Dust off your boats and start prepping for these upcoming, awesome RC scale boating events!

We’ve created a series of themed events.  Bring your themed RC scale boats, and let’s have some fun!  For more information see our Facebook page or contact Jeff Sparksworthy jsparksworthy@gmail.com.

• May 19 – “Tug-O-War”
  • Bring your tugs. We’ll measure their pulling power against a scale and have tugs pull each other across sight lines. We will also have a weighted barge pull.
  • 9:00am-noon
• June 16-17 – “Mini Maker Faire”
  • Argonauts will exhibit at the Antique Gas and Steam Museum in Vista, CA.
  • All day Saturday and Sunday at one of the coolest museums you’ll ever visit!
  • Facebook link to event
• June 23 – “Fun Run”
  • This would replace our Regatta with an unjudged navigation course.
  • Vote for best of show.
  • 9:00am-3:00pm with the Sailing Division invited to sail the islands starting at noon
  • Bring your own lunch.
  • Silent auction.
• July 21 – “A Gray Day”
  • Bring your battleships, submarines (even though they’re black), flat tops, cruisers, mine sweepers, tin cans, landing craft, and cargo ships for a set of scale runs like a point to point speed burst races for destroyers, a convoy, and a “round the pond” task force cruise.  No sneak attacks allowed!
  • 9:00am-noon
• August – Off the Pond
• Sept. 8 – “Steamer Day”
  • Steamer Day and Boats, Kits, & Parts Swap.
  • 9:00am-noon
• Oct. 27 – “Yacht Days and Pleasure Boats”
  • Chris Craft, Minnows, Orcas, etc.
  • 9:00am-noon
• Nov. 17 – “Working Boats”
  • Fishing boats, fire boats, tugs, ferries, garbage scows, floating cranes, dry docks, etc.
  • 9:00am-noon
• December 8-9 – “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Model Boat Run / Fleet Gathering”
  • A run of 1:96 scale ships & boats at Santee Lakes.  Argonauts with 1/96 scale ships are invited to run with the Task Force 96 group.
  • December  8, 2018 — 9:00am – 4:00pm
  • December  9, 2018 — 9:00am – 3:00pm
  • More info:  www.dec7modelboatrun.weebly.com
• December 15 – “2018 Model Boat Parade of Lights”
  • A magical evening run involving tiny boats and lots of little, beautiful lights.
  • 5:00-8:00pm

Check out the San Diego Argonauts’ lighted remote controlled model boats! We’ll launch the Christmas season with our tiny Model Boat Parade of Lights at the San Diego Model Boat Pond.

Public is welcome. Bring a chair. Enjoy the little lights!

Model Boaters:  If you have a scale model boat, start working on your lights. Be sure to bring a warm sweater, a hot beverage, and a great camera. This is going to be another beautiful event!

• Date: Saturday, December 16, 2017
• Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
• Location: San Diego Model Yacht Pond
• More info on Facebook
• Event flyer

In case you’re new to the mini Parade of Lights, here’s a video from January 2015:

And David Manley’s video from 2016:

Ideas for easy RC model boat lights.

• LED Light Strings http://amzn.to/2f0vI0n
• EL Wire (electroluminescent wire) http://amzn.to/2gezGjN

The Scale Boat Division of the San Diego Argonauts invites scale model boaters to our 2017 Scale Model RC Boat Regatta!

It’ll include a navigation course, raffle, and more!  Static modelers are welcome to display their boats. The public is welcome to spectate too!

Bring your own sack lunch, table and chairs.

For more information, check out our event on Facebook or e-mail jsparksworthy@gmail.com.

NAMBA INSURANCE REQUIRED:  Anyone operating a boat or participating in the pit area must have proof of current NAMBA insurance.

Due to recent changes in the City of San Diego risk assessment regulations, we are now required to secure a general liability insurance policy that covers the City in the event anyone running a boat with a motor causes an accident. This requirement is a blanket requirement for any boat with a motor, no matter how slow or small. We have secured the best insurance available for this purpose through NAMBA International, but the insurance is only valid for NAMBA members who are involved in an accident, and we are required to follow NAMBA safety regulations in order for the insurance to be viable.

To comply with NAMBA safety regulations, we will rope off an area for launching, recovering, operating and judging boats entered into the navigation competition, which we will call the Pit Area. Anyone wishing to enter the Pit Area must have proof of current NAMBA membership, either Single Event Insurance (SEI) secured for this event, or a full membership for the year. NAMBA yearly membership ($50.00) may be obtained at www.namba.com, or you can purchase Single Event Insurance for the regatta for $15.00 at the event. We recognize that this poses an unexpected financial burden, but if we expect to continue enjoying this type of event at the San Diego Model Boat Pond, we really have no choice but to comply with the City’s requirements.

By the way, NAMBA insurance is primary insurance, which means it does not require that you first seek coverage for a claim via your own homeowner’s insurance policy. To read all of the benefits of NAMBA insurance, visit http://www.namba.com/content/insurance.asp

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to chat with Rob Wood, Jeff Sparksworthy, or Mark Weber.

Download our Event Poster PDF

Download our Navigation Map in PDF