Phantom SE Travellers Series at Broadwater Sailing Club

by Chris Shelton 11 Oct 2023 07:28 BST 7 October 2023

Broadwater Sailing Club hosted the final round of the 2023 Phantom South East Traveller Series on Saturday 7th October. The weather was unseasonably warm with a south westerly wind which varied between 3 and 8 mph. Eight visitors joined seven boats from the home fleet to give a total of fifteen boats on the water.

The races were started from a rather short line set between one of the club pontoons and the adjacent island. Getting a good start and mastering the first short beat tended to be critical and a lot of the time it was the boat that was first round the windward mark that went on to win the race. For Race 1 this was Bill Taylor who went on to finish a good way ahead of the fleet. Local sailor Jeremy Deacon was second and Chris Shelton third.

In Race 2 it was Jim Hopton's turn to get the first beat right and sail away from the rest of the fleet. The wind had dropped slightly for this race and was proving to be very shifty in places and this, together with the wind shadows behind the islands resulted in various place changes during the race. Local knowledge must have paid off, as at the finish it was Jeremy Deacon in second place again and Brian Deacon third.

Race 3 was sailed in very similar conditions to Race 2, and the result was similar. Jim Hopton was again first, Jeremy Deacon second and another Broadwater boat, Tim Davies, third.

The wind had increased slightly for the final race and this time it was Jeremy Deacon first around the windward closely followed by Chris Shelton. These two places remained the same until the finish. Further behind, Bill Taylor was obviously getting too hot and decided to fall out of his boat to cool down. Meanwhile, after a poor first beat, Jim Hopton was working his way through the fleet to eventually finish third.

When the points were tallied up, there was a tie for the first two places, but on count-back the winner was Jeremy Deacon. The organisation by Broadwater SC was impeccable and all competitors enjoyed a sandwich tea before travelling home.

Overall Results:

Position	Sail	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	1423	Jeremy Deacon	Broadwater SC	‑2	2	2	1
2	1492	Jim Hopton	Shustoke SC	‑5	1	1	3
3	1273	Bill Taylor	Creeksea SC	1	8	4	RTD
4	1406	Tim Davies	Broadwater SC	‑8	7	3	4
5	1491	Chris Shelton	Downs SC	3	‑14	11	2
7	1243	Brian Deacon	Broadwater SC	‑11	3	6	9
6	1303	Dave Patrick	Broadwater SC	4	6	8	‑10
8	1347	Brian Webly	Shustoke SC	6	5	7	‑12
9	1446	Richard Cumberbatch	Castle Cove SC	10	4	‑13	5
10	1379	Stephen Swinchatt	Broadwater SC	‑13	9	9	6
11	1471	Alastair Paterson	Upper Thames SC	12	‑13	5	8
12	1183	Les Smith	Broadwater SC	7	‑15	14	7
13	1389	Bob Yates	Upper Thames SC	‑15	10	10	11
14	1392	Hilgard Muller	Broadwater SC	14	11	12	RTD
15	1342	Mark Spruce	Lee On Solent SC	9	12	R	DNS