Fickle wind inlands

Simon Childs reports on the Phantom class Inlands at Northampton SC

14/15th June saw 27 boats attend the 2003 Phantom Inlands at Northampton S.C., the forecast of sun and little wind proved fairly accurate, with the wind being Force 0-2 and all over the place!

Race 1 saw Simon Childs off to a flier, with a 100 metre lead at the windward mark, Alan Burrell lead the fleet round in second. These two never really escaped and Burrell pulled through the shifts to win followed by Childs and Andy Elliott.

Race 2 was held back to back, and Phil Argent led the fleet away, followed by Lawrence Crispin and Neil Fulcher. The Stone SC trio disappeared to have their own Club race at the front, Crispin pulling away for a comfortable win followed by Argent and Fulcher.

Race 3 was back to back again and the heat was building. The wind disappeared at the start, when normal service resumed Crispin and Argent had pulled away. Crispin led from start to finish winning by miles from Argent. Childs pulled through Elliot and Alan Husk to take a distant third.

Sunday dawned even lighter and warmer. Race 4 saw a shift making crossing the line on starboard impossible. Elliott and Crispin escaped from the port end closely followed by Childs and Husk. While Crispin sailed away again, the following 3 had a good scrap for the minor places, Childs taking second followed by Elliot & Husk.

Race 5 saw Childs trying to prevent total Crispin domination. Childs led at the first mark, Crispin pulled through on the second beat and Childs retook the lead on the triangle. Despite some massive shifts and holes Childs held on to win from Crispin, with Husk and Elliot following.

Lunch saw the wind decreasing and a few of the fleet packing up early, having had enough of the demanding conditions. Childs and Crispin sat out the race, the points gap being almost impossible to close, and both safe in first and second. Third overall was up for grabs, and Elliott, Burrell and Husk had all to play for. Elliot led initially but in a very difficult and close race Richard Pakes eventually drifted away to win easily from Elliott and Ian Howett.

Congratulations to Lawrence Crispin who deservedly won a very tricky 2003 Inlands with a solid display of starting and first beats, making no mistakes after the first race in which he rescued a 6th place from 10th at the last leeward mark, which ultimately proved decisive.

Overall Results:

1st 1118 Lawrence Crispin (Stone) 11pts;
2nd 1120 Simon Childs (Grafham) 13pts;
3rd 1105 Andy Elliott (Rotherham) 19pts;
4th 999 Alan Husk (Creeksea) 23pts;
5th 1128 Alan Burrell (Thorpe Bay) 24pts;
6th 1108 Ian Howett (Haversham) 25pts.