A dozen hardy sailors arrived for the last event of the JJ Boats & Allen sponsored Eastern Phantom Series held on Hickling Broad in the far east of Norfolk. The weather forecast promised to be interesting on at least one of the days, as it tuned out Saturday was very light and Sunday very interesting!, a few hardy campers and those seeking value from the house rental tuned up on Friday night and enjoyed and relaxed night in the "Pleasure Boat Inn", the Sick, Lame and Lazy were sadly missed as we raised a glass to their health.
Saturday morning arrived as planned with a soft breeze from somewhere near the sea, unfortunately the broad has the sea on both East and North so it was quite variable, having said that we all set off with eager anticipation of the wind dying completely...
Race 1: With quite a bit of port bias the fleet bunched at the Pin end and the port flyers were blocked out, but ducking and squirting out from underneath gave "Little Monster" the lead, with "Windy" in close quarter's and the "Horse" coming round in third, the Starboard rounding and little breeze on the reach back to mark 2 saw the "Bismark" slowing and "Windy" developing his own while the "Horse" trotted behind... The next few marks came up slowly and Windy's beans ran out but the Horse had paced himself to round just in front at the penultimate mark. The finishing order was Horse, Windy & Tyler who had snuck through the fleet after starting in reverse.
Race 2: Abandoned due to lack of wind, which was bad news for some as going to the Pleasure boat @ 3pm was always going to be messy, so we went to the Greyhound instead, to drink a few beers with our Sponsor who was celebrating 40 years on this planet.
Race 2: Kicked off on Sunday along with the Wind & Rain, the first start was held on the committee boat with the usual short beat to the Starboard rounding, I got buried at the start and by the time my head was out of the boat, the Horse had galloped off and Tyler was his Cart being dragged along behind, the new mast he was trying out had left him short of kicker travel, the Monster was chasing hard and this was to be the finishing order.
Race 3: Back to the clubhouse start line for a ten boat length beat to the Port rounding mark, yes it was carnage, although no damage was done but the air was blue with a southern accent... having recovered from the first mark blasphemy the chase was on for Tyler to catch the Horse, Windy had found his beans again and the Monster was revelling in the "One Buttock" hiking weather. All the effort was to no avail and the Horse crossed first with Tyler second and Little Monster third.
Race 4: Only the brave and stupid had stopped out including me so you can decide where I fall... Once again it was a very short leg to the first mark, but the wind had swung making it a proper 1 tack beat, Windy had the best of the start, with Titch in close formation, Tyler was looking good and the Horse was looking lame, had he pick up splints during his previous exertions?, as we went down the run it was clear he hadn't and up the next beat he came charging through, Tyler came by two but got a shift very wrong and went to the back of the feet of 4! making perfect score line of 4 bullets the finishing order was Horse, with his first event win, Windy 2nd and a recovering Titch, who stupidly stopped out 3rd, placing me fifth overall and doing the report again!
So it was the Horses event, with Tyler 2nd but taking the Eastern Series overall and Windy a very well earned 3rd
1st 1355 Matthew "Horse" House
2nd 1340 Tyler Harmsworth
3rd 1305 Ian "Windy" Miller
4th 1404 Ian "Little Monster" Sullivan
5th 1175 John "Titch" Wayling
Thanks to HBSC for a well run event in challenging conditions, JJ Boats and Allen for sponsoring the series and the Galley for keeping us fed and watered. See you all at next years 1st Eastern Series event on 5th & 6th April - Alton Water
