The Second DF95 Team Challenge of 2025 was held at Mason Park in Irvine on Sunday, August 17th, 2025. Seven 2-Boat Teams competed in the Team Management System (TMS) run event. Just as in Round 1, Teams were organized via seeding in an attempt to even the competition. A shortened ‘reverse-hourglass’ course was sailed in shifty, light to moderate winds (with more than a few holes) under sunny skies. The 7-Team Matrix begins with a Round-Robin Stage where the top 3 teams advance directly to the Finals. The remaining 4 teams race a single-elimination ‘Wild Card’ bracket with the winning team joining the top 3 in the Finals which consists of a 4-Team Round-Robin. This racing format keeps every team ‘in-the-hunt’ for the championship until at least the 22nd Race (out of 30 total Races) and guarantees every Team gets to race at least 7 times.
There were a couple minor changes to the rules in the running of Round 2: Proper course between boats on different legs was emphasized and enforced, and ‘Instant Umpiring’ was adopted. Under RRS Appendix D Team Racing, an Umpire’s involvement after waiting for a voluntary single penalty turn requires a 2-Turn penalty. In Round 2, the Umpire called single-turn penalties immediately but reserved the ability to specify more turns if appropriate. This helped competitors know exactly where they stood following an incident and took the guess work out of protests and fouls. Results follow:
Congratulations to Team Red (Jim Sears & Angelo Greco) who sailed a near perfect regatta; losing only a single Race to 2nd Place Team Green (Larry Grant & Richard Diamond)
Thanks to the Orange County Model Sailing Club and Amya President, DF95 National Class Secretary, and all-around ‘good guy’ Len Bose for setting up the event and making it all possible.
Special thanks also to Jim Sears who rigged a YUUUGE ‘boom camera’ to take live aerial video of the event (drones are not allowed at Mason Park). We’re looking forward to more of his color commentary when he (hopefully) posts his videos on Youtube.
