Phantom Northern Championships at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
by Ollie Shaw 1 Apr 2014 19:47 NZDT
29-30 March 2014
Ed Thomas wins the Phantom Northern Championship at Leigh & Lowton © Paul Allen
The Phantom North 2014 Championship, sponsored by standardsplus.co.uk, was held at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club on 29 and 30 March.
The first two-day event of the Phantom North 2014 series, Saturday was a breezy day, blowing force 4 to 5 straight down the lake and the Race Team, Paul Allen and Paul Heath, set some really good courses. Positioning the Committee Boat between two fantastic reaches, they were rewarded with some spectacular sailing entertainment – with the photos to prove it!
Ian Sullivan took first place in the first race, followed by Alex Morrison and then Ed Thomas. For the second race, Ian and Ed swopped places keeping Alex in the middle. So the overnight scoreboard saw three helms on equal points, with all to play for on day two. The evening's entertainment was beers, curries, Chinese and watching videos of the day's high speed sailing.
Sunday dawned to a light force 2 and built to force 3 during the day. The sun peeped out from behind the clouds and then stayed all day – after all British Summer Time had (just) begun! The arrival of Andy Couch rearranged the running order as he took three first places, but had to include a DNS to qualify. Alex and Ed battled for second and third place. The regular club racing, ran at the same time, made some interesting navigation and required some quick thinking – "What tack is that boat on?" All part of the fun!
The excellent Race Training provided on Saturday morning before the championship event certainly paid off for Dave Morris, who won the Best Newcomer award. Leigh and Lowton's race coach Dave Eccles coordinated a series of exercises, each building on the previous one.
The next event in the Phantom North 2014 is on 13 April at Royal Windermere Yacht Club.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1342 | Ed Thomas | TB4E.COM | ‑3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 2nd | 1344 | Alex Morrison | LLSC | 2 | 2 | ‑5 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 3rd | 1404 | Ian Sullivan | Northampton | 1 | 3 | (DNC) | 7 | 5 | 16 |
| 4th | 1345 | Andy Couch | | (DNC) | DNC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 5th | 1432 | Matthew House | Royal Harwich | 4 | 6 | ‑9 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| 6th | 1390 | Richard Sims | Carsington | 5 | 4 | 3 | 9 | (DNC) | 21 |
| 7th | 1296 | Dave Morris | Glossop | 9 | 7 | ‑10 | 6 | 6 | 28 |
| 8th | 1111 | Ollie Shaw | LLSC | 6 | 5 | 8 | ‑11 | 10 | 29 |
| 9th | 1175 | Matt Harris | | (DNC) | DNC | 4 | 5 | 7 | 31 |
| 10th | 1131 | Mark Dingsdale | LLSC | 8 | 8 | 7 | ‑10 | 8 | 31 |
| 11th | 1161 | Ian Smith | Yorkshire Dales | 10 | 9 | ‑11 | 8 | 9 | 36 |
| 12th | 1416 | Gary Stevenson | | 7 | (DNC) | 6 | 12 | DNC | 40 |
| 13th | 1341 | Ronnie Goss | Burwain | (DNC) | DNC | 12 | 13 | DNC | 55 |
| 14th | 1154 | Dave Kelsall | LLSC | DNF | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 57 |
"Best Newcomer" - Dave Morris
"Next Best Newcomer" – Matt Harris
Best over 40 – Mark Dingsdale
Best over 50 – Matt House
Best over 60 – Ian Smith