Join us for a free, hands-on community event where you can experience the thrill of radio-controlled boating & sailing in an inclusive & friendly environment at the San Diego Model Boat Pond.
Whether you are a competitive sailor, weekend hobbyist, part of a sailing team, or simply curious about scale boats, this event welcomes everyone to grab a transmitter and try RC Boating!
Here’s what to expect:
* Hands-On Experience – Argonauts members will hand you the control of their own scale boats & sailboats. * Fun Mini-Courses – Short courses set up for casual mini-races, practice maneuvers, and casual boating. * Expert Coaching – Real-time guidance from experienced RC skippers sharing tips & strategies. * Free Food & Community Vibes – Picnic-style pizza & hot dogs for all who RSVP by May 29th via Eventbrite at modelboats.eventbrite.com
When & Where:
When:Saturday,May 31, 2025 (10:00 AM to 2:30 PM) Where:San Diego Model Boat Pond, Mission Bay Park Cost:Free – Just show up and play!
Come learn, compete, or just play around on the water — no prior RC experience is needed.
Bring your curiosity (and maybe a friend), and let the San Diego Argonauts show you what RC boating & sailing is all about.
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!
It certainly was a mixed up day at the races and Hughie was not discriminating. Im sure everyone was at his mercy at one time or another. If it wasn’t Hughie, it was the dreaded slime. 🙁
Certainly need another slime busting work dat in the coming weeks. The RD’s did a great job choosing the courses and thanks to Kerim and Chris S for adjusting the marks as needed.
IOM’s
As you can see by the scores, the racing was still very tight.
Congratulations to Len Bose on scoring a bullet in the final race of the IOM’s, he was chased and chased but held his nerve to the finish. Worth the drive hey Len. 🙂
Posting this a bit late. Apologies for the tardiness. Better late than never. 🙂
Appears that Kerim has maintained his speed in the ODOM and Agent 99 seems to be in good hands with Dave Woodward, having given Ty Beach a run for his money.
Thanks to one and all for turning up for the Bob DeBow ODOM Masters regatta today.
Jess Atkinson did a masterful job of launching this new series of Regattas honoring the Legends of Argonauts. Today was the first of the series – honoring Bob DeBow.
In this really fun and crazy wind ODOM Regatta, some handled conditions somewhat better than others.
Continuing his fine form for the year, Kerim Baran took home the gold! 7 wins for the day, certainly the boat to beat.
Some pictures (thank you to Freddie Rocha!) and results are below:
ODOMs are on the pond again on April 12th (and the Soling 50’s) for points racing.
Whilst 20 boats might seem a lot to have on the start line, it was! Though, to everyone’s credit, the presumed carnage was almost non-existent, almost. 🙂
A lot of ducking and weaving but all in all the skippers played rather nicely and when necessary took the applicable penalty when required.
Thanks to Tom Warren for being RD and running a great set of six heats with varied courses and not one general recall!
Breeze was a little shifty but generally, it was up and down the pond with only the odd hole. 🙂 If you were fortunate enough to break away you generally were spared being a victim of the melee behind. :O
Welcome to Richard Diamond from up North who joined us today. Whilst not being scored in the points series, I’m sure he enjoyed himself nevertheless.
Second class on the water were the IOM’s with Kerim Baran taking over with the RD duties. 13 boats! RC sailing is alive and well in San Diego! Go the Argonauts!
Unfortunately the DF 95’s stole a lot of the good breeze and left the IOM’s with a mixed bag of ‘litter’. The holes were bigger, the shifts were erratic and by the end of six heats I think everyone had their turn in getting ‘ponded’. 🙁
Gotta take the good with the bad sometimes.
One thing that wasn’t bad was the superb weather. The sun beamed down on us all day long, what a wonderful place we have to play boats.
Good to also see David Woodward pop up and join us travelling from afar, and to all the other sailors that travel reasonable distances to get to our stomping ground.
We appreciate you all. 🙂
P.S. Richard also sailed in the IOM’s making up the 13.
Here are some shots from the start line of the IOM races of the day.
Next week is the Bob Debow Masters trophy event for ODOM’s.
This is going to be a sell out! Even if you don’t have an ODOM, come down and join the peanut gallery.
