Phantom Northern Series Open at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

Three visitors joined two boats from the home club for the Northern Series Phantom Open at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club on Sunday 6th July. This was the third event in the Northern Series and was once again shared with the Solos for their Northern Area Championship.

The forecast was for light winds with a little rain in the morning, but for fresher winds and broken clouds later in the day. The predominantly Westerly wind direction, with a bit of Northerly in there too, coupled with a low water level meant that picking the shifts and finding the pressure would be the "order of the day".

The format for the event was for 1 race in the morning, followed by lunch and then a further 2 back-to back in the afternoon, with 2 out of 3 to count, with the Phantoms starting first each time. The form book was all about whether or not John Harrison from Rudyard Lake would continue his fine form from Northampton at the end of April, or whether the 2x Andy's would repeat their good sequences of results from the year's events so far. Mention must also go to James Brown from Tynemouth who is a recent recruit to the fleet and was competing in his maiden Phantom event.

Race 1: a starboard biased line and the Smith brothers, Andy & Dave from the home club, were initially well away but a couple of good shifts towards the end of the first beat allowed both John Harrison and Andy Pyett to pull through with Andy P narrowly leading from John and Andy S at the windward mark. Andy S sailed low on the first reach and caught Andy P up by the end of the first reach and then took a narrow lead on the 2nd beat, only for John to take pass both Andy's and establish a comfortable lead which he held to the finish. Andy P kept nibbling away at Andy S's transom but was never quite able to get close enough to trouble him and had to settle for 3rd with Dave and James bringing up the rear.

Race 2 after lunch was held on the same course - but this time there was a good port bias on the line. This resulted in 3 of the 5 boats being over (well done to John & James for not being on the naughty step). Andy S was quickest to re-start and was only just behind John at the windward mark with Andy P languishing at the back of the pack. By the start of the 2nd lap, Andy P was back in touch with the leaders when John's gooseneck fitting on the boom decided to part company with the boom itself, so it was unfortunately an early shower for him. This was a real shame as he and the 2 Andy's were having a cracking race, never more than 5-10 boat lengths between them with every shift and gust being crucial. After John's departure, Andy P held off all challenges from Andy S with Dave and James each moving up a place on the scoreboard.

Into Race 3, a new course and a good line with more than a hint of bias. Andy S won the pin end, held his starboard tack to the shore and once tacked was 50 yards to windward of Andy P with Dave a further 20 or so yards down. Imagine his surprise (and frustration...) then, when his "little brother" tacked on a huge shift and proceeded to be first round the windward mark with Andy S 2nd and Andy P in 3rd. At the first leeward mark, Dave was somewhat unprepared for a big gust and forfeited the lead to his elder brother (and also 2nd place to Andy P). At the 2nd leeward mark, Andy P got his bearings all wrong and tried rounding the wrong way, thereby giving the other Andy a healthy lead. And whilst he was able to close the gap on each downwind leg, he couldn't ever get quite close enough and Andy S was able to dominate the beats for the last lap and a half - tacking on the shifts, always being first into new pressure and thereby consolidating his position.

So Andy S took the win and 1st place overall - his first open meeting win for 9 years. Andy P was 2nd overall and Dave finished in 3rd place overall (probably in part to John's demise - but heh, you always have to get the scores on the doors..).

Thanks go to the race team of Adam McGovern and Richard Long for running an excellent event, ably assisted by Julian Parry & Sally Townend in the lead boat and Graham Booth in the safety boat. Also thanks to Christine Heywood for running the galley and Mike Smith (yes there are 3x Smith brothers at Hollingworth...!!) for coordinating the whole event and for presenting the prizes in his capacity as Vice Commodore.

The next couple of events on the Phantom calendar are sea events at Castle Cove this coming weekend (12th/13th July) which is part of the SW Series and then at Lee-on-Solent the following weekend (19th/20th July) which is part of the South East Series. There is also a training day on Friday 18th, hosted by the legend that is Simon Hawkes.

The next, and final, event of the Northern Series is at Bassenthwaite (at the end of Bass Week) on the weekend of 9th/10th August. The Association Committee looks forward to seeing many of the fleet at these events as we start the countdown to our National Championships sponsored by GOAT Marine from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st September hosted by Hooe Point Sailing Club in Plymouth.

Overall Results: