Creeksea Phantom Open Meeting

The Phantom's race around Bridgemarsh Island

Twenty two sailors battled it out at Creeksea Sailing Club on the River Crouch on the weekend of 9th-10th July, with a strong contingent of travellers joining eight club boats.
The event was dominated by Allen Burrell from Thorpe Bay who won three of the five races sailed and secured a second place in the final race to win from Neil Fulcher from nearby Stone sailing club.

Saturday started with the traditional leisurely start to allow Fulcher the chance to rig and join the fun. An unseasonable northerly made setting a beat difficult and after flirting with the idea of a race down river to the River Roach, a less ambitious course was set to allow visitors to become acclimatised. This race was won by Burrell who started in the tide and powered off to an early lead leaving the local boats that had started inshore wondering where they had been going wrong. Fulcher maintained pressure on Burrell but was unable to catch him. Local boy Argent took third ahead of Beasley.

Race two was the Round the Island race around Bridgemarsh Island, made possible by a favourable wind direction, a long lunch break and an afternoon high water. The fleet rushed into the creek chasing Burrell with much place changing on the offwind leg seeing Roberts pull through to second place behind Burrell who encountered weed on his rudder on the exit of the creek. Having cleared his rudder Burrell stormed up the river, taking the tide free track around the course in the style of a grand prix driver to finish ahead of Allan Bull and Paul Beasley.

Sunday brought bright sunshine and another northerly wind pattern which was to be occasionally bettered by a sea breeze. Uncharacteristically Burrell having lead from the start, headed downriver to the wrong mark, taking following boats including club mate Beasley with him. This opportunity was pounced upon by Rod Thorpe who battled with Simon Elliott to retain the lead to the finish.

Races four and five were held back to back after lunch and made use of the incoming sea breeze to allow a close tacking battle downriver, to be completed by a repetition of a triangular leg off the club. Race four was won by Burrell from Fulcher, whilst this order was reversed for the final race. Prizes were provided by sponsors Lamberts Chartered Surveyors.

Results:

1st 1184 Allen Burrell Thorpe Bay YC 1.0 1.0 7.0 1.0 2.0 5.0
2nd 1193 Neil Fulcher Stone SC 2.0 6.0 8.0 2.0 1.0 11.0
3rd 1186 Simon Elliot Rotherham SC 5.0 4.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 13.0
4th 1202 Paul Beasley Thorpe Bay YC 4.0 3.0 11.0 5.0 3.0 15.0
5th 2 Phil Argent Stone SC 3.0 8.0 9.0 4.0 7.0 22.0
6th 1128 Chris Roberts Creeksea SC 6.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 9.0 24.0
7th 1113 Rod Thorpe Creeksea SC 7.0 11.0 1.0 7.0 10.0 25.0
8th 1200 John Torrance Creeksea SC 10.0 7.0 10.0 6.0 5.0 28.0
9th 1183 Darren Pike Rollesby SC 9.0 10.0 4.0 10.0 6.0 29.0
10th 1198 Alan Bull Haversham SC 12.0 2.0 13.0 9.0 8.0 31.0