A total of 42 Phantom athletes turned out at Grafham Water SC over the weekend of 17-18 July to contest the inland championships for 2004. The weather forecast was, proved correct with a pleasant but shifty 2-3 on Saturday and the square root of not very much on Sunday.

PRO Mike Beloe got things underway with three back-to-back races on a very humid Saturday. In Race 1 Will Gulliver and Phil Argent squeezed round on port ahead of Nick Beloe at the windward mark. Argent proceeded to hit the mark in all the action and ended up down the fleet for the remainder of the race. Defending champion Lawrence Crispin came through from fifth eventually taking the lead from Gulliver on the run and pulled out a sizeable lead, Beloe moved through to second from Allen Burrell, Simon Childs and Gulliver.

Race 2 soon followed with Childs, the first to tack off onto port after the start, leading comfortably round the first mark followed by Argent, Andy Elliott and Crispin. With the beats becoming more unpredictable the easiest place to be was in front, and Childs opened up a healthy gap from Crispin and Elliott as the fleet spread right around the racecourse. Crispin gave Childs a final scare coming down the final run in more pressure, but it wasn’t quite enough, the finishing order being Childs, Crispin, Elliott, Argent and Beloe.

Race 3 saw a slight decrease in wind strength, but a great start saw Burrell and Gulliver lead the fleet round the top mark, Beloe, Childs and John Wayling followed. The race was really for the minor places as Burrell and Gulliver sailed away, Beloe held a comfortable third with Childs holding off Crispin until a last beat blunder of heading for the wrong end of the finish line let him through.

Sunday dawned a little too bright and early for some, but things were looking decidedly calm. Eventually a race was started and Sunday arrival Jeff Vander Borght crossed the fleet from a lonely pin end as the breeze filled-in in patches. As the beat unwound Gulliver appeared from the right-hand corner to lead comfortably from Vander Borght, Richard Parkin, Crispin and Childs. A triangle and sausage were ground out with Gulliver holding on to win from Parkin, Vander Borght, Childs and Crispin.

The lack of breeze then meant an early finish to the weekend’s sailing, leaving the top four places all separated by a point, Crispin just retaining the title from Gulliver, Childs, Beloe and Burrell, with Iain Stowe first Master in 11th. The weekend proved how close the racing continues to be throughout the fleet, and sets the scene for an interesting nationals at Stone later in the year.

Overall Results

1 1176 Lawrence Crispin Stone SC

2 1100 Will Gulliver Northampton SC

3 1177 Simon Childs GWSC

4 1170 Nick Beloe Northampton SC

5 1184 Allen Burrell Thorpe Bay SC

6 1169 Andrew Elliot Rotherham

7 1110 Phil Argent Stone SC

8 1044 John Wayling Northampton SC

9 999 Alan Husk Creeksea SC

10 998 Ian Jay Sutton Bingham SC

11 1144 Iain Stowe GWSC

12 1114 Paul Beasley Thorpe Bay SC

13 1106 Richard Pakes Haversham

14 1141 Richard Parkin Hunts SC

15 1139 Chris Bottomley Sutton Bingham SC

16 1159 B Glen Haversham

17 1096 Henry Ayres WOSC

18 1084 Roger Battersby Sutton Bingham SC

19 1163 David Clarke Hunts SC

20 1180 John Torrance Creeksea SC

21 1128 Chris Roberts Creeksea SC

22 1113 R Thorpe Thorpe Bay

23 1111 Rob West GWSC

24 1172 Nick Berridge Saundersfoot

25 1164 Simon Lake GWSC

26 1058 Peter Crossley Pennine SC

27 1064 C J Hibbert Hunts SC

28 1117 Colin Barrie Redesmere

29 1155 Kevin Clark Seafarers SC

30 1173 Andy Downie Combs SC

31 970 Andrew Mills Creeksea SC

32 1160 Jeff Vander Borght Lyme Regis SC

33 1107 Chris Skedge Buckenham

34 927 A Fether Fishers Green

35 805 Martin Wark Broadwater

36 1185 Gordon Banning Haversham

37 1079 Ian Barrie Burghfield SC

38 1162 J Abel East Lancs SC

39 946 Ed Maggs Creeksea SC

40 1103 M Barrett Hunts SC 111

41 1123 Glen Ratcliff Thorpe Bay SC

42 1047 John Bradley GWSC