Phantom Eastern Series Finale at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club
by Bill Taylor 28 Oct 12:24 PDT
26-27 October 2024
Phantom Eastern Series finale at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club © Ian Hill
The Phantom Eastern Series has been well attended all season and this weekend proved no different. Fifteen helms made their way to the Norfolk / Suffolk border for the Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club two day Phantom open.
Such was the anticipation for the final Eastern event of the year, half the fleet turned up on Friday afternoon and two of the fleet even managed a sail out on the Broad and up the river, returning tuned and ready for racing.
Saturday morning briefing was held in the clubhouse, with local Phantom legend Ben Falat ensuring the fleet was sufficiently fuelled for the day ahead with tea, cakes and bananas for athletes. It was a family affair, Veronica Falat, our race officer for the weekend, made sure everyone understood the procedure for the races, courses and count down sequence. Everything was running to plan less for one thing - the wind didn't show. The forecast for the weekend was light winds and it was exactly that on Saturday morning with all but a gentle zephyr dancing on the surface of the Broad. The fleet were keen, got changed into their kit and just about to launch for the first race when the wind evaporated, leaving more time for chat, tea and cakes! The fickle breeze did not return, and the decision was made to postpone racing for the day and instead hold three races on the Sunday with no discards. A 9:20am start time for the extra race was agreed to make use of the clocks going back and to allow the fleet to stay in synch with club racing and the published schedule.
On Sunday morning, the fleet were happy to see a little wind blowing down the broad, possibly up to 5 to 6 knots at times, though looking very shifty with it. The committee and support boats launched, followed closely by the fleet and the first race was away cleanly, less for some keen jockeying at the committee boat end. Class veteran Graham Dale-Jones was off like a scolded cat on a port tack flyer, no-one could stop him from rounding the windward mark first by 10 boat lengths with Bob Portway 2nd and Matt House 3rd to round. Snakes and ladders will be mentioned quite a bit in this report, and unfortunately Dale-Jones found one of these snakes on the downwind leg being overtaken by Portway and House before the leeward mark. On the beat to windward, House managed to get on a ladder and pass Portway, Bill Taylor saw the same ladder and jumped on to pull himself through to finish in 3rd, Portway ended 2nd and House holding on to take 1st.
At the start of race 2, the Broad was getting busy as local boats took to the water for their end of season regatta, a fleet of all shapes and sizes. The Phantoms had their own start and race 2 got under way, with Dale-Jones again showing the way to the windward mark on a ladder, but unfortunately falling foul of snake down wind and over hauled by Portway, with House and the rest of the fleet in hot pursuit. Due to the challenging conditions, there were lead changes a plenty with many of the fleet enjoying a moment of glory, but throughout it all, class acts House and Portway found their to the front and enjoyed a good battle along the way. Portway prevailed to take the win, with House second and Crickmore making an appearance on the podium in third. It was all to play for in the 3rd race with Portway and House now tied on points for the lead.
The third race got away promptly as the light breeze began to fade, this time Eric Howe showed the way to the windward mark closely followed by Portway. Howe found a snake on the downwind leg and was passed by Portway. Richard Nurse found top gear in the last race to finish 2nd behind Portway and an always fast Dave Patrick finished in 3rd. The fact that Portway had only competed in one other open at the beginning of the year, made his event win even more impressive. House finished 2nd with Taylor completing the podium in 3rd. Ben Falat was master of ceremonies for the prize-giving and also awarded Rich Nurse the Eastern Series overall win and the converted "Phantoms in a bottle" trophy. Bob Portway thanked the club for putting on a great event in his winners speech and said we're looking forward to coming back next year. Thank you to all the team at Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club, this fixture is a firm favourite on the Eastern Series calendar.