DF95 Autumn Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 8

DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 8 © Alan Hounsell

A mix of A and B rigs started the day at Barton's Point but all soon settled for B's in the shift free South Westerly and choppy conditions.

Dave Adams started how he left off the last event, with a win, but with Adrian Tomlinson only 3rd, behind Colin Honour in 2nd. Adrian hit back with a win in race 2 from Dave, with Peter Jackson 3rd. Dave and Adrian then swapped 1st places up to lunch.

With all on B rigs by race 3 Alan Hounsell got a 2nd behind Dave, but after that Dave and Adrian shared all the 1sts and 2nds right through to the end, with Colin Honour 3rd in all but two of them. Alan grabbed another podium in race 4 but then fell away. Peter fell away even worse with a rudder servo problem and crazy steering including taking Alan out, and three DNS's. Alan then also locked horns & rigs with Ed for an RTD. Adrian also had a few fouls and one grounding but always recovered to at least 2nd.

DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 8 - photo © Alan Hounsell

After lunch Dave continued a string of four 1st places to all but tie up the day. Adrian fought back with wins in races 11 and 12, but Dave was 2nd in both, one by inches from Peter who'd recovered by race 10, but only to two 3rds. The last race finishers were in the same order as the overall results, Dave won from Adrian and Colin with Alan 4th and Peter 5th ahead of Ed Coxon, who sailed consistently fast throughout but lost out in tacking and mark rounding. Spencer Pope was also consistent and always close but fell back after a 4th in race 1, ending up 4 points adrift of Ed. Andrew Nichols showed flashes of good speed under B rig, but retired early to give Martin Hill 8th spot.

Dave's winning margin over Adrian was only 2 points, 20 points ahead Colin in 3rd. Overall for the series Dave is now within 2 points of leader Adrian with 3 events still to go. These two are 9 points clear of the field. Peter's discarded 5th lost him the chance to go 3rd, and sits one point behind Mike Brand for 3rd.

Week 8 Results:

1. 358 Dave Adams
2. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
3. 48 Colin Honour
4. 380 Alan Hounsell
5. 211 Peter Jackson
6. 07 Ed Coxon
7. 32 Spencer Pope
8. 156 Martin Hill
9. 613 Andrew Nichols