DF95 Autumn Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 1
by Peter Jackson 4 Oct 10:09 BST
3 October 2025
12 boats contested the first East Kent Autumn series regatta in a perfect 8-12 knot southerly, in a close contest to the end.
Ralph Wilkinson was again race officer with Adrian Tomlinson mark setter. Adrian then also won race 1 from Dave Adams & Mike Brand, these three swapping most of the podium spots across the 16 races.
After a trouble free Nationals Peter Jackson lost three early races with steering problems. Alan Hounsell, despite a 1st place also had 2 discards by race 4, as did Mike Brand before recovering with two 2nds.
Dave Adams answered Adrian's win with 1,2,1 to Adrian's two 3rds then problems and string of three 13 pointers. Robert Owens, after a 2nd in race 2 then a DNF, won race 5 followed by a third in race 6, putting him back in contention. Peter Glover grabbed a 3rd, and Peter Jackson returned to the fray with a 3rd and 2nd using a borrowed rudder servo, but races 7 & 8 before lunch, were all won by Adrian, from Dave and Mike. Ed Coxon and Peter taking 4ths.
After a weed-free Nationals the low water level saw some returning to mix up the places a little, but the top 4 skippers, Dave Adrian Mike and Peter, shared most of the afternoon podiums, Adrian with more wins (3) but playing catch-up with Dave. Mike got his first win in race 13, and Peter his first in race 15 as Mike tried a weedy tack 6ft from the line.
Peter Glover grabbed a second 3rd place and Paul Woodward finally got up to speed and hit the podium with a 2nd in race 12. Apart from these and a 3rd from Rob Owens in race 15, the top 3 places went to the top 4 boats. troubled the podium. Alan Hounsell finished 4th twice more as Dave faltered with 2 discards in the last 5 races.
But Dave's five 1st and six 2nd places was enough to hold off Adrian who needed to win the last race, but could only manage 3rd. Mike finished 1,3,2,1 to pull to within 4 places in 3rd overall, ahead of Peter in 4th. Alan got 5th by 6 places from Rob Owens who had to count a 10th. Paul Woodward and Spencer Pope finished equal with Paul winning on countback.
Top ten results:
1. 358 Dave Adams
2. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
3. 875 Mike Brand
4. 211 Peter Jackson
5. 380 Alan Hounsell
6. 479 Rob Owens
7. 20 Paul Woodward
8. 32 Spencer Pope
9. 26 Peter Glover
10. 07 Edward Coxon