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.

Optimum Time Phantom Southern Travellers at Salcombe Yacht Club

For the second year running the Optimum Time Phantom Southern Traveller Series were at Salcombe Yacht Club for the final event of the season.

And what an absolutely stunning weekend it turned out to be. Wall to wall sunshine, blue skies and the harbour to ourselves, at what is undoubtedly the most picturesque venue on the calendar. Even the seals put in an appearance.

Admittedly, the wind and tide can be 'interesting' at times, but when you make a call and it comes good the rewards are significant. Get it wrong and it can be devastating. I don't think there was a sailor there who doesn't have tales of both. And therein lies the challenge, but until you go there I don't you ever really quite appreciate it. There's a reason other classes flock here.

The weekend started well, with a bit of session in the Victoria on Friday night, and a pub breakfast the following morning to watch England take the Wallabies apart. Perfect.

2 races were held each day, and overnight it was a Salcombe top 4, with Alister Morley, taking two bullets, Paul Ellis with 2 seconds, Chris Cleaves with 2 thirds and Olly Alexander a fourth and a fifth.

This didn't reflect just how close it had been on the water, with places changing constantly, but unsurprisingly the Salcombe boys came out on top when it counted.

Saturday's races were a beat down the estuary to mark 1, and then a long run up the estuary and through 'the bag' to 7, somewhere off towards Kingsbridge. No 40 minute lightweight races in this neck of the woods! Chris Cleaves led for much of the first race, but Alister and Paul eventually overhauled him.

In race two, at 50 yards from the line it looked like a bullet for Paul and a second for Richard Cumberbatch, but Alister still managed to find his way to the front for his second bullet, and Chris took his second third of the day.

Sunday was breezier, and the wind was coming down the estuary instead. In race 3 Alister Morley and Paul Ellis again led the way with Alister and Paul assuming their usual positions of a 1, 2 respectively. Jim Hopton, Richard Cumberbatch and Chris Cleaves were fighting for 3rd. As the breeze increased on the final beat Jim and Richard pulled ahead a little with Richard just taking 3rd on the line.

Race 4 looked like being a repeat of race 3 for Alister and Paul, but Jim was hanging in there. It was all getting rather close on the final beat. The shorten course flag was raised, but a little late for Paul who had already decided to cross the estuary. Jim Hopton snuck the bullet from Alister Morley, the only person to do so all weekend, and Richard benefited from the late shorten course signal to take 3rd from Paul Ellis. Not that either of these events affected Alister and Pauls final scoreline.

Overall Results:

1th Alister Morley (Salcombe)
2th Paul Ellis (Salcombe)
3th Jim Hopton (Shustoke)
4th Richard Cumberbatch (Castle Cove)
5th Chris Cleaves (Salcombe)
6th Olly Alexander (Salcombe)
7th Nick Mason (Island Barn)
8th Dave Patrick (Broadwater)

9th Bruce Hattersly (Salcombe)

All told, it was an outstanding weekends sailing. As one person was heard to say "it's like having a cheeky little summer holiday".

Sincere thanks to both Salcombe Yacht Club for their hospitality and for hosting a great event, and to Optimum Time for their sponsorship.

We'll see you all again next year!

Allen Brothers

Phantom Nationals 2019

Lee-on-Solent SC, 6-8^th September

It was the least I could do, really, to offer to write the report after being loaned a boat for the event. Normally I’m not a fan of the Solent chop due to a PTSD-inducing event there a few years ago, but when someone offers to lend you their boat it would be churlish to turn it down. ‘Just bring it back in one piece’, they said. ‘No problem’, I said. More on that later.

Luckily for us lightweights the racing was called off on the first day as 30 knots blew in straight onshore. Although the Phantom fleet is well known for being the perfect ship for the, er, more generously proportioned athlete there were, in fact, many who were more than relieved to be held ashore. This was especially fortuitous for me as, a) it wouldn’t have looked good to trash a borrowed boat in the shore dump, and b) it gave me time to get my head round the super-adjustable rig. Shrouds, adjustable forestay, adjustable lowers, what are they all about?

So, onto the racing. Saturday was far more amenable weather-wise. The sun was out, making the Solent look almost inviting and the wind was blowing 12-15 knots from sort of North West but it wasn’t as steady as it might have been.

Race 1 and Harry Briddon (2016 and 2018 National Champ) sailed over me off the line so I tacked off to clear my wind. And capsized. I can exclusively reveal that boom on the Phantom is lower than that of the RS300 I normally sail. Another 300 sailor, Richard Le Mare, did exactly the same. He had polished his hull though and kept sliding off. Anyway, Andy Couch, who has basically won just about every Nationals since he was 14, won from Martin Watts, Ian Stone and Harry.

Race 2 was a peculiarity. Following a large left shift just before the start, Simon Clark and I were the only boats at the pin end so you can imagine our delight when we tacked and easily crossed the fleet. Joy upon joy as we stretched our legs and the new breeze didn’t reach the boats at the committee boat end until we were well up the beat. Simon got caught on the second lap as the chasing group organised itself but I managed to stay clear to the end ahead of Ian Stone, Andy Couch and Harry Briddon. Happy days! However, I thought it a little uncharitable that Nick Orman had to ask three separate people before he believed the result.

Harry Briddon had race 3 all wrapped up until 100 metres from the finish when, as the wind went sloppy, he allowed both Norman Byrd and me past on the final reach to the finish with Ian Stone also in close attendance. Maybe this Solent chop isn’t so bad after all.

However, Briddon made no mistake in race 4 and finished ahead of Martin Watt, Norman Byrd and Andy Couch.

Back on shore I had the double realisation that the metallic bouncing sound I had heard in race 3 was, indeed, a spreader bolt hitting the deck before launching overboard and that I had been UFDd in the day’s final race. Outrageous! Apparently I was over the line not once but twice. If you’re going to do something, I guess you have to do it properly.

At the top it was extremely close, a real testament to the consistency of the leading guys. Harry Briddon was leading from Martin Watts, Andy Couch and Ian Stone but with a few more lurking once the first discard kicked in.

Day 3, the wind was slightly lighter, had kicked right a bit and was shiftier than a second-hand car salesman. My Nationals nearly ended at the start of race 5 as my shroud parted company from the deck as I sheeted in. Discovering that the real use of lowers is to hold the mast in one piece until you stop panicking, I managed to lash the shroud to the deck and was able to carry on.

Nick Norman led for the first lap of race 5 and looked to have it in the bag but was overtaken by Andy Couch, Norman Byrd, Terry Crook and Jon Nuttall by the finish. I had to ask three separate people before I believed he hadn’t won.

Having got in a bit of a pickle at the start of race 6 I went right just to find clear wind so you can imagine my delight when I got a private gust and planed into the top mark on a broad reach while everyone else was still actually beating. You make your own luck in this game. Couch wasn’t to be denied though, spotting the new wind on the right of the run before everyone else, going on to win form Alister Morley, who was beginning to find form, Nick Orman and myself.

Bob Portway then sailed an absolute blinder in the 7^th and final race. Backing up his 5^th place in the previous race, he won from Mike Webster, Andy Couch and Alister Morley.

With all racing done we headed back to shore to be greeted by free beer which had warmed nicely in the sun. The prize-giving was a tour de force with everyone, and I mean everyone, getting a prize thanks to the extremely generous sponsors. I won a nice Ovington t-shirt and bit of glass for being top old bloke, but not as old as Chris Roberts who won the really old bloke’s prize.

It was then just a matter of packing up and marking the critical shroud-holding-up bit of dyneema so the owner could recreate the setting. I’m thoughtful like that.

Looking forward to next year’s Nationals already, at Rock from 11-13 September 2020.

Optimum Time Phantom Southern Traveller Series at Salcombe Yacht Club - Preview

Full details can be found here

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/222977/Phantoms-at-Salcomber-preview

The Allen Brothers Phantom Nationals from the 6^th to the 8^th September with 52 entries to date and a few names missing who are supposed to be coming who is in the running for the top spots.

Harry Briddon last years winner and very fast especially in the breezey stuff and with the Solent chop he is a strong bet. 

Andy Couch runner up last year and multi times champion in the past. You would be foolish not to believe he will do it again.

Will Gulliver another past champion who also likes a bit of breeze. He will have been having missing training with Titch for a few weeks will that make him slower or quicker?

Ian Stone was the bearded wonder but showed up at POSH earlier in the year clean shaven and 5 stone lighter, this might stop him pulling his boat apart.  After being in the running last year has the bit between his teeth for this year.

Nick Orman (not entered yet but supposed to becoming) always in the running just needs more consistency to put it together.

Martin Watts has had more time this year and with a newer ship should be quick.

Alistair Morley another not yet entered but he is late for everything except around the course in anything below force 5. If it’s a light wind event a real flyer. Winner of POSH fast handicap and he was last to arrive.

Titch Wayling recently been resting due to back problems but is going to see how it goes. Good luck mate.

Ivan Walsh texted your correspondent to say if its light in his new ship Bruce he is flying so I have taken him at his word and included him in the list.

Welcome to Visitors to the fleet

Steve Bolland RS300 God and Dzero previous winner took him a few days last year to work out how to

Make it go. If his memory hasn’t faltered (it probably will have alcohol has that effect) should be quick.

Fernando Gamboa a local Aero 9 sailor from Portugal knows the local tide and chop.

Richard Le Mare another top 300 sailor sailing the Ollie Hopkins fast ship.  Is he here to check up on what Steve’s up to prior to the 300 nationals?

Written by Gordon Kingston-Minnis

Phantom Nationals 6-8 September Lee on Solent Sailing Club

Dates 6-8 September
Lee on Solent Sailing Club
http://www.lossc.co/

Entry £150 - 30% discount so £105 up to 11 August

Enter Here - http://www.phantomclass.org.uk/events/phantom-national-2019-online-entry

Entry includes Friday Saturday meal, Saturday Sunday bacon roll and every competitor gets a momento

Allen is title sponsor

Notice of Race can be viewed here