DF95 Tuning & Race Performance Clinic

Saturday Jan. 4 the San Diego Argonauts were honored to have Jess Atkinson conduct the 2025 DF95 Tuning & Race Performance Clinic. This is the first in a series of seminars designed to help with tuning and racing practice. In short, an effort to raise the bar of sailing in our pond..

Jess started the clinic with a step-by-step setup procedure for the DF95, sharing race proven setting that will put your boat in perfect balance for speed on the race course. Skippers asked numerous detailed questions and it was apparent this was valuable information for even the seasoned R/C sailor. The group also included a new R/C Sailing member.. Welcome John!

After the tuning portion 16 eager skippers, with well tuned rigs, headed to the water for starting drill practice. The challenge.. a 30 second start clock. A tight starting line. A very short weather leg. Up and back as fast as you can. With NO touching other boats! You touch..two boats out.. A great drill! Now do that 25 times..

Jess also discussed numerous strategies to get the most out of your boat on the water, course positioning while racing, how to avoid getting in the tough spots and how to get out.. One of the final water practices was the 360 drill. Fast tacks and jibes to stay in the race even if you foul. A Fantastic Day! Thank You Jess!

Special thanks to others that helped make this Tune Up Day happen:

Chris Davidson

Dennis Rodgers

Keith Sternal

Jason Brooks

Chris Staiger

Jon Rogers

There’s an IOM Tuning and Race Performance Clinic on the calendar for Saturday, February 1.

Don’t miss this opportunity to tune up for the 2025 AMYA Region 8 Championship Regatta!

Smooth Sailing, Gil

Soling 50 National Championship Results

Congratulations to Chris Staiger our new Soling 50 National Champion!

Fantastic sailing by George Pedrick, Second Place and Chris Davidson finishing Third place..

Special thanks to all Soling 50 skippers for their continued participation and support of the class!

Soling-50-Final-Results-81124-1 Download

2024 AWARDS BANQUET

MISSION BAY YACHT CLUB-SAN DIEGO ARGONAUTS 2024 AWARDS BANQUET

SEE YOU AT THE POND.. Gil

DEC.2-ODOM & Soling 50 Points

ODOM and Soling 50 skippers concluded the 2023 Points Season with nice participation from both fleets. Mission Bay delivered a typical fall day with plenty of sunshine and a very light onshore breeze. It was tedious sailing for sure, but rather difficult to complain about the weather.

Ty Beach, RD for the ODOM fleet, manned the skiff and set marks and course for a south west wind direction. Ty modified our normal route to the weather offset mark and choose a starboard rounding, reaching left to right. On the medium course the starting line became a gate.. It’s good to mix it up! Thank you Ty for volunteering!

Thank You Ken Wild for the First ODOM start.

The light breeze continued with a shift to the right by the time the Soling 50 fleet launched into action. Tom Warren, our RD adjusted the course back to our more normal port rounding and shortened the weather leg to accommodate the even lighter afternoon conditions. It was a drifter but the fleet managed to complete the six heat series. Thank you Tom!

Cumulative Scores for the the 2023 Points Season are being tallied.. Stay tuned!

Argonauts-2024-Calendar Download

CHECK OUT THE 2024 CALENDAR! THIS THING WE DO TOGETHER IS A LOT OF FUN!

DF95 FUN & FOWL REGATTA

A healthy group of DF 95 skippers faired well today with no fowl weather and no fowl language.. Jess Atkinson was the master of ceremony and directed a full day of sailing on Mission Bay Model Yacht Pond. At stake today was winners rights to a booty of fresh fowl for the Thanksgiving table!

Prior to racing skippers gathered around Dennis Rogers for an informative tuning seminar. Dennis shared valuable setup and tuning tricks for the DF95. I think everyone learned something from the class..Dennis is FAST!

Jess got us all thinking about the four boat circle with four DF95 yachts parked bow too stern on the grass . The visualization gave us a good refresher on how to avoid problems when rounding the leeward mark. The stage was set and skippers were eager to bring home the bacon! Tom Warren backed up the class with expert assist at the start and finish. GREAT JOB!

Race #2, Race #5, Race #8, I think

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS

2023-Argonauts-Calendar Download

Don’t Forget

SOLING 50 & ODOM-NOVEMBER 25

OCT.21-DF95 & IOM Points

A fantastic day greeted a nice group of skippers, on our last points event for October. DF95 and IOM fleets experienced consistent 6-10mph north west breezes that held trough out the day.

Craig Mackey was our volunteer Race Director for the DF95 fleet and managed 6 races on our standard medium course. There was some tight racing in the in the top ranks but Dennis Rogers came out on top with some beautiful sailing.

Chris Staiger stepped up as Race Director for the IOM fleet. The wind was favorable for long courses, so five longs and one modified (“Freddy”) medium course filled up the day. Mike Fruciano made the road trip from Arizona.. Thank you Mike for your participation! Congratulations Dennis Rogers for some very consistent sailing!