DF95 Winter Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 5
by Peter Jackson 6 Mar 22:43 PST
5 March 2026
Spring hit East Kent with 12 boats competing in perfect weather with a 6-8 knot wind with only a few bends, only dying for the short lunch break after 8 races.
Race wins were shared around the top half of the fleet, Jim La Roche with 5, Peter Jackson 4, Mike Brand 3, Robert Owens 2, David Tomlinson and chairman Alan Hounsell, back from an operation, one each plus multiple podium places.
Mike Brand started strongly with 1, 2, 3, 5, 1, but Jim La Roche matched him with 3,1,2,2,6, then 2,1, to lead at lunch as Mike Struggled. Peters lazy rudder servo returned but the shifts helped him to two 1sts & two 3rds. David put in a strong podium challenge with 1,2,3 before lunch as the wind died away, just for 40 minutes.
Jim won races 9 & 10 to cement his event lead but then missed a race with a sheet lead repair as Mike scored a row of four 2nd places then a 1st to get his nose in front again. Peter took two of the wins with Alan and Rob one each, Rob popping up & down the fleet like a jack-in-the-box, but mainly in his box. Novice John Barker had some coaching and stellar moments including leading, and finishing in the top half of the fleet for the first time.
Colin Honour had to leave early after a 3rd, and Peter Glover, back from a long break and joining in late, also got a 3rd, in race 11. Medway pals Spencer Pope and Andrew Nichols continued their usual mid fleet bunfight. Spencer won that one due to consistency, though not quite matching Andrews best score of a 4th.
Jim's new mainsheet lead first proved slow but got faster to help in a 3,1, finish. Peter finished 1, 3, 6, 2 but only enough for a solid 3rd. The event was Mikes to win with any 2 podiums, but David took 2nd in the penultimate race with Mike 4th. Red 10 Mike got 3rd in the final heat to give him 44 points in total to (Silver 57) Jims 57, but only drew Mike level on 30 points after discards. Jim then took his 2nd event win in a row, but this time on countback.
Blue 211 Peter in 3rd is now replacing that servo. Alan finished 6 points back in 4th, just 3 points ahead of Rob, then 8 points to David. Simon had to count a 10 in the last race, but just beat Spencer to 7th by one point.
Week 5 Results: (top ten)
1. 57 Jim La Roche
2. 10 Mike Brand
3. 211 Peter Jackson
4. 380 Alan Hounsell
5. 479 Robert Owens
6. 750 David Tomlinson
7. 665 Simon Thornton
8. 32 Spencer Pope
9. 613 Andrew Nicholls
10. 26 Peter Glover
Full series results so far can be found here.