Phantom Open at Broadstairs Sailing Club
by Tony Cook 23 Jun 23:19 PDT
19-20 June 2021
Phantoms lined up on the beach at Broadstairs © Anna Cook
Five visitors joined the four home boats for the club’s first Phantom Open with five races over two days.
The briefing by Race Officer, Peter Hall, explained we would be starting off the club line with a twist, flag and sound signal from the square head and a line set by the patrol boat to give a true line. What could go wrong with the two well-known Contender helms in charge, Pete “nobbler” Noble and “dangerous” Dave Adams!
Race one, Olympic course, beat, run, triangle was set, 7 – 8 mph breeze from the north. The first race was close with everyone finishing within 2 minutes of the leader, Paddy Denby. Race 2 was in similar conditions with John Wayling taking the lead and Paddy Denby in hot pursuit.
Saturday all done, we came ashore to cold beers supplied by the home fleet, very nice touch that got the evening off to a great start, followed by more beer and takeaway burgers thanks to Tim Denby.
Sunday, 10.30 start was not looking good, rain, no wind and the lifeguard tannoy announcement of “do not swim in the water, polluted”, not that we wanted to swim anyway. The rain stopped and wind forecast SW, 8 – 10mph arrived. The fleet headed out for an 11 o’clock start only for the wind to swing to the North 6 – 8mph.
Race 3 went underway seeing John Wayling battling for the lead with Tim Denby, followed by Chris Shelton chasing hard for 3rd place. Race 4 was again close, with Chris Shelton picking a good shift on the right hand side to overhaul John Wayling who was heard shouting “I’ve weed on my rudder” he could not however, be caught by Tim Denby who was in hot pursuit. Race 5 was a close fought battle between the top 3, line honours went to John Wayling with Chris Shelton and Tim Denby 2nd and 3rd. The rest of the fleet had close racing all weekend.
Overall a great weekend’s racing hosted by a friendly club in a great location.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail no | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1385 | John Wayling | North’ton | ‑3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 1473 | Chris Shelton | Downs | 2 | ‑3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 1430 | Tim Denby | Broadstairs | ‑4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 1318 | Dave Patrick | Broadwater | 6 | ‑7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 19 |
| 5 | 1364 | Tony Cook | Downs | ‑7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| 6 | 1245 | Paddy Denby | Broadstairs | 1 | 2 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 23 |
| 7 | 1441 | Stuart Jarvis | Broadstairs | ‑8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 27 |
| 8 | 1465 | Gordon Kingston‑Minnis | LOSSC | 5 | DNF | DNC | DNC | 10nc | 30 |
| 9 | 1193 | Tom Field‑Stevens | Broadstairs | (DNC) | DNC | 6 | 7 | 7 | 30 |
