The first ever Phantom event in Port Dinorwic was a day of contrasts - torrential rain, sunbathing sun, no wind, loads of wind, all adding to the challenge for the competitors. Race 1 – a clean start by all, Ed Thomas & Adam Perry passed Alex Morrison to gain the lead at the first tack. At the top mark Thomas lead the way with Morrison recovering back to 2nd and Perry 3rd. Places remained the same downwind but on the next up wind Morrison managed to squeeze past Thomas and hold onto the lead for the next few laps. However, on the last run Thomas found more speed on the left to slip pass Morrison and take the win by a few seconds.
Race 2 - started in a windy squall, Morrison lead round the windward mark with Thomas, Perry and Price close behind. Thomas once again found great off-wind boat speed and left Morrison and Perry floundering around in no wind, now the squall had passed. Thomas now had a healthy lead and the battle was on for second, up the next beat Morrison & Perry got caught up in the heavy ‘So-Slow’ Solo traffic; whoever could rise to the challenge of dodging through the Solos, was going to get the 2nd place. Three-quarters of the way up the beat Perry was nowhere to be seen, had he been swallowed up by the Solos? No, he was doing his very own storming of the beach on the Anglesey shore line and was stuck on the shallow bank. Tom Hanks would have been proud! So with Thomas and Morrison safe in their positions the battle was on for 3rd. Price had passed Perry now that he had found Private Ryan on Anglesey and there were only a few boat lengths between them. On the last lap Perry was on Price’s stern rounding the final leeward mark, with only a short beat to finish. Surely Price had it in the bag? However, using his local knowledge, Price sailed to the end of the finish line in the most tide, giving Perry the advantage and pipping him in a photo finish.
Race 3 – the last race started in good F3 and brilliant sunshine. All the boats got off the line together, the wind shifted right so those who started on the committee boat got a good advantage, as they weren’t in the tide as much as those on the pin. Perry & Price had to tack off the lift to get out of the tide and gave the advantage to Morrison and Thomas. Half way up the beat Thomas tacked to clear his wind and went to see if Private Ryan needed rescuing again. This gave Morrison a good lead round the windward mark which he held to the finish, with Thomas in 2nd, Perry in 3rd and Price in 4th.
Overall Results
1st Ed Thomas, Pilkington SC
2nd Alex Morrison, Port Dinorwic SC
3rd Adam Perry, Pennine SC
4th Lindsay Price, Port Dinorwic SC
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Topic: Port Dinorwic SC, Phantom Northern Series (Read 6711 times)