DF95 Summer Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 1
by Peter Jackson 4 Jul 05:55 BST
18 June 2026
A Rig Windward Mark - DF95 Summer Series at Barton's Point Week 1 © Alan Hounsell
The last East Kent Radio Sailing Club DF95 Spring series even was cancelled at the height of the heat wave leaving Adrian Tomlinson the winner from Dave Adams and Peter Jackson. David Tomlinson had equal points to Peter but no event wins to Peter's two.
The first Summer series regatta was held in tricky 13-16 knots with 12 skippers completing 16 races. Each did race officer duty in turn, getting average points. Not quite the WNW wind forecast by Mike Brand, the shifty wind forecast blew from London over Sheerness and the only copse of trees nearby to test the best. It was also a marginal A or B rig choice, with both used and much switching. Dave Tomlinson and Paul Woodward set and adjusted the courses with Alan Hounsell as OOD.
Paul Woodward started as he meant to go on with a win, from Simon Thornton and Mike Brand. But Paul didn't go on as intended with just a 4th at best. David Tomlinson (DT) took up the reigns to win race 2, the 2nd of an unprecedented 8 different winning skippers in a row, excluding Dave Adams, being messy in mid fleet. Behind DT were big brother Adrian and Jim La Roche, before Mike Brand's turn at the front, from Peter Jackson and Colin Honour. Colin then won race 4 from Jim and Mike.
Next was Simon Thornton's turn on the top step, ahead of Adrian and Peter Jackson, both finally keeping out of trouble. Adrian finally got a win in race 6 from brother Dave and Colin. Race 7 was Peter's turn to win, from DT, with Dave Adams finally hitting the podium in 3rd. The last of the eight new winners in a row was the least expected as Spencer Pope paid a visit to the top step from the lower regions of the fleet, then repeated the feat in the next race! The first was from DT's third 2nd place in a row then Peter, then from Dave ahead of Mike Brand's 4th podium.
After 9 races all was wide open. Then Peter was the first to switch to an A rig as the wind eased a little and plugged in two wins in a row, one from DT and brother Adrian, then from Jim La Roche and Dave Adams. The old firm of Adrian and Dave finally got together on the podium in race 12, but separated by Jim La Roche with his own fourth, but last, podium. Adrian led race 13 but a unlucky shift let Peter through for his 4th win. Mike Brand scored his fourth 3rd place and Dave his fourth 4th. Adrian held on to beat Peter in race 14, Colin Honour now getting his fourth podium and Alan Hounsell, rusty after a break, in 4th.
Nobody knew the leading positions but the usual suspects now remained at the front, including Dave's first win in race 15, from DT and Adrian with Peter 4th. It turned out Peter just led from Adrian into the last race, both with 4 wins. Adrian won it, from Peter 2nd and Simon Thornton 3rd. After average points for RO duties and, despite 3 last places, Alan did the maths to somehow give Peter 36.1 points to end up ahead of Adrians 36.9. Dave was 10 points back, 5 ahead of DT who was 3 ahead Simon. Mike, Jim and Colin were all closely packed in mid fleet.
Week 1 Results: (top ten)
1. 211 (21) Peter Jackson
2. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
3. 65 Dave Adams
4. 750 David Tomlinson
5. 665 Simon Thornton
6. 10 Mike Brand
7. 57 Jim La Roche
8. 48 Colin Honour
9. 32 Spencer Pope
10. 380 Alan Hounsell
The full days results are now available to view on the club website, www.eastkentrsc.com/2026