DF95 Autumn Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 9

First start sequence - moment 1 - DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 9 © Mike Brand

13 members and 11 boats had a boisterous day at Barton's Point Coastal Park in Kent, all settling for B rigs after A rigs proved too hard to control in the gusts. Jim La Roche set the course and Ralph Wilkinson was race officer.

Dave Adams won race 1 from Peter Jackson and Rob Owens. Dave and Rob carried on, plugging in two 1st & 2nd places. Peter was hit by a port tacker and disappeared for 6 races. Simon Thornton & Mike Brand completed the race 2 & 3 podiums.

Rob Owens got away from the fleet to win race 4 after a scrum at the windward mark, with Jim La Roche also beating Dave for 2nd. Adrian Tomlinson, series leader and normally a B rig maestro, was struggling in mid fleet until finally recovering for 2nd place in races 5 and 7 behind Dave before a win in race 8 ahead of Mike Brand and Peter Jackson, back with working steering in 3rd. Simon Thornton, being remarkably consistent, got his second 3rd place in race 7 and had three 4ths in all.

After a lunch break normal service was resumed by Dave, Adrian and Rob. Mike Brand, with his new 'pretty in pink' hull got his second win in race 10 from Rob, with Jim La Roche 3rd. Peter then had a failed winch servo after a start line tangle at the biased starboard end, so Dave, Rob and Adrian were sharing all the chocolates. Mike Brand also visited the back end of the fleet for a while.

Spencer Pope and Alan Hounsell were sailing well but with 4th at best apart from a 3rd for Alan while Rob sailed his discard. Jim also hit the podium for a 3rd time in race 14.

First start sequence - moment 2 - DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 9 - photo © Mike Brand

At the top end Dave, needing to win to level the series with Adrian, scored 4 wins in the last 6 races, mostly with Adrian 2nd. Rob, with some new Portuguese sails, had finally got his act together putting in a 3,2,2,2, string, with 4 races left, to challenge Adrian for 2nd on the day behind Dave. Adrian then hit back to finish 1,2,2,3,2. Rob however punctuated his final two discards with a win in the penultimate race to nose back ahead of Adrian.

In the final analysis Dave won by a country mile with 18 points, half that of Rob and Adrian, 2nd equal ahead of Mike on 52. Simons consistency paid, beating Jim by 2 points, with Alan another 7 adrift ahead of Peter with 5 DNFs. Dave has now drawn level with Adrian for the series with one event left, with Mike clear 3rd from Peter.

Full results at www.eastkentrsc.com

Results:

1. 358 Dave Adams
2. 479 Robert Owens
3. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
4. 875 Mike Brand
5. 665 Simon Thornton
6. 57 Jim La Roche
7. 380 Alan Hounsell
8. 211 Peter Jackson
9. 32 Spencer Pope
10. 07 Ed Coxon
11. 156 Martin Hill

First start sequence - moment 3 - DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 9 - photo © Mike Brand