Allen Phantom UK National Championship at Sunderland Yacht Club - Day 2

The trophy table during the Allen Phantom Nationals at Sunderland © Mark Spruce

Or what I did on day TWO of my holidays at Sunderland Yacht Club by Sprucey, age 62.5

It's been an "interesting" day! That's TWO times I've written that in TWO repots now - deja vue? I can only sum things up saying that it's been a day of TWOs, at least for your humble scribe. Why TWOs?

TWO mists - the thick convection fog that stretched down from the Night Watch guarding the North Wall, enveloping the entire coast and city of Sunderland, keeping the 46 boats ashore until the first race start around 1300. The fog was so thick, I swear I heard Cathy calling for Heathcliffe but maybe that was just the ethereal spooks and spectres hovering in the mist or the local pod of dolphins joyously chasing fish?

The second, the brain fog and red mist that enveloped your humble scribe reducing him to toddler tantrums and toys being thrown from his Phantom(I blame poltergeists?) after TWO appallingly bad races! I suspect many others felt the same but being adults were able to control their emotions? Being a mere youngster, it took my customary, late afternoon nap to get me out of my malaise and pick up my toys.

TWO Bullets - for Wales's Ben Dancer, putting him into second overall.

TWO Seconds for Jamie Morgan putting him into first overall - the second time he's occupied that position following his impressive Inland Championship earlier in the season. Can he make it TWO Class Championships in a season?

TWO fantastic finishes from Alan Husk in 905, his beautiful, 34-year-old, concours d'elegance presented Claridge built woody - the oldest boat in the fleet by over TWO decades (tenuous that one?).

Two opportunities for your scribe to earn great wealth & riches. My bookie's Top Ten prediction have proved remarkably accurate with only TWO sailors he didn't predict in the list. Spooky! TWO times I declined to put my hard-earned down.

So, what did happen? Being honest, absolutely no idea! I was TWO (?) far back! I could talk knowledgeably about Race One and the 10-12knots NNE over a 1m swell or the wind reducing to 6-8 knots and backing 30 degrees north over awful left over chop for race TWO before picking up a tad for Race Three but I won't - it brings back painful memories and my care team start to look worried.

Just like milk that splits into TWO parts, the cream have risen to the top and the top five have asserted their dominance.

Well done Jamie Morgan, Ben Dancer, Mark Addison, Harry Briddon and Rob Cook. I'm seriously impressed. The discard is now in play and we have TWO more races tomorrow to fight for the silver ware. It's still wide open.

The Wx FC shows a tad more wind and a, slightly, lower swell but I'm sure we will still have the chop to contend with. Good luck to all the competitors for the last two races - enjoy them!

As always, we rely on our sponsors to run these competitive championships. So, a big hand to...

• Allen Brothers - Manufacturers and suppliers of quality performance sailing hardware.

  We are very proud to have Allen as our headline sponsor this year.

• Ovington Boats - Ovington made most of the boats in the competition - they continue to support our class.
• Optimum Time - Designers and manufacturers of great sailing and sport watches.
• HD Sails - A long-time supporter of the Phantom Class
• P&B - Another long-term supporter of the Phantom Class
• Vaux Brewery & Taproom - Suppliers of great beer to a great class!

Results after Day TWO: