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Stone hosted the Phantom Open on the 21/22 May .It was yet again a beautiful l hot day on Saturday & the wind was a steady 3-4.With an entry of 21 boats the racing was going to be keen all through the fleet.
It was decided before we started that due to Sundays forecast looking like it may be howling that we would do four races back to back to make sure we had a series, so we left the beach and headed for the start line.
The course was a sausage, triangle with a spacer mark at the windward buoy and the tide was steaming in up river .The first and all starts were all port biased with the pin being up tide from the committee boat. Everyone was lining up holding their boats on the line making sure they were not shoved over by the current and the usual bunching on the pin end ensued. At the gun Jez Taylor was off with Tyler Harmsworth & local sailors Nick Radley & the Neil Fulcher, Lawrence Crispin did not get the best start in the first race but never missed a beat in the next three. Sailing across the tide it was really easy to over lay the windward mark and people did time and again. Nick Radley led up the first leg being pursued by Tyler Harmsworth, John Wayling and Steve Popple, round they all went to start the run, Steve Popple missed out the spacer mark and had to go back and the rest just carried on .Down the run Tyler Harmsworth passed Nick Radley and Lawrence Crispin made his way through a few boats to start climbing up through the fleet, the Neil Fulcher, Paul Beasley, John Wayling, James Jarvey & Ben Falat were all in a tight bunch with Jez Taylor (who was unfortunately judged to be over the line and was binned), Phil Longley ,& Ian miller following them. The second beat started with the first two boats pulling away from the rest and leaving the others to sail for third position, which Lawrence Crispin claimed & after a poor start this was a good result, the Neil Fulcher used his local knowledge of the incoming tide to finish fourth ahead of John Wayling, then came Paul Beasley in a strong sixth position with James Jarvey next. There was a really good ding dong going on between Marcus Ingham, Tim Harris, Clive Morley & John Torrence, but Mr Morley managed to keep ahead of them right to the finish, Tyler Harmsworth took first with Nick Radley second.
The second race started with the breeze just picking up a notch and the same format again a mass bunch at the pin ,Nick Radley port tacked the fleet , Lawrence Crispin and Tyler Harmsworth had perfect starts along with Ian Sullivan, most of the fleet again went right and again overlaid the windward mark leaving the first three boats of Lawrence Crispin then Tyler Harmsworth being chased by Nick Radley pull clear by some margin by going left up the first leg and that is how it stayed for them to the finish, Ian Sullivan from Stewartby had a great race and held onto fourth spot Simon Heusen squeezed into fifth just getting ahead of the Neil Fulcher on the finish, Macus Ingram, also had a good solid race to keep ahead of Ben Falconer.
Ground Hog day for the third start except Nick Radley decided to show another trick and fell over on the start line and never recovered so called it a day and unfortunately did not finish the last race either which was a shame as he was going really well for the first two races.
Lawrence Crispin was away from the start and no one even challenged him and he took the honours with a good lead, Simon Heusen was next followed by the Neil Fulcher and again Ian Sullivan coming home in fourth, Tyler Harmsworth started well but got stuck on the wrong side of a wind shift nearthe top mark of the second beat and had to settle for a fifth, then followed the ever consistent James Jarvey, Ben Falat & John Wayling, with Paul Beasley doing well in the increasing breeze just on their transoms. Clive Morley sailed a really good race and stayed ahead of the gaggle of followers and had his best result of the day.
I have to mention a very special moment for Mike Stone for giving us a little chuckle when he decided to jetsam his craft in the middle of the beat which took off like a wild horse without him, it gybed then sailed straight up to and pulled alongside Jez Taylor and waited for Mike to do the 100m freestyle before allowing him back on board. After that Mike got the bit between his teeth for the fourth race and had his best result of the open to get a very good ninth.
The final race of the day and the odd gust coming through at 22/25 knots left a few boats winded and they headed for drier spots and showers, leaving just 16 hardy fellows to their recreation. Lawrence Crispin again got off to a flier and led from start to finish again going left up the beats he just pulled away and was left to his own solitude to the line ,a really good day from him three dominant firsts and a third, Simon Heusen again followed in second and managed to get away from Tyler Harmsworth and Ben Falat (who sailed to his best finish of the day coming home fourth). Steve Popple also posted his best result of the four races and crossed the finish in a solid fifth. Neil Fulcher lost his main halyard and could not partake, John Wayling reversed roles on James Jarvey form the previous race and finished one ahead of him in sixth, then came Ian Miller getting his best and second top ten result of the days racing. Tim Harris finished all four races and was getting better as the day progressed and had some good results in the final two races.
The day was over and everyone was looking forward to the evening tucker and a great evening did follow with the ever generous Mr Fulcher providing free flowing wine to accompany the meal, so a special thank you to him from all .
Sunday was sunny but unfortunately the wind guru was spot on and the breeze increased and increased so the race team decided it was not going to happen and called the racing off.
As we had sailed four races on the Saturday it was decided to count all four for the final results. The consistent sailors got their just rewards, with Lawrence Crispin obviously first, Tyler Harmsworth second & James Jarvey third.
A special mention to Sam Longley who was sailing in his first open meeting and Stone sailing club have a tradition of always presenting the sailor with a small token ,so they gave him a live bullet (not sure how he took that)
Great day, at a smashing very friendly club, run by ever accommodating people.

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