P&B Phantom Midlands Traveller Series - Overall

P&B Phantom Midlands Traveller Series trophy © Mike Webster

The Phantom Midlands Series has drawn to a close with the final event of being hosted by Grafham Water Sailing Club. A lower than expected turnout possibly due to the shocking forecast of 38knt gusts and the England's Rugby World Cup semi-final match against the All Blacks!

Despite this, Phantoms travelled from far and wide and were treated to two full days of back-to-back racing as part of the Ovington Winter Championships, racing in much better conditions than were predicted.

Overall podium places were awarded to: Martin Watts of Netley SC in first, Alister Morely of Salcombe YC in second, and Richard Sims of Carsington SC in third.

The P&B Midlands Series as a whole was made up of five events: Northampton SC (Inland Championships), Carsington SC, Shustoke SC, Blithfield SC and Grafham Water SC. Our thanks to each of these clubs for hosting the Phantom events, all of which were well organized, friendly and welcoming.

With a total entry 33 boats spread across 19 clubs it has been a reasonable start to reigniting Phantom Sailing in the Midlands after a gap of several years.

There were notably some consistent travellers attending most of the events, but clearly room for improvement in 2020 to attract more 'club' sailors and encourage them to hitch up their boats and venture forth !

The racing has been competitive with venues being centralized to try and reduce long journey times for midlands sailors. It was great to see people from other regions taking part and enjoying the friendly atmosphere.

Jim Hopton wins the P&B Phantom Midlands Traveller Series 2019 - photo © Paul Gibbins

Congratulations go to the 2019 series winner - Jim Hopton from Shustoke SC who sailed consistently well and will receive the Midlands Series Trophy.

Our thanks go to P&B the sponsors for the series who provided some great prizes for each event and continue to support the Phantom Class.

In addition to the event prizes and in an attempt to encourage more travelling Phantoms, P&B provided a 'Golden Ticket' series raffle prize of a mast bag. Every sailor at each event received a 'vitual' raffle ticket - the more events entered the more tickets they received! Drawn out of the hat, winning ticket 1447 - Richard Sims. Congratulations Richard and many thanks to P&B for their generosity.

With the 2019 season coming to a close thoughts are already being made towards next seasons series. So if you would like your club to be considered for the 2020 Midlands Series contact Mike Webster - Midlands Area Representative via www.phantomclass.org.uk

Overall Series Results: