Allen Brothers Phantom National Championship at Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club - Day 1
by Simon Hawkes 7 Sep 2018 20:47 BST
7-9 September 2018
55 Phantoms were entered for this year's championship at Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club, with 53 making it to the line for the 2 starts today. The sun shone brightly with a reported 17 knots expected on the race course.
Both races got away cleanly, held back by the remains of the ebbing tide but there was more wind than reported with an average 15 knots topping at gusts of 25 knots. This created a short, steep chop, which proved challenging for some especially the pondies and some of the sea sailors who were a bit rusty. Sausage-triangle courses were sailed for both races.
The breeze took a few casualties notably Harry Briddon, who had a mast failure, and Olly Hopkins who lost the end of his tiller extension, both in race 2. For Harry this was a disaster after winning race 1.
Ian Stone deservedly lying in second place overnight after terminal boat breakages last year put paid to a promising championship, and returning champion from a long time ago Tyler Harmsworth still has it what ever it is turning in at fifth overnight.
Obviously a day for the substantial sailors with possibly less wind tomorrow for the less substantial. This evening a sale of Phantom bits for man caves across the country. A proportion of the proceeds will go to the club youth sailing charity.
The fleet are racing for many prizes donated by their generous sponsors which are: Allen Brothers, Coastwatersports, P&B, Ovington Boats, Adnams, Vicky's Embroidery Services, Exe Sails. Thank you to them all.
Full day 1 results [PDF] can be seen here.