Optimum Time Watches Southern Phantom Series Round 6 at Downs Sailing Club
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Firstly - Why have you left it so long when it was due in January??
Secondly - as you may be aware the membership sec Matt is currently jilling around Scotland. All membership confirmations should be forwarded to me, but it appears there may have been a backlog. I'm going to go through the PayPal account and check everyone who has paid in the last 4 weeks hasn't slipped through.
If you have recently paid and not received anything, please bear with us and anything outstanding should be posted by the end of the week.
Unfortunately we will not be able to issue any replacement boat measurement certificates until later in the year (Septemberish), If anyone has a new boat we can still measure and issue a new certificate etc.
If you have any specific problems then shout
Thanks
Phil Longley
Class Chairman
The club will be running Phantom class racing alongside club racing with a separate start for Phantoms.
Scheduled for Sunday are 3 races back to back with an 11.00 am start and 2 races on Monday.
Our race officer is ex national champion Tyler Harmsworth so a perfect Phantom course is assured.
Tyler will also with Lisa be running the bar after racing so no protests please !!
There will be an evening meal on Sunday night and the galley open Sunday / Monday for refreshments.
Bring your partners and dancing shoes and get down to some Soul Ska Rhythm & Blues from DJ Phantom Spinner on the decks Sunday evening. Plenty of free camping and room for motor homes...
The Phantom class is looking very healthy with open meeting numbers up and record numbers of new boats being ordered. Close tactical racing and a friendly welcome can be expected at all Phantom opens !!
See you all at Shoreham
Ivan 1300
Fourteen eager Phantom sailors took part in the second event in the Phantom Class Eastern Series event at Fishers Green Sailing Club in the scenic Lea Valley.
The wind gods had come up trumps with a gusty North Westerly that carried punch at times but also faded away at critical points. The locals told visitors that the wind direction was unusual and most were secretly glad that the “home advantage” seemed to have been neutralised.
This seemed to be the case in Race 1 when Ian Stone from Maidenhead aced the start with a port tack flyer from the committee boat end leaving the fleet wondering why everyone else hadn’t tried the tactic.
Ian looked set to win the first race by a significant margin having been placed under pressure from time to time by Chris Roberts, Ben Falet and Chris Biglin, all of whom fell back at some point due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Having shown mastery of the conditions for almost three laps it was with surprise that Ian headed off for the wrong mark on the final lap, leaving the race wide open again for the following pack who realised his error. The win went to Jim Hopton, one of three sailors from Shustoke taking a sabbatical in the East, with clubmate Chris Biglin grabbing second place ahead of Roberts.
Read more: Eastern Series open at Fisher Green Sailing Club Saturday 6th May
The Southern fleet headed to Lee on Solent for the 4th open in the SW traveller series.
On Saturday Simon Hawkes ran some excellent training for half a dozen of us, he was given a high tech video camera off Gordon which captured some good videos of us all sailing, and also some fantastic shots of him “air humping” when the camera was put down and left on by mistake! All of the trainees benefited from the on the water coaching, some real improvements were made by all.
Sunday – Race Day!
We were greeted with Bacon butties, no waves and fickle wind. A good turnout of boats made for an exciting day ahead.
After a short briefing everyone rigged and headed out for 4 back to back races.
Race 1
The first race of the day started with multiple premature starters, everyone was quickly brought back via a general recall.
On the second start those that started at the lower end of the line had a good advantage, they were in the favorable tide and closer to the first mark!
The fleet headed out to the wing mark on a very broad reach. Jon Cooper, Mike Tustin and Rob Starling appeared to be in a good position, but the tide proved to be a cruel beast with Jon being pushed into the wing mark (Mike and Rob managed to squeeze round). Nick (Slow) Orman and Ben Falat’s experience showed with the pair of them leaving adequate space for tidal movement!
Nick and Ben tussled all the way round, but Nick came out on top in the end (this was the theme for the rest of the day). For others in the fleet the shifty wind and tide made for a difficult race with positions changing all the time.