Minnis Bay Sailing Club Phantom Open Meeting -

Eight Phantoms made the journey to north east Kent for an Eastern Travellers Series Open Meeting sponsored by ALLEN & JJ Boats, on the weekend on 22nd and 23 September 2012. Sunshine and a chilly F3-4 northerly greeted the competitors for the first race. Tyler Harmsworth was out of the blocks quickly to clock up his first victory, a pattern that was to become familiar. Further down the fleet there was more place changing with Matthew House on a particular charge. Matthew, along with local Minnis Bay sailor Clive Morley, were both late for the start having dutifully moved launching trolleys away from the incoming tide. Despite his late start Matthew pulled through to finish second ahead of John Wayling in third and Chris Shelton in fourth.

With the wind tracking clockwise, the race officer adjusted the course for race 2 and gave the fleet a port-end biased line. Tyler Harmsworth tried a port tack flyer start but Wayling shut the door, somehow he found sufficient space to get through the starboard tack fleet. He then continued to leave everyone behind to secure his second bullet. The flood tide was now showing its presence with one or two sailors getting caught out at the windward mark. John Wayling was second, Matthew House third and Clive Morley using his local knowledge to secure fourth place.

Race 3 saw the wind continuing towards the east and dropping away. The fleet split into two groups after the start with one group going right hoping for slacker water. However a wind shift halfway up the beat favoured the group that went left and Tyler Harmsworth once again rounded the windward mark first en-route to another victory. Matthew House was second whilst James Jarvey found the lighter conditions to be favourable to finish third.

Sunday morning dawned to leaden skies, strong winds and many thick heads courtesy of Minnis Bay's excellent BBQ & many pints of "Doom Bar" the evening before. With the Margate headland offering slight shelter from the 18-24 knot easterly the fleet headed afloat for race 4. Normal business was resumed for Tyler Harmsworth with another bullet, whilst further back in the fleet one or two sailors were testing the temperature of the water. The runs were particularly interesting with boats surfing and nose-diving in the closely spaced waves. John Wayling was second and Matthew House third whilst Ian Sullivan and Tim Harris picked up their best results of the regatta in fourth and fifth places respectively.

With gear failure, Hangovers and tiredness kicking in a reduced fleet of just three boats for the fifth and final race. Victory was once again secured by Tyler Harmsworth to give him a perfect score for the regatta. Second place in that race, and second place overall went to John Wayling, with Matthew House taking a well deserved third and third overall he was also heard to say that he could confirm to the hydrographical office that the bottom is still London Clay....

The Phantom sailors would again like to thank Minnis Bay Sailing Club for hosting an excellent event and the Race Team for managing to complete the racing despite the interesting weather conditions on the Sunday. The competitors would also like to thank the sponsors ALLEN & JJ Boats but especially Lorraine, Clive and the rest of the Galley for feeding and watering the team.

Chris Shelton

Phantom 1211

Overall

Sailed: 5, Discards: 1, To count: 4, Ratings: PY, Entries: 8, Scoring system: Low Points
Tally Pos'n SailNo HelmName Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total Nett
2 1st 1340 Tyler Harmsworth Shoreham-By-Sea SC (1.0) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 5.0 4.0
4 2nd 1175 John Wayling Northampton SC 3.0 2.0 (4.0) 2.0 2.0 13.0 9.0
5 3rd 1355 Matthew House Royal Harwich YC 2.0 (3.0) 2.0 3.0 3.0 13.0 10.0
8 4th 1403 James Jarvey Hickling Broad SC 5.0 5.0 3.0 (9.0 DNC) 9.0 DNC 31.0 22.0
6 5th 1211 Chris Shelton Downs SC 4.0 6.0 5.0 (9.0 DNF) 9.0 DNC 33.0 24.0
3 6th 1404 Ian Sullivan Netley SC 7.0 7.0 7.0 4.0 (9.0 DNC) 34.0 25.0
7 7th 1415 Tim Harris Up River YC 6.0 8.0 6.0 5.0 (9.0 DNC) 34.0 25.0
1 8th 1184 Clive Morley Minnis Bay SC 8.0 4.0 8.0 (9.0 DNC) 9.0 DNC 38.0 29.0

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