Hunts Sailing Club – Phantom Open Meeting 17th April
The “Dirty Dozen” Phantom helms that contested the third Tempera-tech / JJ boats sponsored Eastern Series event at Hunts SC were rewarded for their optimism by a very fickle wind. Bright sunshine, well organised racing by the Solo fleet and super catering were the highlights of the event that otherwise left several helms wondering whether angling might offer more rewards.
The first race was started with a fair amount of line bias that was soon evened out with an on / off breeze shifting merrily as the fleet neared the windward mark.
Local Hero Richard Parkin was notable mostly for his absence due to an extended stop over in Gibralter, where he was no doubt cursing the Icelandic gods of volcanic activity. He had however done the decent thing and lent his boat to local Contender sailor Simon Maskell who rounded first, followed by fellow Hunts member Chris Hibbert and Chris Roberts. Maskell and Roberts pulled ahead of the fleet to fight a battle of nerves and shifts to finish in that order ahead of Andrew Wilde who had travelled down from Carsington to his first Eastern Series event.
The extended lunch break failed to allow a steady breeze to develop and thus the second race saw a re-run of the first with much place changing throughout the fleet. The sight of becalmed Solutions, increasing temperatures and random patches of breeze meant that blood pressure counts in the Phantom fleet reached danger levels but again the same group of boats contested the lead with Wilde, Jarvey, Maskell and Roberts swapping places throughout the race. In the end it was Andrew Wilde that took the gun, chased home by Jarvey and Roberts.
The clinching race was started whilst the Solutions were still enjoying themselves at the far end of the lake by creating beautiful reflections and practising sailing backwards.
Wilde made his intentions clear by starting well but yet again the race wasn’t over till the last mark, as the breeze favoured first one side and then the other of the beat/run/reach in no particular order. The lead was maintained by Wilde to the finish despite Roberts and Jarvey pushing hard throughout the race, with the last run seeing a frantic Wilde watching the following boats close him down rapidly as the breeze filled in from astern. With just enough of a lead in hand to get round the leeward mark the shorten course signal can never have sounded sweeter.
And so the third event of the Eastern Series was over with Wilde the deserving winner clearly being one to watch for the future and another welcome entrant to this competitive fleet. The next Eastern Event is at Southwold on 29/30 May and is expected to see a maximum entry for this popular sea venue.
Results
1st Andrew Wilde 1291 Carsington SC
2nd Chris Roberts 1278 Creeksea SC
3rd James Jarvey 1209 Hickling Broad SC
4th Simon Maskell 1354 Hunts SC
5th Chris Hibbert 1233 Hunts SC
(Full results awaited from club).
