DF95 Autumn Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 3

DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 3 © Peter Jackson

16 races were run by RO Ralph Wilkinson in a gentle but shifty 6 to max 14 knots.

Peter Jackson persisted with Mike Brand's old tactic of winning the first 2 races, both from Mike, with Dave Adams then Adrian Tomlinson 3rd. Dave and Adrian then plugged in a win each before Mike's new tactic came into play, scoring lower than everyone else for the rest of the day, which worked well, starting with a win in race 5 then three more and counting nothing below 2nd for 8 races.

But the 2 big guns Adrian and Dave weren't about to give up without a fight, filling most podium spots in the morning, then both beating Mikes single 1st place after lunch. Alan Hounsell also put in a strong showing with 2nd places in races 7 and 9 before a late 3rd in race 16. Peter stayed near the pace with two 3rds then a third win in race 11 but faded as the wind came up later.

Dave matched Mikes 4 wins, finishing 3,1,3,2,2,1, but not enough to catch Mike. Indeed it didn't even catch Adrian, who put in a string of 3,1,1,1 to settle 2nd overall to Mike before the last race. Peter, OCS at the start, locked keels with Adrian but not affecting either result, Peter ending up 4th 15 points behind Dave in 3rd and 9 ahead of Alan.

DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 3 - photo © Ralph Wilkinson

Andrew Nichols and Spencer Pope had a ding dong battle for 6th with equal points before and after discards, only settled by a tie break in Andrews favour with a 4th in the last race. Ed Coxon gets ever closer with a few 5th & 6th places. The leading places couldn't get much closer, Mike Brand cruised to a win his first event for a few months with a 2,2,2,3,3,2 finish,but just two points finally separating each of the top 3.

Peter plans to try Mike's new tactics, but so do others, and the series leaders remain Adrian and Dave, locked in tight formation.

Results:

1. 875 Mike Brand
2. 30 Adrian Tomlinson
3. 358 Dave Adams
4. 211 Peter Jackson
5. 380 Alan Hounsell
6. 613 Andrew Nichols
7. 32 Spencer Pope
8. 007 Edward Coxon

DF95 Autumn Series at Barton's Point week 3 - photo © Peter Jackson