DF95 Spring Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 6

DF95 Spring Series at Barton's Point week 6 © Mike Brand

DF95 Spring Series at Barton's Point week 6 © Mike Brand

DF95 Spring Series at Barton's Point week 6 © Mike Brand

After weeks of brisk winds, A rigs finally appeared for the 6th event of East Kent Radio Sailing Club's Spring Series, with 15 entries to date. Nine sailors competed over 16 races in a gentle 6-10 knot breeze, from the north-east over the Thames Estuary so with few major shifts. Ralph Wilkinson was race officer and Dave Tomlinson set the course.

First out of the blocks was Mike Brand (Red 10), chased by Peter Jackson (Blue 211), these two building a gap on Dave Tomlinson (White 750) in 3rd and the rest of the fleet. In the next race the top 2 changed positions, Peter Jackson winning from Mike, still with a gap to 3rd, this time taken by Rob Owens (White with Red & Blue 479). Mike & Peter compared rig settings, finding them all but identical, swapping podium places for 3 races, with Dave Tomlinson 2nd in race 3. Mike then slipped to 5th in race 4 with Rob Owens taking 2nd behind Peter, Dave 3rd. Dave T then came through to win from Peter in race 5, ahead of Paul Woodard (Green 20) making his first podium visit.

Peter hooked a non-course mark in race 6 finishing 7th as Rob Owens took his only win of the day. Simon Thornton (White/Orange 665) finally broke a string of 4th places with a 2nd ahead of DaveT. Peter then came back with a relentless string of 1,1,1,2,3,1 each side of lunch to all but secure the event. But not quite, Dave T, now up to speed, pointing a little lower than Peter but slightly faster, won race 10 to start a sequence of 1,1,2,1,3,1. Mike Brand was back up to speed with 6 podiums but only one more win, slipping behind Dave T.

In the penultimate race Peter was taken out from pole position at the start as a barging 479 hit his stern hooking him up again with the start mark, for another discard. Dave won from Simon, his 3rd 2nd place, and Andrew Nicholls (Red 613), his 1st podium position confirming his lead over Spencer Pope, using an old hull. Peter still had to be top 4 in the last race if Dave won it, but hit the front to make it 7 wins, sewing up the event win by 5 points. Mike came in 2nd, from Paul's third 3rd place as Dave slipped to 7th with battery alarm screaming. Dave had 5 wins for a clear 2nd overall 7 points clear of Mike (3 wins). Outside the top 3 only Rob Owens got a win, but still finished 1 point behind Simon's 4th spot.

Peter now has two event wins behind Adrian Tomlinson's three ahead of Dave Adam's one, with 6 events to go.

Week 6 Results:

1. 211 Peter Jackson
2. 750 David Tomlinson
3. 10 Mike Brand
4. 665 Simon Thornton
5. 470 Robert Owens
6. 20 Paul Woodward
7. 613 Andrew Nicholls
8. 32 Spencer Pope
9. 156 Martin Hill

Full daily results can be found here.