After positive test sails and impressive order figures followin the boats official launch, the Flying Phantom catamaran has been out racing against others for the first time.

Last week was the second edition of the Raid du Goëlo in Saint Quay Portrieux, France and the first act of the Brittany long distance race multihull championship. For the fist time the Flying Phantom One Design was racing with other multihulls including F18 catamarans, Nacra 17 and Viper (10 entries in total).

Three separate, long-distance races races took place during the weekend with distances varying from 25nM to 40nM. For the Phantom Sailing Team of helmsman, Gurvan Bontemps and crew, Benjamin Amiot, it was a unique opportunity to finally race the boat after weeks of testing, optimisation and training.

“We are very happy to be here in Saint Quay Portrieux for the Raid du Goëlo that is our first races of the season,” commented Alex Udin. “It is very important for us, because this is the fist time we are competing in front of other boats especially F18 catamarans. Definitely stressful also due to the fact that the Flying Phantom was only sailed alone during the last months for testing sessions. We were really looking forward to see how the boat performs in a fleet race”

Raid one: Saint Quay Portrieux – Bréhat Island

The fist race began on Saturday, 22 March and started with light winds below 8 knots. The fleet was heading northwest along the coast for a long upwind leg with very shifty position. The Phantom team was in the middle in the fleet up to 75% of the leg searching the best sailing mode i.e. archimedean or skimming/foiling in order to maximise the performances of the boat. At the end of the upwind leg in front of the the Brehat Island the wind increased and the team took the lead. They started the downwind leg with the gennaker hoisted at full speed and in 100% foiling mode. Gurvan and Benjamin finished the race in 3 hours 16 minutes, 9 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Frederic Duthil and Frederic Moreau on their F18 catamaran.

Raid two: Saint Quay Portrieux Islands

The second race of the weekend started on Sunday morning with a sunny weather and light winds. The team took the lead just after the dog leg that was positioned next to the starting line. A long downwind leg brought the boats behind the islands with the Flying Phantom 4 minutes ahead of the fleet at the first buoy. After rounding the islands a long upwind leg in the direction of Saint Quay Portrieux was the opportunity for Gurvan and Benjamin to find the right mode to sail the Flying Phantom upwind in non flying mode due to a TWS around 5-6 knots. The final to the finish line was a full flying reaching leg. The team completed the race in 1 hour 16 minutes, 10 minutes and 26 seconds ahead Charles Hainneville and his brother Maxime racing their Nacra 17.

Raid three: Saint Quay Portrieux – Binic

The last race was heading to the to Saint Brieuc’s bay under very light conditions. Gurvan and Benjamin took the lead for a very long downwind leg, heading out to side, whereas most of the fleet followed the coast, they rounded the leeward mark in the middle of the F18 fleet. They re-took the lead on the upwind leg and crossed the finish line in first position in 2 hours 24 minutes but unfortunately were declared over the startline and so were not scored in this last race of the weekend. The final corrected time ranking gave victory to Frédéric Duthil and Frédéric Moreau in their F18.

“The raid du Goëlo was our first race of the year,” explained Gurvan Bontemps. “The challenge with the rating is that we need a 9 minute gain per hour as compared to the F18, we almost succeed in the second race of the weekend even if we catch a fishing net that slowed us down. We are very happy with the boat and also to validate that in race mode the performances is there. We will continue to train for the next events and really looking forward to race against other Flying Phantoms.”

Click here to see racing from the C-Class Catamaran World Championships – from which the Flying Phantom came as a foil test bed.

Read the latest issue Yachts & Yachting – DIGITAL | PRINT

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter