Yes it’s true. Those present at the Thursday evening sailing saw it with their own eyes. Captain, Tom Harris happened to be on duty and managed to snap these pictures with his phone.
The Phantom belongs to new member John Cheslett. John and his wife Sue, have recently joined the Club and it was John’s first sail in his newly acquired dinghy. Very nice it looked too.
To put the Phantom in relation to other boats with regard to speed. The Portmouth Yardstick indicates it should be at the fast end of boats sailed at Colemere. As far as I could see, of the craft that we sail, only the Merlin Rocket and Fireball are supposed to be faster. Of course all may not agree but, winning races isn’t everything, I think it’s more about having fun and I’m sure John is going to have a lot of fun in his new Phantom.
It’s fair to say I have a lot to learn sailing my Phantom and even more sailing her in Colemere’s fickle winds but what she did do from the moment I climbed aboard was put a huge grin on my face.
The only thing I can compare it too was the first time I rode a really good quality mountain bike and it just felt right.
Yardstick apart the Phantom is a single handed single sail dinghy for the larger helm. I could have gone down the Laser route and balanced my body weight with the Rooster rig but my creaky chassis doesn’t find the Laser cockpit a pleasent place to be and the Phantom has room for an ice bucket and sun lounger.