Another race and our new Speed Sails Phantom Aeroweb 3D Moulded Sail does the job with a glorious win. Read below for a detailed report:

Bright sunshine and Force 4/5 winds greeted the 15 entrants for the first day of the Shoreham Phantom Open Meeting held over the 11th/12th August 2012, the seventh race out of nine for the Phantom Class Association Southern Series.

For the initial briefing the Race Officer detailed a four lap course for all races consisting of triangle two sausages, triangle then finish. This in itself did not appear too complicated but was to later catch out some competitors who appeared cerebrally challenged when it came to working out which leg of the course they should be on.

Race 1 was hotly contested with Simon Hawkes (Wimbleball SC) leading the fleet up the first beat closely followed by Nick Mason (Island Barn SC), Tim Hemlsey (Frensham Pond) and Nick Orman (Castle Cove). The first reach was a real screamer with a number of competitors getting caught out with the combination of Force 5 gusts and rolling waves. Simon Hawkes pulled out a commanding lead to the finish followed in by Tim Hemsley (2nd) and Nick Mason (3rd).

It was more of the same for Race 2 with Simon Hawkes and Nick Orman pulling away followed by local boy Tyler Harmsworth (Shoreham SC) and Nick Mason. On the last lap Hawkes put paid to a second win for the day by forgetting to go onto the reach for the last lap and deciding to do a third sausage. Nick Orman followed while the rest of the fleet went on to complete the proper course, with Tyler Harmsworth taking the honours followed by Nick Mason (2nd) and Mike Tustin of Bowmoor SC making a welcome return to the Phantom fleet in his new boat, finishing third. Hawkes and Orman finished 10th and 11th respectively.

That ended the racing for Saturday with the evening spent by competitors in the club house hotly contesting the 'how many sausages make a course' issue. Hawkes and Orman lost the argument 12 – 3 and in the absence of any formal protest the results stood. Beer and curry was served in the club house and for desert the local Indian restaurant were only too happy to supply Hawkes and Orman a helping of curried humble pie!

Sunday morning dawned for Race 3 with a Force 3 breeze and more sunshine. Again Simon Hawkes led the competitors up the beat and a battle then ensued between him and Nick Orman with Hawkes once again taking the win. The wind was dropping as the race went on and swinging from the East round to the West causing what should have been the beat to become a fetch. The lighter members of the fleet took advantage of this with Mike Tustin working his way up to a credible third place.

With the 180 degree shift the Race Officer hurriedly reset the course and the fleet set of in a force 2 which gradually increased into force 3. Nick Orman achieved what looked like the impossible and led Hawkes around the first mark, however normal order was resumed with Hakes overtaking him on the downwind leg.

Nick Mason and Mike Tustin battled it out for third place downwind and till Tustin decided he wasn’t too bothered about his new gel coat and luffed Nick Mason resulting in a collision. Tustin sailed off while Mason did his penalty turns. Hakes and Orman continued their battle with Tyler Harmsworth chasing them down with Hawkes ending up the eventual winner, followed by Orman (2nd), Harmsworth (3rd) and Tustin (4th).

Overall Results:

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Sutton Bingham Phantom Open

Saturday 14th April 2012 saw the dawn of the Annual Sutton Bingham SC Phantom Open. With the previous two years being hampered by light to no winds the competitors were greeted by the makings of a 10 knot breeze for the three race event.

8 local club boats supported by 5 visitors started the first race at the bottom end of the lake. The Race officer Dave Thomson and his team set a fairly short line causing a few shouts as the boats set off in a growing and shifting breeze. Local boy Ian Jay set the PACE with Simon Hawkes (Wimbleball), Tim Hemlsey (Frensham) and Nick Orman (Castle Cove)hot on his heals. Through out the race the lead changed hand a number of times depending which side of the beat you went up. Nick Orman was looking good for the win when he stuck it in on the last beat in a growing breeze. It was then a fight to the line where Ian Jay secured the honours closely followed by Hawkes, Hemsley and Orman.

Following lunch the second race started in a breeze that was now showing 20 knot guests. A barging start by Tim Hemsley saw him forced into penalty turns and a place at the back of the fleet for the first beat. Once again the same contenders battled for the front of the fleet this time with the addition of Nick Mason (Island Barn Resrvoir) exchanging 4th and 5th place with Tim Hemsley each beat as he worked his way up the fleet. Line honours went to Hawkes followed by Jay, Orman, Hemsley and Mason.

After a quick break the final race was on. With Ian Jay and Simon Hawkes both carrying a first and second place, this was the decider. There was a good 15 knots gusting to 20 as the fleet got away. Hawkes immediately established a credible lead which he did not relinquish giving a master class in flat boat sailing in gusting conditions and taking the event overall. Jay was 2nd followed by Hemsley and Mason.

A great days sailing in sunny and windy conditions. The Phantom Fleets Southern Series now moves on to Island Barn Reservoir SC for their next event on Saturday 21st April 2012.

Final standings.

1st - Simon Hawkes (2.0)
2nd- Ian Jay (3.0)
3rd - Tim Hemsley (6.0)
4th - Nick Orman (7.0)
5th - Nick Mason (9.0)
6th - Chris Bottomley (12.0)
7th - Jenn Botterill (14.0)
8th - Tony Cumberbatch (14.0)
9th - Richard Cumberbatch (14.0)
10th - John Bower (15.0)
11th - Steve Joyce (21.0)
12th - Nick Hendry (23.0)
13th - Phil Bailey (24.0)

for more photos and information please visit 

http://www.suttonbinghamsc.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

Sorry for the lack of posts lately guys, we've been kinda busy. Some news to come to later this week though on all things Speed Sails!. In the meantime check out this nice little picture we took of one of our new Phantom Aeroweb 3D Moulded Sail

Phantom Aeroweb Sail now available 
Phantom Mainsail Dacron now available
Phantom Mainsail Laminate Maxx 04 now available

We've been busy lately adding Milanes Foils to our website for many classes.  So if your looking for a new Rudder, Centreboard for your Boat, Milanes foils are the way to go!.  Heres a bit about Milanes

Milanes Foils have been manufacturing centreboards and rudders since 1975, helping dinghy sailors achieve top results in Olympic and National classes. Our foils have, for example, won Olympic silver (Finn and FD) and Gold (Finn) as well as World Championships in 420, 505, Contender, OK, Enterprise, Cadet, to name but a few, classes. We have also achieved National Championship wins in over 20 other well known Dinghy and keelboat Classes. We also manufacture and supply rudderstocks in various materials, including wood, foam, glass, and carbon.We have templates for most of the National and International classes and within specific rule limitations we endeavour to produce the most efficient shaped foils taking into account minimum drag and maximum lift characteristics.

View our Range of Milanes foils

Speed customers using a Phantom Aeroweb mainsail won 2 races to take the Bartley Open Meeting and Neil Boneham also using Aeroweb finished second and took a race win.

Look out for Nick Craig this weekend also Using Aeroweb at this years Nationals, hopefully Nick will be able to defend his title at Lyme Regis.

Good Luck!

Again for one week we're having a limited 15% OFF All Phantom Sails & Covers, yes that even includes the Phantom Aeroweb Sails! Click the link below

http://bit.ly/f5In6C

Speed Sails are proud to present the Speed Sails Vandercraft Phantom!

A ex Phantom National Champion has been working closely with Jeff Vanderbrought to develop the ultimate Phantom.

Constructed by Ovington for Vandercraft this boat is built using Epoxy Glass Foam Sandwich. The boat has a double floor with a non slip adhesive rolled to the floor.

All our new Vandercraft/Ovington Phantoms are being fitted our by rigging guru Nick Beloe. Nick will fit your new boat to your spec, or if you prefer he will fit out as a standard package as used by Speed sailmaker to win the 2008 National Championships and by another Speed customer to win in 2010.

Our quick release buckle takes the hassle out of packing up your boat - simply push the specially moulded connector fittings together to ‘click’ home. Easy!

Now for sale in 20mm or 25mm via our website www.speedsails.co.uk

A light northerly shifting breeze made for tough sailing for handicap racing sponsored by Speed Sails, 2 races were sailed with the fleet split into Fast and Slow fleet starts.

In the first race the 3 Merlin Rockets and the Phantom of Mike Tustin romped ahead leaving the Slow Fleet trailing far behind as the breeze died. Matt Biggs crewed by Ben Hollis in his Merlin established a 3 minute lead over Andy and Richie Adams whilst Richard Dee and Chris duelled with Mike Tustin in his Phantom. The Albacore of Neville Herbert finished 4th on handicap.

The slow fleet had a closer tussle between the Bartley Streaker of Debbie Degge leading the Solo’s of Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson over the line.

The second race started in a reasonable breeze and Matt Biggs tussled with Andy enjoyed another Merlin benefit with a very close finish and Richard Dee followed in 3rd place. The Albacore again came through on handicap in 4th place.

The slow fleet slide further back as the wind faded after Fast Fleet leaders finished their race. This led to more mixed results in the fleet with Solo’s leading the way on handicap with Dave Brand winning race 2 from Trevor Thomas but Debbie Degge scraped in to win overall from Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson.

Mike Biggs won overall with 2 first places after a very good display of light weather sailing.

The Junior Fleet was led home by Crispin Beaumont and Nick Wilson sailing a Feva whose race included 2 Feva’s starting on an advantageous port tack on a busy start line in the first race and nearly succeeding in clearing the fleet in a slower boat. Crispin and Nick finished a creditable 8th overall.

Overall Results:

Slow Fleet

Fast Fleet