Phantom Winter Report West Riding Sailing Club

The 2009 Phantom Winter Championships sponsored by Advance Safety was held on February 22^nd at West Riding Sailing Club, the event was well attended by 23 competitors from all across the UK. Entrants were greeted with a blustery day with large gusts and equally large shifts. The first race started with a number of recall and the Race Officer eventually having to resort to the Black Flag, Norman Byrd demonstrated his starting prowess to lead at the third mark followed by Nick Craig, as the race progressed there were many swimmers with a number of retirees, Nick Craig pulled through to take the lead on the first set of reaches with Jez Entwhisle chasing hard in second and a fast recovering Simon Childs who after some much needed breast stroke practice charged through the fleet to finis in third. Following Lunch the second race started in a reducing breeze with Brett Cockayne finding the windward mark first only to be overhauled by the lighter sailors down the reaches. Once again Nick Craig built a useful lead chased to the end by Jez Entwhistle, Simon Childs with Simon Hawkes finding form after a challenging first race. With the final race starting back to back with the second the breeze was dying which seemed to suit Simon Hawkes who managed to keep Nick Craig honest as he lead round to win the third race of the day with Mike Webster in third and Paul Lester in fourth. The day proved to be a great success with excellent prizes from our sponsor and warm hospitality from the Host Club.