P&B Phantom Inland Championships 2025 at Burton Sailing Club

Burton Sailing Club was our host for this year's P&B sponsored Phantom Inland Championships, including training on Friday offering some really solid tips for those keen to be at the front, with Titch, Rob and Rich sharing their trade secrets.

This event was also the fourth event in the Midland Series as well as the third of our "Super Series" circuit supported by GJW Insurance.

Saturday

Arriving at Burton Sailing Club it was great to see so many boats ready to go - the training was obviously a great success. In total 33 sailors were greeted by the OOD outside the clubhouse for the briefing. No surprises, except to be told that the black flag would come out to play if we were naughty on our starts.

Race 1

The course was set and the line in place for the first race. A trapezoid course, with very excited sailors and a bit of starboard bias, we did indeed get a general recall, so it was immediately black flag time on the restart. The fleet got away clean with Carl Gibbon getting the best start, winning the first beat to lead at the windward mark.

At that point I was too far back to see who else was in the top spots but as the race went on there was a lot of position changing, and almost as many wind shifts, and finally after four laps Carl went on to take the win, with John Harrison in second and Adam Froggatt in third.

Race 2

Now the wind decided that it was going to have more fun with us. At 30 seconds to the start and a port bias on the line we all ready to go, then, almost as the gun went the wind shifted 90 degrees to starboard giving all boats at the committee boat end a nice fetch to the windward mark.

However, due to the wind shift the OOD had no choice but to abandon the race after the first lap, so no score, but the race would subsequently be excluded from the series due to a technicality on flags.

Race 3

After much moving of marks the OOD changed the course to an inverted P and the fleet was ready to race. However, with the wind dropping, it would be an interesting race. Up the first beat Adam and Richard Nurse were leading and pulled ahead until lap 2, when Matt Sharman caught a lovely shift and took the lead.

I must admit I'm a bit sketchy as to what happened next, except that I went backwards quite quickly, whilst Harry Briddon and Sam Coxon made great progress to take second and third respectively, with Matt winning the race.

So Matt led overnight with the top six places separated by just four points.

Sunday

On arriving at the club on Sunday morning it was clear that the wind was well and truly up and that it was going to be a fun day on the water.

Race 4

We were back to the trapezoid course with the black flag in play all day. The start was clean, and we were off with Sam, Harry and Adam taking the port end and tacking early to take the lead. I was just hanging on to Harry and Sam's coat tails as they both had great upwind speed, but eventually after much swapping of places between Harry and Sam, Harry took the win, Sam second and Adam third.

Race 5

After a bad start and I could only watch as the boats who went right on the beat came out best, with Harry, Chris Pope and Andy Pyett rounding first. At the end of the first lap Andy was leading the way. However once again the wind was having its say, with lots of place changes throughout the fleet. In the end Harry came out on top, with Chris in second and Sam in third.

Race 6

This time the black flag again had its say, sending Adam, Sam and Sam Hirst back to shore from the first attempt. On the restart the black flag demonstrated that it was clearly not finished, this time taking Harry out of the race.

The rest of the fleet got away clearly for the final race of this year's Inland Championships but it's impossible for me to say dear reader, exactly what tactics paid off in this race, because me and the others who had suffered the wrath of the black flag had retired for early showers and to consider what might have been...

But what I can report, as the fleet came ashore, was that Matt took the win, with Carl in second and Jim Hopton in third.

Finally

I have great pleasure to announce that Harry Briddon is our Phantom Inland Champion for 2025, with Matt Sharman in second and Carl Gibbon in third.

I'd like to thank Burton Sailing Club, and everyone involved, for hosting the event and P&B Sailing for kindly being our sponsors.

Overall Results: