Ovington Boats Phantom Nationals at Shoreham Sailing Club

Phantom nationals at Shoreham day 3 © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

Phantom nationals at Shoreham day 3 © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

The 2013 Ovington Boats Phantom Nationals was held over the long weekend of 6th to 8th September at Shoreham Sailing Club, near Brighton. Although it was a long weekend several Phantomers decided to arrive on the Wednesday to get some practice and boat tuning in before the mass arrived on Friday morning, Thursday was a day for Bimbling and a short sail to work up a thirst, over ½ the fleet had arrived for the Thursday night "Take-away", on Friday morning registration was completed without any fuss and the briefing was held on time. 48 eager sailors set out to sea, some for the first time to discover what Shoreham waves were really like.

As expected the start of race one was a general recall and the real start was under the black flag, with the tide pushing the fleet hard on the line they did well with nobody OCS. Sailing Course A, Triangle Sausage, The first beat was hard fought and the waves seemed fairly big, bigger ones were to arrive tomorrow, several people were caught out when bearing away to discover the acceleration off the tops of the swell, on the second reach the downhill sailing got even more challenging, by the second beat the usual suspects were appearing at the front and the order for the first race was, Couch, Cumbley, Wilde, Harmsworth & Orman.

Race 2 – Course B, Windward Leeward – Another challenging start but under the blue peter and they were away 1st time, the wind over tide was making for more interesting sailing, challenging the boat handling skills of everybody, by the time the line came up Couch was stamping his authority on the event with Cumbley wishing he had "ate more pies", Gulliver came in 3rd followed by Wilde & Orman.

With a hard day on the sea the competitors returned to shore to be met by a nice cold beer on the top of the slipway, The Saturday night buffet provided by the sponsors was consumed along with many pints which made the AGM pass really quickly, some southern softies retired for the night while the Eastern Buoys kept the bar staff up...

Saturday morning dawned with the howling of shrouds and quite some sea running, Race 3 was held with wind with the tide and on Course A – The waves were now at Shoreham standard, bigger than Friday and with the tide due to turn in about half an hour was only going to get more interesting, it reminded me of the race officers comment on the radio before we went out which was; "The waves are quite big, you will no doubt go faster than you have ever done before in your Phantom, although it may not be for very long!", how right was he?

So by the time half the fleet had capsized, recovered and sailed onto the finish the order was Couch, Cumbley, Turner, Wilde & Gulliver. The fleet returned to the harbour for some respite and AP was flow while the sponsor's beer was readily accepted after the haul up the slipway. The Saturday night Sponsored "Hog Roast" and "Brighton Blond" went down really well relieving the tired legs and aiding the recovery process, with race 4 binned and race's 5, 6 & 7 planned for Sunday.

Sunday dawned with no wind, but the PRO insisted we set off, also with the promise his burgee which only points SW F4 will be working by the time we get out there. He was right again.

Race 5 on Course A was an easy start with Wind and Tide working together, the port end flyer, Sullivan, crossed the fleet with boat lengths to spare... The wind had arrived as promised and the sailing was fantastic, a nice F4, although it was being encouraged by squalls at times, the order changed around but by the finish Couch, Cumbley, Wilde, Turner & Dawson was the order.

Race 6 was more of the same with the eventual finishing order being the same as the final results, Couch, Cumbley, Turner, Wilde & Harmsworth.

Race 7, Some of the fleet decided it was quite enough sailing, including Couch who had "done the job" so the line was less crowded, the waves though were now starting to build and the F4-5 was making some nice waves now we were used to them! Cumbley, Wilde, Hawkes Oh and me along with others who should know better set off on Couse B, Wilde claimed he couldn't see the wing mark, I was just so pleased to be in the top 5, I was only going to look forward down the waves, If only I had looked back to see the rest of the fleet reaching off on Course A...

Recovery from a leeward rounding in 3rd missing out the wing mark meant an early shower for about 6 of us... The sensible ones sailed onto the finish and the line order was, Turner, Harmsworth, Heusen, Sims & Holden.

So we all had a great time, Free Beer, a hearty breakfast every morning and evening meals all provided by our generous sponsors, Ovington and Seabrook Developments, Shoreham sailing club team organisers, Lisa & Bill Whitney did a great job, the results were out in quick time thanks to Martin Walker and Alan Chaplain's PRO experience really showed, including the ability to sit on that Committee boat in those waves!!

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Phantom nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

1st Two Score Bowl, Chris Turner (Tynemouth YC)
1st Half Tonn Cup, Simon Hawkes (Wimbleball)
1st 3 Score, 1418 Tony Fastnedge (Lyme Regis Sailing Club)
1st Under 21, 1201 Martin Mills (Hunts SC)

Phantom nationals at Shoreham day 3 - photo © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com