Gulliver travels but he can't be pinned down

14 visitors joined the 5 local boats to compete in the 3 race series, races that were dominated by Will Gulliver of Haversham sailing club.

Race 1 started in a shifty breeze and whilst the majority of the fleet were pinned in at the committee boat end, Gulliver maximised the last minute shift and clean air at the pin end to take an early lead that was never challenged but was increased throughout the race, extending to an impressive 6 minutes by the finish. Behind Gulliver, there was lots of early place changing as the wind shifted and gusted frequently making conditions tricky. By the end, Jeff Vanderborght stamped his authority in 2nd place with local sailor, Gavin Young claiming 3rd.

After a hearty Cotswold lunch, the 19 Phantoms took to the water to do battle. The start of race 2 was a carbon copy of race 1 when a big shift favoured the pin end and allowed Gulliver to be first out the blocks and whilst never really challenged, his lead was kept to a more respectable 3 minutes. Again, the challenging shifty, gusty conditions proved testing with much place changing through out the race. Vanderborght asserted his place as Gulliver's closest rival, taking 2nd place again with Young repeating his performance from race 1 with another 3rd place.

With 1st, 2nd and 3rd places being repeated in race 2, the rest of the fleet had a point to prove. Gary Kibble, CSC took an early lead in race 3 only to be overhauled by the `old guard' of Gulliver and Vanderborght. Richard Salliss, CSC, moved through into 3rd place and it wasn't long before the three lead boats stretched out their lead. Gulliver went on to win by a minute from Vander-Borght, making it a 1- 2 combination in every race with Kibble just pipping Salliss for 3rd place.

Overall results:

1st    Will Gulliver (Haversham) 1 ½ points

2nd    Jeff Vanderborght (Lyme Regis SC) 4 points

3rd     Gavin Young (CSC) 6 points

4th    Gary Kibble (CSC) 7 points

5th    Richard Salliss (CSC) 9 points