One day Nationals

The Phantom fleet experienced tough conditions at their National Championship in Felixstowe

62 sailors arrived at Felixstowe Ferry Sailing club looking forward to another excellent Phantom UK National Championship. However, as the country was submerged in another deluge and events all over were blown off the first two days were lost to a dangerous sea state and high wind.

The host sailing club did an excellent job of amusing and feeding the very bored sailors, with a rowing machine competition and golf driving among the activities. An excellent BBQ and curry on Thursday evening followed by another BBQ Friday night and a sit down meal on Saturday kept the sailors fuelled up.

42 sailors had remained to try on the last day and the fleet arrived at the start area with a force two blowing from the south west.

The tide running against the fleet was not enough to hold them back after two frustrating days and the PRO adjudged them to be over the starboard biased line. The next attempt was immediately under the black flag and the fleet managed to get away with a few casualties. The lead changed a number of times throughout the race and Will Gulliver did his best to throw away the win by setting off up the beat of a three lap race for a fourth time.

Newbie Phantom sailor Jim Hunt spotted his mistake and went for the line. Gulliver managed to hold on, though, and took the win from Hunt, who in turn was just ahead of last year's champion Andy Couch in third. Andy Davies came home in fourth while Chris Turner rounded out the top five.

The end of race one saw an increase in the wind speed, coupled with a shift further to the west. This combination saw the start of race two take place in a solid breeze with significant port bias on the startline seeing most of the contender’s get off without a hitch. However, many lower down the fleet had to bail out and go round the ends.

At the top of the second beat Crispin caught himself a lobster pot but managed to unhitch and take the win. Gulliver was also in the mix but caught the windward mark losing many places. Hunt had a steady second with Neil Fulcher powering through into third after the wind increase and a great start.

Race three saw yet more wind and a shift back toward the south west. Once again there was port bias on the line and this time with the change in the tide pushing the boats towards the pin a few of the main contenders got into trouble.

The windward mark saw Couch leading, closely followed by Davies and Crispin who were joined by John Wayling, Chris turner and Henry Ayres. Crispin had a rare lapse at the wing mark, capsizing and never recovered. More wind on the final run saw some interesting moments for Turner, sailing the Phantom Nationals for the first time and the finishing order after some screaming and wet reaches was Couch, Davies, Ayres, Turner and Wayling.

At this point the PRO had managed to complete a three race series and thus the nationals but one more race was advertised and he decided to go for it. The breeze was now a solid force four to five and waves were building.

This final race saw another port biased line and more wind and tide carnage ensued. Ayres' late charge ended on the line when he was taken out by another boat. However, the other main contenders got away though. Gulliver led in the lively conditions until once again gear failure ended his championships. Several wipe outs left Hunt in the lead and good seamanship (tacking at the gybe mark) saw him take the win as the conditions got really wild. Crispin took second, Couch third, Davies fourth and Fulcher fifth.

So the overall winner of the Phantom National Championships was Jim Hunt. In his acceptance speech he thanked the race team who had had to work hard to get four races in. The galley, bar and club members for their hospitality and for keeping us amused whilst we waited for conditions to abate. He also said he would be back next year to defend and hinted that he felt the same as most in the audience that next year’s championship is going to be an epic contest with any number of sailors that could take it.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1	Jim Hunt	Sutton	2	2	-7	1	12	5
2	Andy Couch	Blithfield	3	-4	1	3	11	7
3	Andy Davies	Chase	4	-5	2	4	15	10
4	Lawrence Crispin	Stone	(63.0 DSQ)	1	8	2	74	11
5	Chris Turner	Tynemouth	5	-13	4	8	30	17
6	Simon Housin?	Lyme Regis	7	8	6	(63.0 DNF)	84	21
7	Neil Fulcher	Stone	-20	3	14	5	42	22
8	Henry Ayres	West Oxford	(63.0 DSQ)	7	3	16	89	26
9	Pete Evans	Rudyard Lake	15	6	9	(63.0 DNF)	93	30
10	Simon Cowood	Northampton	8	-16	12	10	46	30