East Kent Radio Sailing Club DF95 Spring Series event 8 at Barton's Point Coastal Park
by Peter Jackson 23 May 2025 17:51 BST
22 May 2025
DF95 Spring Series event 8 at Barton's Point © Peter Jackson
In 0 - 5 knots of wind from the North going East the event was mainly a shifty drifter, but the form boats still mostly got to the front. Peter Jackson won race 1, Mike Brand race 2 and Dave Adams race 3, those three hogging the podium spots, all with Paul Woodward 4th and Rob Maunder 5th.
But then Dave Adams got his light air settings right and slotted in 2 more wins and one 2nd (to Mike's 2nd win). As the wind got shiftier more boats entered to mix, Andrew Nichols, trainee course layer under Peter, got a 3rd place then Rob Maunder hit the 2nd step ahead of Paul. After a 7th and 5th Peter bounced back with three podiums. The one gust of the day was wholly unwelcome, making Peter nosedive & broach into outside boat Paul rounding the last leeward mark!
The wind faded to nothing before mid-day and umpire Ralph Wilkinson called an early lunch, allowing a veer and increase by a couple of knots. Peter moved the course to the west side of the lake to avoid a wholesale decamp south. As it also got colder some had decided to give up and only 7 boats completed the day. Paul now got his only win, from Rob and Peter before Mike came back for win No 3, with Peter 2nd and Dave 3rd.
Then normal service resumed with Dave finishing 1,1,2,1,1, to tie up the event win. Mike chased him all the way, finishing 2,2,1,3, 4, finishing 10 points ahead of Peter in 2nd. Rob and Paul fought it out for 4th. Paul's string of five 5ths ended with a 2nd in the last race but Rob had secured the spot by 2 points with a 2nd in the penultimate race, 12 points off third spot. The prize for the most consistent boat of the day went to Ed Coxon with a string of eleven 6th places!
Top 6 places:
1. 358 Dave Adams
2. 875 Mike Brand
3. 211 Peter Jackson
4. 571 Rob Maunder
5. 20 Paul Woodward
6. 007 Ed Coxon