DF95 Winter Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 4
by Peter Jackson 1 Mar 07:33 GMT
26 February 2026
C Rig Gate 2 - DF95 Winter Series at Barton's Point week 4 © Alan Hounsell
After a cold wet winter, 16 members came to Sheppey on 26th February for promised warm dry conditions, but the sun hardly showed and 20-30+ knot winds with big waves persisted (38kts recorded nearby). Ralph Wilkinson & Alan Hounsell officiated, with Adrian Tomlinson course setting as well as racing. Some tried B rigs but all soon settled on C rigs.
Simon Thornton got his 'as new' C rig right first time, staying ahead of the melee for a win from Jim La Roche, Mike Brand and Paul Woodward. Adrian Tomlinson and Dave Adams started with a discard each. Peter Jackson, after wintering in warmer climes, started with three due to a lazy steering servo. Mike Weston, now retired from RC Yachts sailed his lovely gold hull courtesy of China, was quickly in the medals with 2,3,2.
But fully on song was Jim La Roche, with 1,1, 3,2 in the next 4 races. Adrian recovered to win 4 races before lunch. Dave was less consistent with 2,7,1,2,9,2. Simon was consistent with 2 more 3rds, while Mike Brand sailed 3 discards before two more podiums. Colin Honour was 3rd in race 2, but most consistent was golden boy Mike Weston before retiring early after a 3rd in race 11 for family duties, joining Paul Woodward and four others.
Jim re-took the lead from Adrian after lunch with three more wins in a row, ahead of Peter Jackson and Robert Owens. After his normal OCS's and penalties Rob finally put in a showing with two 2nds. Adrian managed two 3rds but was broken. Even 2 late wins left him 7 points astray of Jim. Mike Brand finally came good and strung some podiums together, finishing 1,4,3,1,2, but still ended up in 3rd, 12 points behind Adrian.
Simon held on for one more 3rd to finish another 5 points back in 4th, 12 points ahead of Dave who'd switched to an older hull, which gave up on the last 2 races. Peter Jackson held off Rob, with a 2nd place each, to finish 2 points apart. Colin Honour finished with 4,4,5, to get to within just one point of Rob Owens. Roll on summer!
Week 4 Results: (top ten)
1. 57 Jim La Roche
2. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
3. 10 Mike Brand
4. 665 Simon Thornton
5. 65 Dave Adams
6. 211 Peter Jackson
7. 479 Robert Owens
8. 48 Colin Honour
9. 11 Mike Weston
10. 32 Spencer Pope
Full series results so far can be found here.