DF95 Winter Series event 4 at East Kent Radio Sailing Club
by Peter Jackson 7 Feb 2025 06:08 PST
6 February 2025
DF95 Winter Series event 4 at East Kent RSC © Peter Jackson
A cold northerly discouraged many, but nine skippers fought out the 4th DF95 event of the year at Barton's Point, Sheppey. In flat water all but one used A rigs as the forecast 18 knots never arrived.
DF95 specialist Adrian Tomlinson set out his store from the go, banging in three 1st places in a row, two just ahead of Peter Jackson, the third from Jim LaRoche. Peter then won race 4, followed by two more wins from Adrian. Peter remained close on his heels with a 3rd and 2nd to keep Adrian honest. Mike Brand started badly then went 2,3,2,4,1,2, from race 5 before falling away again.
Both Paul Woodward and Rob Owens grabbed two early podium spots then wins in races 7 & 8 to push Jim down the chasing pack by the lunch break. Peter had another win in race 10 with Adrian in 5th. Paul took another 3rd in race 9 and Alan Hounsell grabbed his first podium of a torrid day in race 10. But then normal service resumed with Adrian plugging in 4 bullets in a row to Peters 1,3,3,2.
Jim grabbed another 2nd place in race 11, followed by a 2nd from Paul in race 12 as Peter took a penalty on the last beat. Jim hit the podium twice more in races 13 & 14 before falling away again. By then 1st & 2nd places overall were all but tied up and Adrian & Peter could switch to cruising mode for the last few races. Both got keel bulbs stuck on the start mark to take them out of a race each.
Rob Owens, after a few missed races then a 5th & 6th, finally hit a purple patch with 1st places in the last three races, but too late to climb above 5th overall as Jim held him off for 4th by 2 points with Paul only 3 behind. Mike rallied with a late charge of 2,3,2, but it collapsed in the last race with a 5th, leaving him 3rd, 3 points behind Peter. Paul followed Spencer in going home early with cold hands. Alan finally came good with 3rds in the last two races but only good enough to get to within 6 points of Paul's 6 place behind Rob.
Martin Hill returned from a long break Laser racing with Peter at Westbere Lakes Canterbury but struggled to get up to speed, finishing in 8th. So Adrian had a comfortable win from Peter, then Mike. Peter's 10,7,4,7 finish to Adrian's 1,2,8,2 widening the gap from 1st to 2nd to a massive 20 points. The gap from Mike to Jim was 14 points.
Results:
1. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
2. 211 Peter Jackson
3. 875 Mike Brand
4. 57 Jim La Roche
5. 479 Robert Owens
6. 20 Paul Woodward
7. 380 Alan Hounsell
8. 156 Martin Hill
9. 32 Spencer Pope