Phantom Open at Rollesby Broad Sailing Club

Phantoms at Rollesby Broad © Henri Miller

A few early arrivers were treated to a takeaway in the club house while watching the sun set over the far side of the broad. Although the ale had not been stood for very long, some quality control pints were drawn from the barrel. Careful evaluation was made to see whether it met the stringent Phantom sailor specifications.

Saturday dawned with early sun becoming hidden behind grey clouds. A gusting, shifting westerly settled in blowing across the broad. Course options being limited, a triangle/sausage was set up with a tight start area to test boat handling in shallow water.

The first race sequence started and I decided I ought to get a capsize out of way before testing the starting area. I just managed to get the boat up and make it behind the line for the gun. Matt House and Daren Pike both got away well to start their battle for the event win. Returning Phantom sailor Rod Thorpe got away to a great start in his first sail out in his brand new James Jarvey built boat. Daren drew first blood taking race win with Matt being pipped at the line by Rod.

Race 2 started cleanly and Daren and Matt both sailed hard and again the fleet stretched out behind them. Matt took the win with Daren second. Nick Favell had a better race and started his run of third places.

With everyone getting to grips with the wind race 3 followed the same pattern and Matt banked another first place against Daren in second.

Phantoms at Rollesby Broad - photo © Henri Miller

The final race on Saturday saw Ian (Windy) Miller have his best result finding his way to the front and keeping Matt at bay all the way to the finish. Daren took a few moments out of his boat to check his hull was looking fast and finished up with a fifth.

With a further two races on Sunday and a discard coming into play, Daren sat three points behind Matt and could still win the event. A similar wind direction to Saturday forced the race team to put the start/finish into the shallow water again and everyone fought for a good position on the line. Both Matt and Daren got away up the first beat with Nick working hard to stay in touch. Matt grabbed another race win and Daren a second.

As the sequence started for the final race of the event, some confused sailors reached up to the first mark and pondered the merits of the race teams changed course. On starting however, Rollesby broad experience from the race team showed as the wind shifted to make the first mark a beat. Unfortunately Matt had made his starting plans based on the reaching leg which allowed Daren to get ahead of him. Daren took the win and finished the event 1 point behind Matt showing how closely contested the first few places were. Nick finished with another third to secure third overall.

Great sailing by all in challenging conditions and good tacking practise for Creeksea in two weeks time.

Overall Results: