Phantom class in the Gorleston Beach Regatta 2024 at Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Sailing Club

by Ben Falat 25 Jun 10:18 BST22-23 June 2024

Great Yarmouth & Gorleston SC's Phantom open meeting, the most easterly event on the national class programme, just about made 'quorum', which for a clash of events with Shoreham nevertheless meant some high-teens turnout between the two.

This Open was run as part of the mid-summer Gorleston Beach Regatta over 22/23-June, now probably in its 75th year; there was a sizeable parallel fleet of Vareos as well as a good crowd of Solutions.

Three races were scheduled each day, and the fleet set off on Saturday in a brisk southerly Force-4; Nick Favell (1384) proved very fast to windward (after a mid-week tweaking visit to JJ-Boats!) and because wind & tide paralleled, this made the beats disproportionately long against runs conversely quite short. The tactic was to head inshore to cheat current, then gauge how far 'apparently' to overstand Mark 1... in order to just about lay it on the tack out to sea into increasing northerly current.

Ben Falat (1266) chased, but Nick simply increased his distance whole race; third Warren Martin (1433), fourth Philip Harlow (1185).

Ben had some issue at start of Race 2 and got away late, unable to catch-up and the finish order was Nick, Warren, Ben.

Middle of Race 3 the wind briefly faded as black clouds arrived with a deluge of rain. The day ended in Nick holding three extremely convincing 'Golds' and looking untouchable.

Sunday's wind proved considerably lighter, but still a very sailable ESE Force-2/3 and plenty of pre-race splosh of suntan-lotion needed. Race 4 and Ben laid down his intentions to Nick with his first bullet; this perhaps tactically trickiest race called for careful thought over the last of the flood, with inshore turn of current occurring before offshore.

Warren led Race 5 at Mark 1 with Ben in very close pursuit and Nick languishing; due to the current-shear across the course the downwind leg became one-sided and Ben spotting this first, gybed earliest, overtook and pulled clear of Warren, therewith securing a serious challenge to Nick's previous clean sweep.

Sure enough the event ended with equal 1,1,1,2,3,2 to Nick and 2,3,2,1,1,1 to Ben, with Ben winning on double-countback by beating Nick in their last race.

Cracking champagne-sailing, excellent Norfolk catering at the club and wholly congenial atmosphere, Gorleston Beach now boasts a massive sandy beach and is a families' summertime honeypot; the local Beach-Guard team worked closely with the club to manage the crowds of swimmers who might possess potential death wish should they get in the way of launching or recovering dinghies as they bucked-'n-broncoed through onshore breaking waves; all passed in happy controlled manner without further incident.

Next Eastern Phantom event is at Royal Harwich YC over 6/7 July. To celebrate the club's 75th anniversary there is a very special offer for the 2024 season to new members... 1st year membership £75 with no joining fees.

Overall Results, counting towards the Eastern Series:

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Phantom Open at Rudyard Lake Sailing Club
by John Harrison 11 Jun 11:48 BST

Rudyard Lake Sailing Club welcomed six Phantoms on the 8th June for a joint open meeting along with the ILCA class. The forecast North West wind at 10 to 15 knots materialised resulting in a wind direction pointing down the length of the lake enabling long beats with fast challenging reaches and runs.

The small but perfectly formed fleet enjoyed three challenging races of around 60 minutes each, one in the morning followed by lunch, then two back-to-back in the afternoon.

Adam Froggatt of Chase SC continued his excellent start to the season with a win in every race based on conservative starts, good boat speed and generally smooth sailing with sound tactical choices. The four sailors behind, Andy Pyett, Andy Smith, Jim Hopton and John Harrison arguably had the most fun with close racing all day as they swapped places throughout every race, indeed most legs or mark rounding's saw changes fully vindicating the principle of chasing those 'marginal gains' in boat prep. The overall finishing order was determined on the final lap of the final race

It's great to see how well the modern Phantom rig works in such challenging conditions which was borne out by the sailors weights being in the 80 - 90 KG range, the beast has definitely been tamed! However, special mention should go to Matt Gardiner who has recently returned to sailing and also new to the class, sailing an older boat with alloy rig and Dacron sail, good effort!

The fleet culture of sharing ideas and discussing what works well continues with Adam and Jim being very open and supportive and we look forward to the class training days at Northampton on Friday 14th June prior to the Inlands and then at the Hollingworth on Saturday the 6th July with the open meeting on Sunday. We're also looking forward to several other open meetings over the coming months and will hopefully see good fleets and handicap events such as Filey Regatta and Abersoch Dinghy Week... All we need is sunshine to make it a great summer!

Thanks again to Rudyard for hosting the Phantoms and putting on an excellent event which was extremely well run and made the most of the great facilities at the club.

Overall Results:

1st, Adam Froggatt, 2pts
2nd, Jim Hopton, 5pts
3rd, John Harrison, 5pts
4th, Andy Smith, 8pts
5th, Andy Pyett, 9pts
6th, Matt Gardiner, 11pts

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Phantom Eastern Series Round 3 at Creeksea Sailing Club
by Bill Taylor 1 Jun 10:57 BST25-26 May 2024

The third event in the Phantom Class Eastern region series took place over the weekend of 25th / 26th May at Creeksea Sailing Club near Burnham on Crouch in Essex.

An entry of 18 boats from all over the region and further afield assembled on Friday to enjoy the home fleet's hospitality with the now traditional BBQ and sampling of two barrels of local beer provided by the home fleet.

Saturday morning dawned with a mirror flat river but with bright sunshine it looked likely that the locals prediction of an easterly sea breeze developing later would come true. An hour postponement to the scheduled start time allowed the strengthening breeze to make its way up river and stabilise sufficiently for race officer Eammon Browne to set the course and get the fleet away well before high water.

With a flooding tide the course required a beat downriver towards Burnham with the first mark being off the entrance to Burnham Yacht Harbour being followed by a run past Creeksea and beat back to the navigation mark off the Baltic Wharf before a shorter run to a leeward mark and beat back to the club line.

All straightforward it seemed, however, the use of an inner distance mark allowed Mark Spruce (and the PRO) to show his extensive knowledge of the rules of sailing by executing a "corinthian" start and crossing the fleet on port tack from an inshore position. Eammon had seen it all before and despite race hut comments he didn't recall Mark as he had complied with the requirement to pass the mark on his port side and had not crossed the line before the gun.

His reward was a second place in the ensuing race but he was perhaps unfortunate to have been caught by Jim Hopton who looked surprisingly comfortable on the tidal water of the Crouch rather than his home club of Shustoke. Richard Nurse from Northampton showed his customary speed to pull through the fleet to third place.

So much for the first race. The amusing and slightly concerning feature of the race had been the departure of a freighter as the fleet started accompanied by sirens from a guard launch and many hoots from the ships horn. The fleet was generally busy close tacking in shallow water and only an unfortunate few had to endure the wind shadow cast by the ship near the windward mark. A quick enquiry by the PRO to the club safety boat had confirmed that the fleet was well out of the way and that a recall was not required.

Discussion of this event later that evening revealed that several competitors hadn't even noticed the massive blue freighter or heard the accompanying warnings. Such was their dedication to short tacking.

The risk now appeared to be that the fleet would be pushed over the line by the tide but as it transpired the presence of a capsized boat at the outer distance mark proved more problematic (no names being mentioned in this report).

Spotting the opportunity that cunning fox of a Creeksea Commodore, Graham Dale Jones tacked promptly and headed out into the fairway and favourable tide off Baltic Wharf closely followed by Roberts. Dale Jones held off the challenge to round the windward mark first and these two headed straight for the north shore to avoid the tide and the following fleet.

The ensuing run followed its usual nervous course but these two boats managed to pull sufficiently ahead to avoid being drawn in to the wind shadow of the following fleet. After a gybing battle inshore Roberts managed to secure a lead at the leeward mark and hold off Dale Jones to the finish. Paddy Denby from Broadstairs had fought hard to keep ahead of the following pack and took third place.

The sailors adjourned to the Old White Harte in Burnham to enjoy some splendid food. Walking home to the club for some sailors apparently involved a novel attempt to gatecrash a wedding party at the marina bar but all attempts to name the bride and groom failed and they were sent on their way.

After the sunshine of Saturday the weather overnight had taken a turn for the worse and overcast skies with a hint of rain greeted the fleet on Sunday morning. The wind had also had a change of heart and reappeared from the south with little of the promised westerly element being seen. This meant that the East West orientation of the River Crouch left little alternative than the classic "Cliff and Canewdon" course option.

The plan was for three races to be held back to back in order to allow visitors to begin their journeys home in good time and hopefully avoid the stronger winds forecast for later in the day.

This course always generates a mixture of moans and smiles as the joy of a fast reaching start gives way to the dubious pleasure of a hard beat upriver at the point where the river runs in a more southerly direction.

Worthy of mention is the fact that Andy Smith showed what he could do in all three races by getting to the first mark ahead of the fleet. Roger Smith of the home club was also now getting his hand back in and was unlucky to capsize in the last race whilst well placed.

Rather than novelty shipping and aircraft the main feature of the day proved to be the presence of the local day boat classes on the same course.

As the first race got under way the RS Elites were passing through the start line area which led to some polite banter between the crews and Phantom helms. Sensible decisions allowed fair racing and Elites and Phantoms were able to sail together quite comfortably.

Roger Smith of the home club took the win ahead of Roberts who had pulled through the fleet from a poor start. Former winner of the event Phil Longley from Stone sailing club finished in third place.

The second race of the day again had a number of dayboat classes on the race course and to add to the mix a number of cruising boats were also present. None of this phased the fleet and again fair sailing and avoidance strategies allowed everyone to enjoy the river.

Jim Hopton was clearly after the win and sailed a good race to finish ahead of Roger Smith who was now putting together a late challenge. In third place was another near local Dean Saxton from nearby Maylandsea Bay Sailing Club. One to watch for the future now he has acquitted a newer boat.

The final race saw a reduced entry as the rigours of the weekend and back to back racing took their toll but it looked like a two way battle between Roberts and Hopton with little between them.

Again it was Andy Smith who got to the first mark ahead of Roberts with Hopton close behind. So close was the mark rounding that Roberts just managed to sail over Smith whilst Hopton drove down below him.

Finding a high mode allowed Roberts to get to the next mark at Canewdon with a good lead which he held on the long leg back down river. Hopton kept the pressure on throughout and finished well ahead of Paddy Denby and a somewhat spread fleet.

The final results saw Roberts take the open meeting win ahead of Hopton whilst Roger Smith finished in third place after a strong performance on Sunday.

So another Creeksea Phantom open meeting was completed and the club relaxed after a hectic weekend. Special thanks were made to David Chick and Luke who had manned the safety boat all weekend. Eammon Browne had similarly stepped into the breach to act as race officer all weekend and numerous other members helped out moving trolleys and helping boats to recover.

A special mention was also made for local hero Bill Taylor who helped out setting courses and directing operations whilst suffering from a stomach bug. Everyone knew he would rather have been racing but he will now have to wait till the next Eastern series event at Gorleston and Great Yarmouth over the weekend of 22nd/23rd June.

Overall Results:

Photo by Bill Taylor

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Phantom & Streaker Open Meeting 18^th and 19^th May.

 

Photo by Jeremy Blackman

 

A good turn out with 7 Phantoms, and 16 Streakers present at Downs Sailing Club open meeting held over the 18th and 19th of May, with plenty of visitors from as far afield as Holland.

The forecast for Saturday was the light airs but nobody expected the direction to include every direction on the compass. As the race officer (Brian Mumford) was about to hoist his 5 minute flag the wind swung 90° to the left. A short delay ensued while a large course was engineered to the new wind, Brian (RO) managed to get away the races fairly quickly with great organisation and enthusiasm of the race team. With The Phantoms going first and the Streakers going second. With three races scheduled for Saturday, the RO was able to take advantage of the light tides, but with the wind constantly on the move, the Race Officer had his race support team flat out moving marks and meant only two races happened.

In the first race it was a competitive start, but the wind lottery soon caused a game of snakes and ladders up the main beat, and the light pockets of wind coming and going there were several race lead changes, but it all came to a head on the finish line where the wind lottery whipped up a mixed result for all. Paddy Demby (1), Tim Demby (2), Chris Shelton (3).

Race 2 brought out the competitive edge with a competitive start, but by the end or the race the wind had gone a full 360, mixing up the results, with the final leg being a run to the finish and a game of waiting for the wind to fill in. Chris (1), Alex Spurgeon (2), Pete Harlow (3).

We all retired to the Club for hospitality at Downs Sailing Club from a great team, serving a Barbeque with amazing salads, and a good selection from our local Brewery Gadds, Hoppy Pale Ale being the winner of the evening.

 

Deal Pier weather station for Saturday 18th May showing how the wind changed direction.

 

Sunday brought more promise, with the Race officer keen to take advantage of the forecast of steady winds, quickly hoisted L flag and notified of his intent to have 4 races in the session. We still had time to enjoy some great breakfast sandwiches in preparation for the fully packed race schedule.

A fresh wind from the NNE, racing was looking like it would be fun and the first beat was closely fought with all to play for at the top mark, with a planning reach to mark 2, then a run along the shore, we soon encouraged the fishermen to pack up, with the fleet creeping up against the tide along the beach shore. There were one or two comments from the Streakers as we mixed it up with them along the reach to the penultimate mark, but there was an offer of beer for Chris in his assistance to help Lee Goodey in a streaker up to first place. Paddy managed to hold off Chris, after a Pin end start proved advantageous. Paddy (1), Chris (2), Alex (3)

Race 4 a tight start with everyone finding a spot on the front row, it was a competitive race to the first mark then  the changing tide brought a new leader who stayed offshore and took a decisive lead to bring a new winner out of the pack (Dave Patrick). Dave (1), Chris (2), Paddy (3)

Race 5 saw a retirement as the winds lightened, it was a competitive first mark, with a lot of focus to get to the top mark against an increasing foul tide, with the wind still reasonable in patches. Keeping the boat free and fast proved to be the winning formula as Chris escaped to sail his own race. Chris (1), Paddy (2), Dave (3).

Race 6 and the tide increased making the first beat harder to judge the windward beat with some shifts starting to make it tricky. On the Second lap the winds fell away with the inshore out of the tide being the paying option but again sailing free and as fast as possible was the key to success. We were finished on the downwind leg close to Club as the winds had lightened to make progress over the tide hard. Chris (1), Paddy (2), Alasdair (3)

With us all back on the beach it was great to be able to offer thanks at the prize giving, to the Organising team, Race Officer, Galley and Bar team, and all the Patrol Boats crew for their assistance,

 

Photo by Alasdair Baker

Thank you Downs Sailing Club.

 

 

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Phantom Midland Series at Bartley Sailing Club

by Andy Smith 13 May 18:37 BST12 May 2024

A small, but perfectly formed, fleet of ten Phantoms turned up at a warm and sunny Bartley on Sunday 12th May for the second of six events in the Phantom Class Midland Series, which was held alongside the Lightning 368 Open.

The format for the event was for one race in the morning, followed by lunch and then two races back-to back in the afternoon, with two out of three to count.

Race 1 was held in a light and quite shifty F1-2 from the north east (maybe even ENE), with plenty of holes in the wind to catch people out. Duncan Adams (Burton) led at the first mark, closely followed by Adam Froggatt (Chase) with a group of five not far behind, but very close together. On the long run to the second mark, Jim Hopton (Shustoke) held a higher line and pulled through to third, followed by guest appearance Nigel Hudson (Bartley) in Steve Ward's boat.

After a three-lap 45 minute race, Adam finally got ahead of Duncan and Jim retained third place. Your intrepid reporter can't add anything further, given the distance he was behind the front runners and not having taken his binoculars afloat!

Race 2, after a leisurely lunch break, saw a change of course and a slight increase in the wind, as it veered more towards East. A big shift saw Adam, Jim and Andy Smith (Bowmoor) approaching the first mark fast on port - almost a carbon copy repeat of what happened in the second race at Bowmoor last month, except that this time there were fewer boats and it also wasn't really possible to lay the mark on starboard, so everything was polite, congenial and without any incident or raised voices, thankfully!

Adam and Jim sailed away to comfortable first and second places respectively, albeit with a sizeable gap between them in the end. Duncan eventually pulled through to third after a uncharacteristic poor start and the positions from fourth to eighth were the same as Race 1. So, Adam had already secured victory and Race 3 would be a two-horse battle for second overall between Duncan and Jim.

As the breeze had picked up even more, Adam stayed out to join the fun, but pulled the trigger way too early on the start and so decided to retire, given he was almost on the lay line when the gun actually went! Duncan and Andy both made good starts and took advantage of both clear wind and a useful shift to be well ahead of the rest of the fleet at the first mark.

Duncan then proceeded to do a "complete horizon job", whilst Andy held off a fast-catching Jim until the last lap but secured a useful third place to move him up in the overall results (and the honour of writing this report!). Sadly, as I was concentrating so hard to first keep Jim behind me and then making sure I kept close to his transom, I did not see what happened elsewhere on the race track - except that there were large gusts from time to time, and even larger shifts almost all the time (apparently anything with east in it isn't a good direction for Bartley - well, we now know that for certain!).

At the prize-giving, Adam thanked the OOD and his team for putting on a great day's racing. For info, the next Midland Series event is the Inlands at Northampton in mid-June.

Overall Results:

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Phantom 2024 National Super Series at Stone Sailing Club

by Mark Spruce 7 May 11:45 BST27-28 April 2024

I've managed to drag myself out of the snug at my local, "The Muzzle & Leash" next to the adult shop opposite Walthamstow dogs after a bank holiday away with no boats, to report on the Phantom Super Series event at Stone SC held over the weekend of the 27th & 28th April alongside the UK Finn Masters Nationals.

Day One started well with the rain drying up and a classic ENE 8-12 knots breeze filling in over a strong flood tide. With a forecast of strong SW winds for the Sunday, Race Officer Neil Fulcher made the sensible decision to get 4 races completed in these ideal conditions, in case Sunday sailing was not possible (a wise move as it turned out).

Race 1... 20 Phantoms entered and faced a challenging start sequence with a U-Flag up from start one, big Pin-End bias and at least 2 knots of flood tide holding everyone back from the line. In fact, it was difficult to lay the pin on starboard and it was Sprucey who took advantage. Despite advertising it for at least 3 mins before the start, he won the pin on Port, crossed the whole fleet and that should have been it! Sadly, he then tacked onto starboard thinking the left had more wind and less tide. The problem was, it didn't and he ended up around 6th in the pack at the weather mark. Rob Cook laid down his marker and earned a clear win with the Northampton posse of Richard Nurse in second and John Wayling in third.

Race 2 was repeat of race 1. Again, Sprucey advertised his intent at the pin end and again the fleet let him do it! This time, he went the right way, lifting above Nick Favell on his stern and sailing over Rob Cook to extend his lead and take the win. Once again, the Northampton trio of Rob, Richard and John filled the next three places.

Race 3 was sailed in slightly lighter conditions. Rob Cook once again took the win with Bill Taylor from Creeksea SC working his way up into third to break up the Northampton monopoly of the podium. With less flood tide holding the fleet back from the line, local boy Phil Longley fell-foul of the U-Flag, something he found very bemusing!

All change for Race 4, the last of the day - started just as the ebb began to flow pushing the boats, still under the U-Flag closer to the line. Still slightly lighter on the wind front, we saw a third different race winner with Northampton's own John "Titch" Wayling taking a, well deserved win in his new boat Phloosie from an ever-improving Bill Taylor, who was, by now, learning how to make his new boat perform. Richard Nurse was third to secure a really well-deserved overall podium. Uncharacteristically, Rob Cook found himself buried deep at the windward mark, unable to extricate himself, finishing with his discarded 7th place.

It says something about the strong one-design nature of the Phantom - every one can have speed and ultimately, it's good starts, tactics and boat handling that separates the winners from the rest of the fleet.

Four races meant 20 very tired bods in the bar for the beer and curry evening in the clubhouse.

Compared to Friday night, it was a very quiet bar not helped by the entire absent Finn fleet who'd retired to their slippers and bed-time Horlicks (with the exception of Andy Couch and OK World Champion, Nick Craig, who everyone knows, are actually Phantom sailors anyway!)

As predicted, heavy rain over night was the indicator of the incoming front and strong SW winds coming. Low tide, a strong ebb tide and narrow race area meant it was going to be very difficult to lay a safe race course and the RO abandoned racing for the day. The Masters Finn fleet looked very relieved at the decision - they were concerned that they may actually get planning in that much wind! The Phantoms were a little disappointed but understanding.

So, Saturday evening's results stood. Four good races completed and the discard came into play. The Northampton squad took the podium - a great result for all three who have definitely upped their game this season with well-tuned and well sailed boats. Well done to Class Chairman, Rob Cook, Richard Nurse who is starting to nail some quality results and to John Wayling who is making Phloosie fly!

4th was Bill Taylor who sailed his way into contention throughout the day. Who knows what might have been if he had been able to demonstrate some of his strong wind ability on the Sunday.

5th was Sprucey - frustrated that he converted several 4th & 5th places to 6th & 8ths on then last downwind leg to the finish but comments that "he'll dine off his port tack start and race 2 win for years to come!"

Mentions in dispatches:

Phil Longley - "Nobody expects the..." but everyone expects the local boy to be up there and indeed he is. He'll rue that OCS but at least it meant that he didn't have to write this report!

Chris Roberts - fighting near the top despite a capsize and a very badly frayed / broken port shroud. He kept his mast but I'm not sure about his marbles?

That's a wrap. My bookie is happy - most of my pre-event predictions proved to be reasonably accurate so he's not out of pocket by too much. Well done to Team Northampton. They said "Dominance"!? I prefer to say "lucky" (that we didn't sail Sunday - they might just have been out of The Cup just like their local Rugby team, the Saints on the Same weekend!).

That's the Phantom National Super Series Event 1 completed. A great event and very competitive.

There is one Super Series event in each of the Phantom Regions along with the Inland Championships, this year at Northampton SC- you need three events to count so get your boats prepped and out on the water.

Results:

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