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!)