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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Speed Race Team won the first day blast at the Hayling Island SC Solo Open Meeting for the Tyler Trophy and completed his weekend with a win in the first race on the second day and then a second place behind Matt Howard to take the event, when the third race was cancelled as the weather strengthened again.

Sailing the first boat off the Speed Sails new mould, held off the challenge of Howard and local helm, David Macgregor, and also a charging Charlie Cumberly. Cumberly who had missed the Saturday race, needed all three races to be sailed on Sunday to be in with a chance, but it was not to be.

Saturday started with the wind howling across the dinghy park and the promise of more to come. A course was laid in the harbour and 16 boats, including two with Brigs, launched to run to the start. At the windward mark David Macgregor was closely followed by Speed Sails. These two diced down the reach to an incident packed gybe mark. McGregor recovered first but Matt Howard had caught them and the three fought it out to the lee mark. At the end of the second beat, Howard sailed over Speed Sails as they both over stood the mark. McGregor bore off in a lull, then a ferocious 35 knot gust laid him over. The leading pair fought it out to the finish at the end of the next beat with Speed Sails just ahead of Howard. Tim Polglase had sailed a steady race to take third from McGregor and Andrew Bonsey.

On Sunday, the wind was around 20 knots for the start of Race 2 which was held in Hayling Bay with 23 starters. Speed Sails chose to go left out to sea and rounded the windward mark in the lead. Charlie Cumbley, who had had gear problems yesterday, was next just ahead of Howard. With decent waves rolling across the bay, the down wind legs enabled the experts to demonstrate their skills. The leaders maintained their order to the finish and pulled away from the fleet. The wind shifted, delaying the start to the next race and increased to 25 knots. The same trio took the leading slots without changing as they rounded the course, although this time the order was Howard, Cumbley and then Speed Sails. McGregor improved to fourth. With the third race of the day cancelled, this left Speed Sails winning the Tyler Trophy with Howard second and McGregor third.

Overall Results: (top ten)

Congratulations to John Gorringe & Toby Lewis who came out on top at Lyme Regis. John & Toby held their form from the inlands and showed great pace in the shifty offshore breeze. Andy & Tom also showed great consistency, unfortunately for them they had an OCS in the race that they won which means they didn't tie for the lead.

Speed sailmaker borrowed Matt Biggs's boat as Matt was away on business, this was the first time that he had sailed a Merlin since he won the nationals back in 1999. Sailing with Ben Hollis showed good pace as well and finished 4th.

Again another great result for Speed Merlin sails in the Silver Tiller.

We put the new Speed Solo to the test at the Pre-champs Reggatta held at the Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy.

Speed Team had a consistent set of results (2,2,3,3,1) to finish second to Matt Howard. Conitions were brilliant, perfect sunshine at 12-15 knots on the Saturday. On Sunday the wind was a bit more of a handful, 30 knot gusts were recorded over the commitee boat. These conditions were excellent for testing the new Solo, Saturday racing was held outside of the harbour which gave competitors good sea sailing conditions, Sunday saw racing take part inside the harbour.

The boat stood up well to the test, we certainly felt the boat planed earlier than any other Solo he has sailed before, he also mentioned that it felt stiff and responsive. using the same rig setup that he used last year at the nationals to finish 3rd but this time using the New Speed Hull, he felt he was a lot closer to Matt Howard and was able to give him a good race compared to last year. Matt being the current Finn coach and an ex member of the GB Finn squad has certainly moved the bench mark up in the Solos, last year Matt dominated at the nationals showing excellent down wind speed which nobody could hang onto, I suppose hours of training in his Finn over the years has helped him to have great downwind technique. So we certainly felt that the boat is something special and was certainly up beat having pushed Matt hard around the race course.

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.

Details of the NEW Speed Epoxy Solo below.

Speed Sails are proud to launch their NEW Epoxy Solo, designed by Phil Milanes, Speed Sails and built by 2 expert builders Kevin Driver and Ian Teasdale from the Boatyard at Beer.

We have spent the winter designing the NEW Speed Sails Solo and added in years of knowledge to provide you with the ultimate boat. 

The packages available make this NEW Speed Solo suitable for all ranges of sailors.  It won’t be long before you see this boat at the front of the fleet

All our NEW Speed Sails Solos 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 Sails

Speed Sails, using Maxx04 Speed sails finished 1st and 2nd at the Phantom Nationals.  In the closest of finishes Nick sailed a great last day to do enough to win the event on count back from Jem and Charlie Cumbley all tied on 17 points.

Speed 1 used a standard Maxx04 mainsail, the same design that Speed 2 used to win the Nationals in 2008 and improved each day to clinch the title on the last gybe mark of the last race.  Speed 2 was using our new flatter sail on the new Selden skinny mast.  He showed impressive pace in the first two races and then put the brakes on with an OCS and a few average tactical decisions.

We’re currently working on an Aeroweb sail for Speed 2 to test to destruction over the Winter.

Speed Sails ended up finishing 3rd in a fleet of 78 boats at the recent Solo Nationals at Feldham Sailing Club

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For all your Solo Dinghy class spares be sure to check out our extensive stock at www.speedsails.co.uk

A gig well done to Speed Sails who this weekend just completed a Win at the Solo Northern Championships at Hollingworth Lake SC

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For all your Solo Dinghy class spares be sure to check out our extensive stock at www.speedsails.co.uk