Phantoms in the Ovington Inlands at Grafham Water Sailing Club

A game of two halves, four seasons over the weekend, don't count your chickens until they've hatched, the cream rises to the top and always do an 'SCA' (never give in....). I could continue to pull every sports cliché out of the bag to describe this event but ultimately its simple to describe the weekend as a fantastic way to round off the 2014 Phantom calendar.

18 helms descended on Grafham Water to join the other Ovington Boats built fleets to find a 'healthy' breeze of about 18kts and a few choice gusts reaching into the thirties. It was one of those days when you find out that you've forgotten to replace that worn control line, or that you haven't put you rudder on correctly and end up upside down before you even start racing (don't worry Pete Shuttleworth I won't tell anybody it was you...) but when you do get going the racing was fast, furious, fun and exciting reminding everybody just why they chose the Phantom.

The fleet were joined by ex-national champion Laurence Crispin and North Sails' Jamie Lea both returning to the fleet in borrowed boats but still demonstrating that they were still on the pace. They weren't going to get it their own way as circuit regulars John Wayling, Ian Miller, Will Gulliver and Ian Sullivan along with many fresh faces all showed why the boats are so competitive. Unfortunately for some the position of the top mark, in the lee of some trees, extenuated the gusts providing several an opportunity to inspect their centreboard.

Race one set the tone for the day with hard beats and screaming reaches that pushed boat handling to the limit and gave grins from ear to ear. The race was won by Will Gulliver who had shown a clean transom to the fleet even having enough of a lead to do a triangle when the course was a sausage. I'm sure he's getting himself a waterproof pen for Christmas so he can write the course down next season. Jamie finished second and Laurence third.

Unfortunately for Ian Sullivan he wasn't watching the technique for getting back into his boat well enough as that was a skill he was going to need going into the final gybe whilst clear in fourth.

A note to self: Concentrate on your boat handling rather than counting chickens as it gives those that keep going to the last an opportunity to get to the Cape Town finish ahead of you.

Races Two and Three followed in a similar pattern with the same first three ahead of those that had managed to stay upright or were quick to recover. With another race to go the weather closed in and for those still on the water the call was given to get to shore before the torrential rain and close to 40kt wind reached the fleet. Safely ashore the grins remained long into the night from an exciting days sailing and the fleet set to demolishing the clubs rum supplies.

Sunday dawned to the complete contrast from the day before with mirrored water punctuated with zephyrs of wind that the fleet ashore hoped would fill the lake. Race Four started a little late with the fleet looking for the minutest puffs of wind. This writer wasn't close enough to the action but he understands that Will thought he was away again only for Jamie to track him down ¾ of the way round to take the win from him and John.

The result was good enough to sort the top two positions overall but with the breeze building to a steady 6kts everybody stayed out and was won by Jamie who led from start to finish and enjoyed by all especially as the sun came out for a while.

So the curtain fell on the weekend and Will Gulliver had done enough in the breeze to take the title from Jamie Lea by a single point. The ever consistent John Wayling was third and Jim Hopton fourth. Fifth, sixth and seventh all tied on the same points demonstrating the robust qualities of the boat and helms given the varied conditions over the weekend.

The fleet would like to thank Ovington Boats for their continued support throughout the year and look forward to returning next year as the events a fantastic way to close out the season.

Roll on next year.

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Overall Results: