Phantom Midland Circuit at Bartley Sailing Club
by Andy Bownes 20 Sep 2016 15:43 BST
18 September 2016
Phantoms at Bartley © Jeremy Shinton
Sunday 18th September saw Bartley Sailing Club play host to a round of the Phantom Midland Circuit. Sailors were greeted by a gentle force 1-2 straight down the lake which disappeared to nothing as the sun broke though by the 11.00 start, so postponed we were, and trusting in our all-wise in such matters, Ood Howard Eeles assured us wind would appear, we continued to prepare.
Within half an hour we were on the water and racing in a shifty up and down, patchy wind. Roger Hopper and Andy Bownes let at the top bouy, but many changes were made by just about everyone until Bownes 1170, managed to sneak away from the rest of the fleet and won well from Jim Hopton1400 and Neil Bonham in 3rd.
Lunch was taken as the forecast was for more wind pm, and it dually arrived, although even harder to fathom, left or right? Jim Hopton won this race well after getting a couple of those shifts very right on a couple of beats, but had to hold off Neil Bonham who sailed brilliantly for 2nd and Andy B managed to pass Roger Hopper down the last run to make it to 3rd.
Race 3 and three helms could still win the meeting. Hopton and Bownes went up the beat on opposite sides of the lake and rounded one and two, Hopton leading, with Bonham 3rd. The first two attacking each other downwind but it let the rest of the fleet in. Bonham lead then Hopper, but up the next beat Bownes managed to regain the lead, but again under pressure from the very experienced Bonham, until the last beat where he managed to find another gear and opened up a big enough lead to go on and win the race and 1st overall. Bonham took 2nd but third overall, and Hopton 3rd but 2nd overall.
Congratulations must go to our race team, Howard Eales and Sam Knight, who got the courses very right, despite of the conditions. To those who chose not to travel you missed a challenging and very competitive sailing day.
Overall Results:
1st 1170 Andy Bownes (Bartley)
2nd 1400 Jim Hopton (Shustoke)
3rd 1208 Neil Bonham (Bartley)
4th 1428 Roger Hopper (Bartley)
5th 1036 Matt Skinner (Bartley)
6th 1356 Graham Blackwell (Bartley)