DF95 Summer Series Event 8 at East Kent Radio Sailing Club Overall
by Peter Jackson 13 Sep 2024 11:02 BST
8 August 2024
One boat over the line - DF95 Summer Series Event 8 at East Kent RSC © Peter jackson
Another perfect 'A' rig day with 19 races saw nine different skippers make the podium. Self-policing worked well with no arguments!
Dave Adams (Yellow 358) started as he meant to continue, with two wins, from returnee Spencer Pope (Grey 32). Mike Brand (Grey 875) then got into gear with the next two wins, the first from Paul Woodward (white 20), the second from Peter Jackson (Blue 211), fighting back from two 6ths to then also win race 5 from Rob Owens (White 479) before another second place to Dave Adam's next win, making it a three boat contest at the front of the fleet.
Mike and Dave then scored two wins and a second each from the next four races to Peter's two seconds with Rob Owens and Alan Hounsell (Red 380) scoring thirds. Alan was having a poor day, with a best of second in race 13. Paul Woodwards good start also crashed to ignominy, counting sevenths and eighths. Andrew Nichols (Yellow 613) also struggled, with best places two fourths. Rob Maunder, (Orange 571) still learning, showed his future potential with seconds in races 11 and 15.
Ralph Wilkinson (White 56) started with a tenth and a third, but then winch failure meant he took over as race officer until the end.
Towards the front, as the wind eased, Spencer Pope showed strongly with two thirds, and Rob Owens more so with two seconds. At the front Dave had been plugging in the wins but then Peter, now in tune with the shifts, took him on with three wins and three other podiums. Mike on the other hand fell away not helped by the odd OCS and a clash with a back marker.
Dave's event win was still comfortable, as was Peters second and Mike's third. Places from fourth to eighth were very close, with Spencer Pope getting his best event place of fourth, three points ahead of Rob Owens.
Top 10 Places:
1. Dave Adams
2. Peter Jackson
3. Mike Brand
4. Spencer Pope
5. Robert Owens
6. Alan Hounsell
7. Paul Woodward
8. Rob Maunder
9. Ralph Wilkinson
10. Andrew Nichols