DF95 Spring Series at East Kent Radio Sailing Club - Week 8
by Peter Jackson 31 May 14:14 PDT
28 May 2026
Adrian Tomlinson (30) gets away well with Peter Jackson (211) to windward at the start on DF95 Spring Series at Barton's Point week 8 © Alan Hounsell
Event 8 of East Kent's DF95 spring series saw a B rig masterclass from Adrian Tomlinson, winning all but 4 of the 15 races.
A group of members were away racing the French from Boulogne to Ramsgate (not in DF95's!) but Dave Adams and some other front runners were around to make Adrian work for his wins. The control area was at the point away from the café, but record heat wave and half term brought an excess of paddle boards to the lake, a few blown out of control to make it an interesting obstacle course at times.
Race 1 gave a hint of what was to come as Adrian beat Dave with Rob Owens 3rd. In fact the only 2 races Dave won were when Adrian did his OOD duties, Otherwise he counted all (10) 2nd places! Podium spots went right down to 9th place with Edward Coxon scoring a 3rd in race 7 using a B rig borrowed from Peter. Andrew Nichols and Spencer Pope in 7th and 8th, each managed two 3rd places as Spencer tuned up his new boat.
Leading the chase of leaders Adrian and Dave, Rob Owens put in an unusually consistent showing with three 2nd, three 3rd and three 4th places. Behind Rob was a close battle for 4th place between Chairman Alan Hounsell, back from holidays, Simon Thornton and Peter Jackson, not yet using his new boat and struggling with a jumpy & non centring rudder doing scenic tours of the lake.
Alan only brought his DF65 sails so borrowed an A rig but sailed well and consistently. He eventually secured 3rd place by getting two wins when the wind dropped for the last 2 races. Peter showed at the front but only stayed there for one podium finish. Simon managed podiums in races 5, 11 and 15, finishing 3 points behind Alan and 4 ahead of Peter.
Andrew Nichols finished only 2 points back from Peter and 7 points ahead of arch rival Spencer, back after a 2 event break. At the front the gaps were large, Adrian cruised to a 12 point lead, discarding a 2nd place, and Dave was a full 21 points ahead of 3rd placed Rob Owens, 12 points ahead of the close four way battle for 4th.
Adrian extended his lead over Dave in the 17 boat overall series now with Peter lying 3rd by 2 points from Mike Brand, then 1 point to David Tomlinson and two to Simon Thornton. Next week brings a break for the June 4th East Kent RSC TT event.
Overall Results:
30 Adrian Tomlinson
65 Dave Adams
470 Robert Owens
30 Alan Hounsell
665 Simon Thornton
211 Peter Jackson
613 Andrew Nicholls
32 Spencer Pope
007 Ed Coxon
The full days results are now available to view on the club websit, www.eastkentrsc.com/2026