A steady force 4 with vicious gusts greeted the select group of 12 Phantoms at Haversham Sailing Club\'s Mailspeed and Tempera Tech sponsored Eastern Area Travellers Open. The bright sunshine offset the chill wind from the north-east and four, fifty minute, races were sailed, with one discard.
In the first start of the day it was Will Gulliver who took control from the start and although Nick Beloe, Tim Travis and Simon Fieldon gave chase they were unable to catch Gulliver. Norman Griffin's race came to a premature end when his rig parted company with the wooden hull, the starboard shroud unfortunately taking a chunk of the deck with it.
The second race was back to back and again Gulliver took the lead, but this time Beloe kept him within his sights and powered past in an offwind gust to take the lead, which he held to the finish. Travis and Fielden again finished third and fourth.
After a break for lunch the race officer tested the competitor's sense of humour with a dead run and an additional fast reach for the second pair of races. The conditions were still very difficult and only eight boats came out for the third race. Beloe got away cleanly and although Gulliver stayed close, Beloe was never headed. Alan Bull and Jezz Taylor decided that enough was enough and retired early to the bar leaving Travis and Fielden to again finish third and fourth. On the final lap
Beloe pulled out a significant lead and it became clear that all was not well in the Gulliver boat, a broken toe strap proving to be the problem, another excuse to head for the bar!
Race four saw only the remaining top five boats take the start, but with Doug Conway proving that under eighteens can sail the Phantom we were entertained by an exhibition of power sailing. Fielden didn't survive the full race distance so it finished with Beloe taking the win, closely followed by Travis with Conway taking a well deserved third.
With three race wins it was Beloe who won the day, with a prize also going to Conway for the first boat older than sail number 1100.
Overall Results:
1st 1170 Nick Beloe (Northampton SC) 3pts
2nd 1216Will Gulliver (Northanpton SC) 5pts
3rd 1241 Tim Travis (Alton WaterSC) 8pts
4th 1184 Simon Fielden (Hickling Broad) 12pts
5th 1074Douglas Conway (Paxton Lakes) 15pts.
