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.
…. And so to the 2017 edition of hard fought racing for the very prestigious Frensham Phantom Pie Platter …. The forecast was not good and perhaps put a few off attending with very variable wind strengths depending upon the source … the only thing in agreement was a SW wind direction and as it happened that was about the only direction we did not get!!
Despite the dire forecast, 6 visitors joined 5 home boats and in between drifting managed to get in 4 reasonable races with even the occasional spot of hiking and planning witnessed.
Some of the key highlights included:
Ivan Walsh obviously still a little overconfident from winning the series last year deciding that he only needed to show up to the start area with a minute to go.
Simon (00 something) Bond capsizing in a momentous gust of around 4 knots in between race 2 and 3.
The appearance of a new trend in wooden booms on a brand new boat which won 3 races! The boom apparently being multi-purpose with a Salcombe Yawl as they are the same length! Not sure where you buy them from but they clearly work so there may be a rush of orders …. Although we were advised that they are a bit hard on the head!
The phantom WAGS, who enjoyed a lovely walk around the lake with its beautiful scenic Surrey countryside and witnessing all the ungentlemanly behavior on the water from various angles! (not really in the friendly Phantom fleet ).
Numerous calls for Mast Abeam, showing the age and current rule knowledge of some of the participants!
The forecast is thankfully calmer than last year and the lighter winds might even give us a chance to halt the excellent run of series wins by Super Simon Hawkes !! Another fairly central location at a very welcoming club.
Briefing: 1015
Phantom Prep: 1055
Phantom first start : 1100
Schedule of races: 4 – 2 back to back in the morning, lunch, then 2 back to back in the afternoon. Three results to count. The first and last races will be simpler and shorter than the other two.
Entry fee: Phantoms £10.
Bacon butties and coffee served from 0915, lunch available.
Frensham free tea.
Plenty of parking, easy launching off jetties.
Sailing Instructions available on the day
Come and have some fun at Frensham
The forecast of strong winds did not put off 18 sailors for round 2 of the travellers series. One rigged then thought better of it so 17 started the first race, not all finished. After 2 races we enjoyed a choice of hot lunches and a few decided to stay on dry land as the wind increased.
The race officer had a good day getting all four races completed and a great course set. The support boats were kept busy with Phantom and Aero swimmers all day.
Simon Hawkes and Mike Tustin were tussling all day up the front of the race with Simon clinching overall after a count back. Thats the first 2 opens to Simon who will be looking to defend his Frensham title from last year in round 3 on 23rd April.
1st Phantom Phantom 14 Wimbleball SC Simon Hawkes
2nd Phantom Phantom 1438 Bowmoor SC MikeTustin
3rd Phantom Phantom 1414 Shoreham Steve Popple
4th Phantom Phantom 1419 Wimbleball SC Paul Birbeck
5th Phantom Phantom 1386 Island Barn SC Nick Mason
6th Phantom Phantom 1351 Island Barn SC John Oldham
7th Phantom Phantom 1300 Shoreham SC Ivan Walsh
8th Phantom Phantom 1289 Island Barn SC Richard Barker
9th Phantom Phantom 1320 Creeksea SC Roger Smith
10th Phantom Phantom 1 Minnis Bay SC Clive Morley
11th Phantom Phantom 1443 Stone SC Phil Longley
12th Phantom Phantom 12 Bowmoor SC Olly Hopkins
13th Phantom Phantom 1256 Creeksea SC Eric Howe
14th Phantom Phantom 1451 Tenby SC Jon Nuttall
15th Phantom Phantom 1408 Island Barn SC Thomas Alex Dawson
16th Phantom Phantom 1167 Broadwater SC Dave Patrick
16th Phantom Phantom 1184 Creeksea SC Graham Dale-Jones
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