained Martin K in First and Andy P in an unfamiliar second. With Adam F continuing to chase pressure mounted on Andy P towards the end of the final run, and unsure whether to go high, low or gybe he did all those things too late and had to do turns for being in Adam’s water.

Race three finished with Martin K, Adam F and Jim H in first, second and third which also matched the overall placing for the day. Thanks to the Hollingworth Sailing Club team for a very well run day, we’ll hopefully see you next year.

Next stop on the Phantom Northern Series is Filey Regatta this coming weekend on 13/14th July then the Northern Super Series event at Bassenthwaite on 10/11th August.

Overall Results:

-------------------------------

Phantom Inland Championship and Midland Super Series Event at Northampton Sailing Club
by Mike Webster 26 Jun 19:49 BST
14-16 June 2024

Over the weekend of the 14th, 15th & 16th June Northampton Sailing Club hosted the P&B Phantom training day and the Inland Championships which also formed part of the National Super Series.

Nine enthusiastic sailors attended the training on the Friday, keen to expand their knowledge and improve their sailing technique. Many attended the previous evening's club racing to make a "Long weekend" of fun sailing.

Coaching was provided by 3 sailors - all with a wealth of experience and performances in the class. John 'Titch' Wayling, 2023 Inland Champion, Class Chairman Rob Cook and 'Magic' Mike Webster. Training began with onshore boat set up and tuning tips, looking at individual boat set up - many requiring more mast rake!

Questions and answers throughout the session provided plenty of opportunity for the students to improve their knowledge.

The afternoon on the water session consisted of requested areas to work on including beating and tacking and downwind technique. Lots of sprint races provided short start lines and starting practice. A full debrief session followed with beer & curry with video footage that proved far more entertaining than England football Euros games!

The Championship weekend kicked o on Saturday light morning but by the time racing started it had increased to a fresh & fruity westerly!

Twenty-five competitors took to the water - with 3, back-to-back, races planned for the day it was going to be a test of stamina and in some cases survival.

The fleet bristled with skill and experience showing extremely close racing across the fleet. Jon Rickard, Jamie Morgan and Rob Cook each had a lead at the windward mark and revelled in the breeze.

Given the extreme conditions it was difficult to remember all the race details - they all seem to merge into one, with spray, spectacular capsizes and races that seem to go on forever. However, one fact did stick in mind as an exhausted daze closed in. Race one was abandoned after three laps due to the windward mark drifting in 30 knot gusts. So many boats capsized that the committee boat having to reinforce the safety team. The second race was the dominated at the front by Jamie Morgan and Rob Cook. Jamie finished race 3 with no spreaders and Rob completed the day with a 2nd and 2 bullets!

The evening was spent recovering & replenishing with a full roast dinner and liquid fuel in the form of Timmy Taylor's Landlord beer. Discussion focussed around Top Trumps - comparing breakages, looking through the spectacular photos of the day and watching England beat Serbia in the Euros!

Sunday was greeted by the beautiful smell of full English breakfasts being prepared by the galley and the moans & groans of aching, stiff sailors.

Sunday's forecast looked promising but there were less sailors with many retirees due to broken boats and broken sailors. Jamie Morgan was sadly not able to sail day 2. Would this leave Rob Cook in the best position to retain his Inland Championship title?

Racing commenced with plenty of general recalls but the all-important first beat saw a different set of sailors leading the pack with Rich Nurse, Titch Wayling and Sam Coxon all leading at the windward mark. Duncan Adam's showed his skill by winning races four and five. The Championship title would be decided on the final race with three contenders in the running. Reigning Champion Rob Cook, Duncan Adam's on a roll an "Mr Consistency" Adam Froggatt.

The final race was lead by Sam Coxon, increasing his lead with Rich and Mike in 2nd and third. At half-way, Adam was closing in 4th place but needed to pass both Northampton boats to take the title from Rob - both he and Duncan looked to be out of contention. With some skilful down-wind tactics Adam passed Mike then Rich on the final leg before crossing the line in second. This was the result he needed to take the Inland Championship title.
A tight and exciting event right up to the last leg and thankfully, tie-break Penalties were not required! It's amazing to see the depth of sailing skills right down through the Phantom fleet and the class now has a third New Inland Champion in a row.

Congratulations to Adam Froggatt from Chase Water SC - P&B Phantom Inland Champion 2024.

Many thanks to the race and safety team and all volunteers at Northampton SC together with a huge thankyou to Pinnell & Bax (Chandlery and Sailmakers) for sponsoring they event.

A few words from the Champion: "Winning the Phantom Inland's means the world to me, I have spent 20+ years as a crew, so to win a major event as a helm is something special. I'm still getting my head round it at the moment!

The Phantom is such a great boat, I would recommend it to anyone."

Overall Results:

----------------------------------------

Phantom SE Travellers Series at Shoreham Sailing Club
by Dave Patrick 27 Jun 09:37 BST
22-23 June 2024

The event was run in conjunction with Shoreham's Festival of the Sea event and with a quadrilateral course.

Day 1

10 - 18 knots wind over increasing tide, chopping between NW cross-offshore and SW thermal sea breeze, with an "interesting" chop on top of an underlying westerly swell.

Mark Spruce took Race 1, hooking into the dominant NW gradient but still lost the lead and worked hard to claw it back from Alex Spurgeon and Jeremy Deacon who were virtually overlapped on the line and in spite of Jeremy's brief swim.

Titch Wayling took Race 2 - getting more comfortable with the conditions, stretching his lead through the race. Steve Popple showed is legendary upwind pace for second. Sprucey broke his main halyard putting him out for the rest of the day and Ivan Walsh was flying - upwind and down to take 3rd.

Race 3 favoured the half of the fleet at the pin end and saw a new winner - Jeremy Deacon in increasing SW sea breeze. A fierce battle with Alex spurgeon allowing Titch Wayling and Dave Patrick to catch up but the duo prevailed to the finish in a hard race.

Day 2

6 - 10 knots wind and calmer sea made the fleet work hard to use the waves. There was promise of a sea breeze later, but which only developed after racing was done.

Race 4 - Sprucey took a commanding lead and was never too bothered by the rest of the fleet, was just a shame about the OCS on what was a very busy start line of 37 craft of various shapes, sizes and hull counts. This left Titch to take the race. Ivan Walsh worked up the fleet but was held off 2nd place by Alex Spurgeon, with Jeremy Deacon nipping past Dave Patrick on the final beat to take 4th.

Race 5 - Jeremy Deacon made it the first mark ahead of the rest of the fleet and held the lead until the last beat when he tacked of early and let flying Ivan nip past to take the bullet (author note: some kind of justice after race 4!).

Race 6 - Author Dave Patrick was left behind after a poor start, but flying Ivan found his grove again and worked his way up to take the race and according to the results with Titch behind. Jeremy and Alex fought for 3rd, with Jeremy taking it and Dave piping Alex at the final downwind leg.

Congratulations to Phantom legend Titch on overall first place.

Overall Results:

---------------------------