Up River YC Phantom Open Report
12 boats arrived at Up River YC for the 2nd Eastern event of 2013. pleasant weather but light and shifty wind conditions were there for the first race. The race officer set a traditional down river course for race 1, There was a clean start against the flooding tide, Chris Roberts led along with Matthew House and Ben Falat to the first mark and rounded clear of the other, the wind dropped and became more shifty and the rest of the fleet bunched up and there where some great gain and losses to be had, after a while the wind built to a force 2 and some good battles where enjoyed throughout the fleet, at the finish Chris took the gun ahead of Matthew and Ben,
Race 2 was started after the standard mid event phantom diet of tea and cakes, by now the breeze a healthy force 4 with the odd gust of a 5, The start was eventful with a couple of boats returning to restart after a dreaded second gun, At the windward mark Ben was again away along with Doug Conway and Marcus Ingram, Ben and Marcus pulled clear by the first leeward mark with the rest of the fleet then battling for water when rounding, Chris came through in 3rd with Daren Pike in 4th only to then have the misfortune of copping a massive gust when gybing causing them two to be spectacularly entwined finishing Chris's race off, rest assured people this has actually been captured on boat cam attached to Chris's boat. A few of the other boats capsized in the squalls leading to a handful of retirement and much place changing. At the final mark Marcus and Ben had the top two positions within reach only to go around the last mark the wrong way, which left a large door open for Matthew to take honours from Ian Sullivan, closely followed by John Wayling.
The beer flowed throughout the afternoon into the evening, a special note should go the SWAGS who managed to drink at least 7 bottle of wine before dinner.
Sunday appeared bright and fair, brisk 3-4 breeze, race 3 started after midday, And after a clear start Marcus led the short beat to the first mark followed by Nick Radley, and were they never caught and finished in that order, the rest of the fleet enjoyed the battles with lots of place changing, and the odd coming together, Matthew finished 3rd with Ian Sullivan 4th.
Race 4 same course as race 3 as back-to-back there was a general recall as all the fleet apart from Tin Harris were over the line fooled by the tide, on the restart, Ian Sullivan nailed it followed by Marcus, who managed to overtake on the long run, the rest of the fleet fought for positions slowing each other down letting the two leaders pull a huge lead out. On the final beat back wind increased and Ian got into the zone and sailed well clear of Marcus, the rest of the fleet had competitive racing and at the finish Ian won form Marcus and then John Wayling.
The final race, it was all the play for, with Marcus, Ian and Matthew all counting a first and a second each, meaning whoever beat the other two and came first or second would win overall. The fleet were sent up river and then to the ever famous Ditch, John, led from Ian and Marcus, on the final run John still lead but the middle of the fleet quickly closed the gap and Marcus, Ian, and Matthew in that order found themselves within and handful of boat lengths approaching the final mark. Marcus led and headed for the bank Ian tacked off for clean air and Matthew was convinced that the mark was to be rounded the other way, so the final leg with it all to play for when Marcus suffered a unfortunate twist of fate as his toe strap decided to fail and he ended up swimming, So John won the race followed by Ian and Tim.
So with great satisfaction Ian Sullivan won his first ever Eastern Phantom open, with Matthew House in second and John Wayling in third.
Many thanks to all that helped make Up River run smoothly, Simon, Julia, Amanda and our rescue boats crews,
