Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Sailing Club Beach Regatta

Gt. Yarmouth & Gorleston Beach Regatta © Tamsin Highfield

This year Gt. Yarmouth & Gorleston S.C.'s Beach Regatta incorporated a Phantom open meeting and 7 Phantoms joined the 14 boat Regatta fleet for some tough but exciting North Sea sailing on the weekend of 1st-2nd June.

Saturday was grey and chilly with a northerly breeze. Three races were sailed that afternoon and all the windward legs were against a strong tide, making life hard for the hiking boats, including the Phantoms. The first Phantom race saw local sailors Ben Falat and Nick Favell having a real tussle with Ian Sullivan from Northampton for line honours and this set the pattern for the weekend. Falat took the win with Favell just ahead of Sullivan. In race 2 Sullivan held the lead for three laps but on the final beat to the finish Falat managed to close right up and at the line it was a dead heat! The final Phantom race of the day again saw Falat in the lead but he had a near disaster on the last lap when the U-bolt holding his shroud to the deck broke! Fortunately it twisted in such a way that the shroud didn't come adrift and he managed to complete the race and finish just ahead of Favell who was catching up fast.

Meanwhile in the Regatta races, the trapeze boats were finding the long upwind legs to their liking and in particular the Hobie Tiger cat of Steve Shaw and club Commodore Ed Anderson was really flying round the course, so much so that it held its 3 first places on handicap despite the best efforts of the chasing RS500s.

The weather was bright and sunny on Sunday but the wind was still out of the north and a good deal stronger than expected. The first race for each fleet was held with wind against tide which, while helping boats get to the windward mark, kicked up some good waves for the downwind legs. Having repaired his boat, Falat gained 2 more wins in the Phantoms and so was the clear winner overall. Sullivan and Favell each gained another 2nd and 3rd and so in the end Favell took 2nd place overall by the narrow margin of half a point!

In the Regatta fleet Shaw and Anderson were again out in front but the rough sea was causing problems for some. Several boats capsized and gradually the fleet got smaller as boats headed ashore. With conditions continuing to worsen the race officer shortened the second race of the day and the third race was cancelled. With handicaps worked out, Dave Houghton and John Symonds in their RS500 were declared the winners of the day's two races but Shaw and Anderson had done enough to take overall victory with Houghton and Symonds 2nd and Phil Alison 3rd in his Contender on equal points with Richard Brown and Isabel Barham Brown in their RS400.

Phantom Results: