Phantom Inlands at Northampton SC
14/15th June saw 27 boats attend the 2003 Phantom Inlands at Northampton S.C., the forecast of sun and little wind proved fairly accurate, with the wind being Force 0-2 and all over the place!
Race 1 saw Simon Childs off to a flier, with a 100 metre lead at the windward mark, Alan Burrell lead the fleet round in second. These two never really escaped and Burrell pulled through the shifts to win followed by Childs and Andy Elliott.
Race 2 was held back to back, and Phil Argent led the fleet away, followed by Lawrence Crispin and Neil Fulcher. The Stone SC trio disappeared to have their own Club race at the front, Crispin pulling away for a comfortable win followed by Argent and Fulcher.
Race 3 was back to back again and the heat was building. The wind disappeared at the start, when normal service resumed Crispin and Argent had pulled away. Crispin led from start to finish winning by miles from Argent. Childs pulled through Elliot and Alan Husk to take a distant third.
Sunday dawned even lighter and warmer. Race 4 saw a shift making crossing the line on starboard impossible. Elliott and Crispin escaped from the port end closely followed by Childs and Husk. While Crispin sailed away again, the following 3 had a good scrap for the minor places, Childs taking second followed by Elliot & Husk.
Race 5 saw Childs trying to prevent total Crispin domination. Childs led at the first mark, Crispin pulled through on the second beat and Childs retook the lead on the triangle. Despite some massive shifts and holes Childs held on to win from Crispin, with Husk and Elliot following.
Lunch saw the wind decreasing and a few of the fleet packing up early, having had enough of the demanding conditions. Childs and Crispin sat out the race, the points gap being almost impossible to close, and both safe in first and second. Third overall was up for grabs, and Elliott, Burrell and Husk had all to play for. Elliot led initially but in a very difficult and close race Richard Pakes drifted away to win easily from Elliott and Ian Howett.
Congratulations to Lawrence Crispin who deservedly won a very tricky 2003 Inlands with a solid display of starting and first beats, making no mistakes after the first race in which he rescued a 6th place from 10th at the last leeward mark, which ultimately proved decisive.
Results:
1 Lawrence Crispin Stone SC 11pts
Simon Childs Grafham WSC 13
Andy Elliott Rotherham SC 19
Alan Husk Creeksea SC 23
Alan Burrell Thorpe Bay YC 24
Ian Howett Haversham SC 25
7 Richard Pakes Haversham SC 28
P Earnshaw Haversham SC 43
9 Phil Argent Stone SC 51
10 Mark Rainbow Thorpe Bay YC 52
11 Iain Stowe Grafham WSC 54
12 Colin Barrie RYA 59
13 Chris Whitely Rotherham SC 60
14 David Clarke Hunts SC 66
15 Simon Elliott Rotherham SC 67
16 Neil Fulcher Stone SC 74
17 P White Blithfield SC 78
18 Peter Crossley Scammonden SC 85
19 R Carter Hykeham SC 88
20 Mike Potter Blithfield SC 94
21 Peter Bower Staunton Harold SC 98
22 Paul Beasley Thorpe Bay YC 100
23 M Vann Hollowell SC 101
24 Clive Mattson Stone SC 103
25 Andrew Murphy Broxbourne SC 114
26 Glenn Ratcliff Thorpe Bay YC 120
27 Jools Abel East Lancs SC 1323\r\n
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