Phantom Class Eastern Region 2016 Round-Up

by Chris Roberts 14 Dec 2016 10:28 GMT 14 December 2016

With the year now drawing to a close plans are being made for next year's events to build upon the popularity of the Phantom in the Eastern Area. Here's a review of the year...

Forty boats competed in the series which was restricted to four events at Fishers Green, Creeksea, Stone and Alton Water with the Area Championship being held at Royal Harwich Yacht Club as a separate event.

The season kicked off in April with a visit to Fishers Green. The change of date to earlier in the year dealt with the previous years issues with weed and Matt House won from Nick Yannakoyorges in a fleet of nine boats. A light forecast had deterred a number of competitors but conditions proved to be ideal and showed how much attention should be paid to some forecasts.

The Eastern Area Championships were held earlier in the season than usual in order to get the best tide at Royal Harwich Yacht Club. Despite an ominous looking forecast the fleet of 10 boats found conditions that were sailable but what several sailors described as "challenging". The event was won by John Wayling from Matt House and Paul Church.

The next series event was held at Creeksea in June and saw a great entry of 28 boats. The racing was as close as usual and it was great to see several helms returning to the class and showing that they hadn't forgotten much of the techniques required to sail a Phantom fast. This however did not stop John Wayling from Northampton again winning at his favourite venue and stamping his authority on the fleet. It wasn't all his own way though as several sailors showed their potential including Paul Church, Chris Roberts and Phil Longley each recording race wins.

After a break the class moved on to Stone in August and it is fair to say that Northampton Sailing Club dominated the event with 2015 National Champion Will Gulliver beating club mate John Wayling in a fleet of 15 boats. Paul Church was in the running though with a third place ahead of local hero Phil Longley and "new boy" Roger Smith from Creeksea attending his first open meeting in the class.

The final event at Alton Water took place in October and it looked like the series would be decided between Paul Church and John Wayling. The fleet of 23 boats enjoyed a great weekends sailing with an initial training session of sprint races on Saturday being a useful introduction to a few more new members of the class.

The weekend was won by John "Titch" Wayling with Church having only managed a fourth behind Adrian Coatsworth (returning to the class in a borrowed boat), and Matt House. Nick Favell took a fifth place and as a consequence had the honour of writing the report.

The overall series therefore went to John Wayling and his victory was warmly applauded by the fleet at the subsequent prizegiving.

In second place was Paul Church who looks to be thoroughly enjoying his return to the class and is managing to put on a brave face whenever ribbed about his ex-champion status. Once a champion, always a champion it seems and definitely one to watch next year.

The series is being extended next year with six events planned and four to count. The first event is a however the Eastern Area Winter Championship which will be run as part of the Icicle Race held at Harlow Blackwater Sailing Club on 14th January – always a popular Phantom Class event. Video footage is being recorded at the event for promotional purposes and it is expected that sailors will be flaunting their new Christmas gift apparel to look their best.

Another first is the introduction of a new combined area event in conjunction with the Southern Region at Island Barn on 25th March. As well as combining areas in a friendly clash the fleet will be sailing in conjunction with the RS Aero fleet as the club viewing the two classes as being complementary to each other in covering the full weight spectrum for singlehanded sailing.

The fleet will also be returning to its roots with a visit planned to Oulton Broad.

The full list of events will be published shortly and includes a number of Saturday events to attract those that are unable to commit to full weekends.