Author: William Staiger

2025 DF95 Region 8 Championship: Regatta Report & Final Standings

The San Diego Argonauts hosted the AMYA 2025 Dragonflite95 Region 8 Championship Regatta May 17th-18th.  21 Skippers from 4 different states including 2 past DF95 National Champions competed.

Friday afternoon began with check-in and practice-racing. Technical Committee Chairman Steve Ross and PRO Chris Staiger performed check-in and measurement and distributed logo hats, while Commodore Pat Nevitt took customized sandwich pre-orders for Sunday’s lunch. (Special thanks also to Pat for his tireless efforts in having the city dredge the reef and make our ENTIRE pond useable once more!)

Saturday morning saw the remaining skippers and boats checked-in under drizzly cold conditions (improved somewhat by hot coffee and donuts provided by Purser Gil Jansky.) PRO Chris Staiger set 6 marks: an inside leeward Gate, a Start/Finish Line, and two windward marks. The standard long course, which was used for every race in the regatta, consisted of: Start, two windward marks, inside leeward Gate, two windward marks, inside leeward Gate, Finish. Depending on the winds, the windward marks were rounded either to Port or Starboard. The HMS with 2 Fleets and 4-Boat Promotion/Relegation was utilized, resulting in 12/13 Boat Heats throughout the event. Finishes and Scoring were recorded by Steve Delva. Following the Skippers Meeting, competitors were faced with shifty south to south-westerly winds which required constant relocation of the windward marks and shifting of the Start/Finish Line. Even so, most races on Saturday consisted of long port tacks up the pond with only occasional short starboard hitches. Saturday’s successful skippers managed to dodge the biggest holes and take advantage of the fingery puffs to keep their sails full and their boats moving. Skippers were treated to Bob Williams’ famous grilled hotdogs for lunch. Bob also provided beverages and ice throughout the weekend.

By the end of the day with 8 races completed, past Champion Mark Golison, led with 11 points, followed by Gary Boell (15), Chris Davidson (17), Jim Sears (20), Kerim Baran (24), with Jon and Dennis Rogers rounding out the Top 7. Following the racing, skippers were treated to a pond-side Café-Med style barbecue prepared by Chris and Pam Staiger. Opa!

Sunday morning began with more promising conditions: Coffee, donuts, warmer temperatures and 5 – 8 knot winds a bit more westerly than the day before. Marks were adjusted and after a few heats, the breezes filled in and trended more westerly allowing starboard roundings at the windward end to resume. Jan Nevitt provided custom-ordered sandwiches for lunch as the sailing conditions improved. The sun emerged and racing was completed in classic San Diego conditions: 8 – 10 knots of wind straight down the pond under sunny skies and warm temperatures. By the time the dust settled, Mark Golison had held solidly onto 1st, while Jim Sears leapfrogged into 2nd and Chris Davidson fought past Gary Boell to take 3rd by a mere tenth of a point. The Rogers Brothers (who have a habit of finishing adjacent to each other) took 5th (Jon) and 6th (Dennis).

Skippers were given secret ballots to vote for the one competitor who best exemplified sportsmanship both on and off the racecourse: They chose Jon Rogers to receive the Corinthian Spirit Award.

Thanks to Chairman Gil Jansky, Bob Williams, Jack, and Keith Sturgess who handled site setup and takedown and Tom Warren who manned the rescue boat. Special Thanks to all the Argonauts who worked so hard clearing weeds, algae and debris to restore full use of our Pond!

Final Results:

Day 1 Results:

Day 1 Videos (Thank you, Dan Shier!)

Day 2 Videos (Thank you, Dan Shier!)

December 14th Points: DF95 & IOM

Zero to Ten… but mostly Zero from WNW. Those were the winds for the Argonauts’ final day of racing in 2024. While the day was sunny and pleasantly warm, sailing conditions were once again… fluky. The DF95’s went first with RD Ty Beach selecting mostly medium courses.

Next, it was the IOMs’ turn. RD Craig Mackey called medium courses, but ended with a short course to get the sailboats off the pond in time for the Scaler’s Christmas Parade of Lights.

November 16th Points… IOM & DF95

Fall is here in San Diego! Temperatures in the mid-60’s, plenty of sun, but WEIRD winds. Plenty of breeze from (mostly) the west, but monster shifts and a few cavernous holes made for VERY tough sailing conditions. Gerry Wold was our Race Director Du Jour for both the IOM’s and the DF95’s. Gerry chose a combination of standard Medium and Long courses for both classes. Tacks and downwind lines were chosen at great peril. Often, skippers found themselves becalmed as boats sailed past them on both sides within a mere few feet!

2024 Argonaut Elections & November 2nd Points

CONGRATULATIONS to our new slate of Argonaut Officers for 2025!!! Commodore: Pat Nevitt VC Sail: Chris Davidson VC Scale: Kurt Sellen VC Power: Bill Bridge Purser: Gil Jansky Secretary: Kerim Baran

Welcome, Gentlemen!

Following the Voting, Jason Brooks RD’d the Soling Class for November Points in sunny, beautiful conditions… with paltry, southerly breezes. Severe shifts and massive holes were the order of the day as Jason selected a combination of medium and short courses:

After the break, Ty Beach took over to RD the Odom Fleet. The winds had increased somewhat and moved more westerly, but there were still some big shifts and holes to contend with. There were many lead changes and close finishes to delight the Peanut Gallery!

October 19th Points: DF95 & IOM

FABULOUS Autumn weather: Sunny and warm with light westerly breezes. Bob Williams ran the DF95 Fleet with Gil Jansky Scoring. The spotty and shifty winds created lots of passing lanes for skippers who were able to capitalize.

Bob Williams continued as RD for the IOM Fleet, this time assisted by Kerim Baran as Scorer. Despite the forecast for stronger breezes later in the day, the breezes actually slackened a bit by the time it was the IOM’s turn. However, after the 3rd Race break, the winds filled in and became more consistent. Racing was amazingly tight with many passing opportunities and lead changes in the shifts.

IOM Fun Regatta Results

Perfect Conditions! Sunny with mild temperatures and good westerly winds greeted the IOM Fleet for our annual IOM Fun Regatta! Great Sailing, Hot Dogs and Prizes! The conventional scores were:

…however, Prizes were determined by the final digit of a Skipper’s score, matched with a pre-determined number contained in a hermetically sealed envelope kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s porch….

Winner of the Grand Prize RaceBird Electric RC Boat was Dennis Rogers (who was closest to 5 without going over), while Tom Warren and Gil Jansky each won embroidered hats for being closest to 9 and 2 respectively).

Attention IOM Skippers…

Bring your IOM out this Saturday for our 2024 IOM Fun Regatta! The fun starts at 12:00 Sharp, so don’t miss it!

PS: One lucky Skipper will walk away with a Special Prototype of the soon-to-be-released Joysway RaceBird electric hydrofoil racer! (Courtesy of Chuck LeMahieu of Dragon Sailing North America.) This is a 1/14th scale radio-controlled version of the full-sized electric foiling racers now competing in the International E1 Series with Teams headed by Tom Brady, Will Smith, Rafa Nadal, et al.