Today skippers were greeted to 5-8 mph breezes and warm sunny skies. A nice respite from the many days of rain and cool weather we have been experiencing.
Sean O’Connor, our IOM RD, has mastered the skiff, oars and and mark setting. We truly appreciate each volunteer and are eager to train others. Bob Williams stepped up and managed the DF95 races. Thank You Bob!
Thank You Kerim Baran for todays drone footage..
Thank You Pat Nevitt for prompt score cards! I hope that rudder servo is ready for action next week!
ATTENTION IOM & DF95 SKIPPERS
Saturday, March 25 is a make up race for our February rain out.
It is almost the end of the month and I am way behind on my updates.. Yikes! We have had a busy start of the year with new membership and renewals, 2023 Points Races and planning for a long awaited and well deserved Awards Banquet and Trophy Presentation.. Let’s get started.
LUNCH BREAK
Saturday, January 7 began the first Points Racing of the new year. A truly beautiful San Diego winter day greeted Soling 50 and ODOM skippers eager to improve their skills and scores. Extra light winds in the 3-5 mph range prevailed throughout the afternoon so fleets were assigned short courses. Despite the very light conditions competition was tight at the top of the fleets. Unfortunately ODOM skippers had to scrap the last race of the day due to drifting conditions.
RD-Steve Ross
Mark Setting- Ben Reeve
Scoring- Pat Nevett & Steve Delva
Course wrangling and skiff clean up-Tom Warren
January 14 was scheduled for DF95 and IOM fleets to kick off their 2023 points season. Mother Nature had other ideas with heavy rain and wind in the forecast. Our master VC of Sail, Steve Ross, got us all off the hook early after a number of motivational messages from reluctant skippers. It rained for 3 or 4 days and San Diego received A LOT of rain. IOM and DF95 fleets were rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 28.
IOM and DF95 Fleets Rescheduled Saturday, January 28, 2023
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2022 Awards Banquet and Trophy Presentation
Saturday, January 21 the San Diego Argonauts celebrated a successful year of Scale Boating achievements and R/C Sailing awards. Mission Bay Yacht Club provided a beautiful bayside location and Hawaiian Style Buffet Dinner for the over 40 attendees.
Mark Hallberg greeted our group and introduced club officers. Tom Warren, master of ceremonies, kept the evening lively and guided us through the evenings program.
Rob Wood presented the Scale Division Awards to top members.
2019 SAIL POINTS WINNERS
Tom Warren presented trophies to skippers active in the 2019 sailing season. Due to COVID19 our clubs activities were suspended throughout 2020 and we wanted to recognize the sailors dedicated to our club. Belated Congratulations!
Soling 50
Fillippo Busalacchi
Gerry Wold
Kim Robbins
Santa Barbara
Gerry Wold
Lesty Sala
Bart Klatt
ODOM
Gerry Wold
Kim Robbins
Greg Williams
IOM
Konrad Witt
Larry Grant
Dennis Rogers
DF95
Larry Grant
Konrad Witt
Gerry Wold
2022 SAIL POINTS WINNERS
Bob Williams presented awards to top skippers of the 2022 sailing season. Congratulations!
Gerry Wold – 1ST PLACE ODOMKen Campbell – 1ST PLACE IOMGIL JANSKY- Best Improved SailorBen Reeve – Volunteer of the Year
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FINAL SCORES FOR 2022
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January 28 Points- IOM & DF95
Please don’t be fooled by these beautiful sunny images. A cool grey coastal marine layer dominated most of our day.
Bob Williams was our volunteer RD for the IOM and DF95 fleets. Thank You BOB!
Special recognition to the volunteers that made our racing today possible.
Steve Ross-Scoring Assistant
Pat Nevitt- Score Keeper
Chris Staiger- Marks & Skiff Cleanup
Fred Rocha manned the skiff and set numerous creative course situations. Pesky light south wind forced a skinny upwind leg for the IOM heats. DF95 skippers benefited by a moderate shift of breeze to the SW. Fred moved marks, once again, for sailing a more standard course for our pond.. Believe it or not-The sun was not out this much. Thank You Fred!
See the marine layer?
VC Sail- Steve Ross,
First, I would like to thank all of our volunteers for making Points happen for IOM’s and DF95’s. Bob Williams was the RD for the day, Thank you, Bob! Next, is Chris Staiger assisting with setting the course, also a Huge thank you to Fred Rocha for his racecourse management on a very challenging shifty wind that started with a light South East wind direction slowly shifting to South West. Fred spent most of the day in the dinghy and reorienting the race course with the shifting wind. Finally, I would like to thank Pat Nevitt for doing the scoring with a very quick turnaround on the results. Also, I would like to welcome Jess Atkinson to the Argonauts. Jess took everybody to school by winning the IOM and DF95 in a convincing victory in both fleets. Jess is a lovely guy with a wealth of knowledge of RC sailing.
Special thanks to our new members and all that participated today!
The Argonauts had a really nice turnout for the final Saturday series of the 2022 sailing season. Sunny weather held throughout the day with a surprisingly consistent west breeze in the 4-6 mph range. Each fleet had 6 races with the DF95 skippers on the water first. The starting clock sounded at 12:05pm and the fleet was challenged to a medium course. Light conditions prevailed and fear the wind gods might abandon our pond, the remaining 5 races were assigned our short race course. Dennis Roger’s sailed a beautiful series finishing at the top! A great way to finish off the year!
Thank You-Race Management Volunteers
DF 95 RD- Gil Jansky
Scoring Assistant- Steve Ross
IOM RD- Scott Harris
Scoring Assistant- Paul Hart
Skiff & Mark Clean up- Kim & Gil
The IOM fleet had their turn on the pond with nearly identical wind conditions. Skippers chose sailing six races in a row in order to maximize wind and the expiring afternoon daylight. A few medium races and the rest short courses made it a good day on the water. Thanks to all our skippers today! We look forward to 2023 and a growing competitive IOM fleet.
DECEMBER EVENTS
DEC. 17 – HOLIDAY PARADE OF LIGHTS
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AWARDS BANQUET
Mark is now actively collecting fees for our awards banquet. The cost will be $30.00 per person. In order to expedite matters, please pay with a check made out to the San Diego Argonauts.
Send Check to: Mark Hallberg
4989 Old Cliffs Road
San Diego, CA. 92120
Or, hand check to Mark at the Pond. Please include the number of guests you are bringing.
Mark would like to have a final count for the MBYC administration by the middle of December. They would be expecting at least 40 attendees. Realize, also, that this get together is for the entire club membership, though Sail Awards will be given out. Both the Scale and Power division members are invited.
This will be our first banquet in a few years and it will be held at an excellent venue. January 21st, 2023. Hor D’Oeuvers are served at 5PM, with dinner at 6PM.
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2023 Membership Drive
Tis the season to renew your San Diego Argonauts annual membership. The process is easy, fast and affordable! Here are a few easy steps to get another fun year of activities and Camaraderie with our unique R/C boat club.
Fill out the 2023 Membership Form that can be downloaded from this website.
$20 cash or check, with completed Membership Form to Gil Jansky.
Endorse $20 check to San Diego Argonauts R/C Model Boat Club.
Mail to:
Gil Jansky
10641 Gabacho Dr.
San Diego, Ca 92124
PayPal – Contact the Purser:
purser@sandiegoargonauts.com
Request a membership PayPal invoice and pay using the link you receive via email (no need to have a PayPal account).
Your support and participation is greatly appreciated.
Today’s points racing had a respectable attendance with ten boats in each fleet. Skippers experienced warm pond-side sunshine and light onshore winds most of the day. Gerry Wold, our RD for both fleets, ran a tight ship. Skippers meeting was called at 11:45am and we were on the clock at 12:05 sharp. The IOM fleet was on the line first and completed 6 races with a mix of medium and long courses. Nice sailing guys!
A big thank you to our assistants:
RD: Gerry Wold
Boat Shed and cleanup: Steve Ross
Scoring: Bob Hirsch
The DF95 fleet jumped into the pond next with lighter wind conditions and challenging glare from the late afternoon sun. Courses were medium, then later modified to short with the fading wind. All six races were completed.
DECEMBER EVENTS
Dec. 3 – ODOM, SOL50 Points
Dec. 10 – DF95, IOM Points
DEC. 17 – SCALE HOLIDAY LIGHTS
AWARDS BANQUET
Mark is now actively collecting fees for our awards banquet. The cost will be $30.00 per person. In order to expedite matters, please pay with a check made out to the San Diego Argonauts.
Send Check to: Mark Hallberg
4989 Old Cliffs Road
San Diego, CA. 92120
Or, hand check to Mark at the Pond. Please include the number of guests you are bringing.
Mark would like to have a final count for the MBYC administration by the middle of December. They would be expecting at least 40 attendees. Realize, also, that this get together is for the entire club membership, though Sail Awards will be given out. Both the Scale and Power division members are invited.
This will be our first banquet in a few years and it will be held at an excellent venue. January 21st, 2023. Hor D’Oeuvers are served at 5PM, with dinner at 6PM.
A pesky low pressure system fouled our wind and weather for our Oct 15 pond sailing fleets! Despite threatening sky’s and extremely variable conditions, determined skippers tested their skills and luck.
Our robust DF95 fleet sailed their series of 6 races first. Medium course was generally the rule until late in the series when things were shortened up due to a waning breeze.
The IOM fleet had their turn in the pool just in time for the gentle breeze to turn into barely a breath. Race one, the short course, was just about an all day sucker! IOM race two, a medium course, began in true ghosting conditions. With the lifeless fleet spread out and drifting the rain and thunder eventually finalized this race day. Most made it through the finish line and the IOM’s retired after two drifters.
This is Ghosting.. Appropriate for Halloween?
A Special recognition to our RD’s: Craig Mackey and John Roger’s. Also thank you Jason Brooks and Kim Robinson for mark setting and retrieval. Your help is appreciated by all!
Bob Williams fired up the grill and served up yummy hot dogs for deserving participants. Several skippers commented the BBQ was the highlight of the day.
We had a nice turnout of sailors even though the weather service was threatening us with wind and rain, remnants of Hurricane Kay. Needless to say Kay was mostly a bust when it came to the velocities of wind that was predicted. I think we were all agreeable with the cooler temperatures and light rains the tropical system delivered to the pond.
Kay-Renant Low
Ben Reeve and Scott Harris did an outstanding job managing one of the more challenging days on the pond to be the Race Directors! The light early onshore flow clocked to south east and south with very low flow. DF95 skippers went first and drifted through the difficult conditions. The course became rather interesting when starting was reversed (west to east) with starboard gate rounding and long reaching legs. A wind delay held the series to 5 races.
Our IOM fleet seems to be growing slowly and it is was great to see John Castilli back on our local waters. Dennis Rogers tried out his new BritPop and he seems to be very happy! It’s a beautiful rig! When it was time for the IOM fleet to begin their series the wind spiked out of the south and south east. Reverse starting on a beam reach was the name of the game and it was fast action to the first starboard rounding gate. This was pretty much the theme for the six race series. Nice Sailing!
The drone did not launch last weekend due to missing software updates. So recordings were brief and from the sidelines. Thank you Kerim & Sean for the 3rd video.
We had a nice turnout for both fleets. Eddy winds, everyones favorite (just kidding), was the theme for this Saturday’s DF95 & IOM points racing. Wind pulses, lulls and holes presented a veritable obstacle course that enabled all skippers opportunities and disappointments during their 6 race series. Thanks to all that participated!
DF95 Race Director- Greg Williams
IOM Race Director- Scott Harris
Prior to our racing schedule Ken Campbell offered up some useful tips on Windward Leeward Rights at the starting line and Proper Course at the weather mark, during his Racing Rules Seminar. Several followup questions on finish line right of way issues were also discussed. Thank you Ken.
Footage from this past weekend’s IOM Point Races captured in a series of 5 videos. Races 1,2, 4, 5, 6 were recorded. Race 4 was recorded partially (second upwind leg and beyond). Race 5 had some technical difficulties at the end. Thank You Karim for the extraordinary drone perspective!
The day ended with a fine Hot Dog BBQ prepared by, VC of Sail / Chef, Bob Williams. We all thank Bob for his ongoing support and enthusiasm for our passion of RC Sailing!
Eddy wind conditions seemed to tease an apparent disagreement with our weak onshore flow. So-back and forth the argument went, most of the day!
Conditions were described as some of the most challenging winds we have experienced on our pond for quite some time. Ken Campbell described it like this – “There were a lot of opportunities out there today”.
No matter what your position on the water happened to be, there was no denying the variable wind angles and velocities we all experienced! Nice sailing to all skippers that participated!
Todays Race Directors:
IOM-RD Scott Harris
DF95 RD- Kim Robbins
A special thanks to any extra hands that helped make our racing day possible.
Thank You Ken Campbell for July scores and cumulative points for the 2022 Sailing Season. There are five more months of challenging racing for skippers waiting to jump into the pond!! Please join the fun.
VC Bob Williams. You can’t keep this man down!! Bob deserves a standing ovation and full round of applause for his efforts in keeping our club moving forward and in fresh cooked hot dogs after each Saturday of points racing.
THANK YOU BOB!
If you have not experienced the post racing BBQ. Well why??
Cool weather, thick stratus and spring time eddy breezes were the dominant forces at our sailing pond today with IOM and DF 95 skippers navigating the highly variable aquatic landscape!
VC Bob Williams motivated todays enthusiastic team of RD’s and support team. Our group expresses genuine appreciation to Kerim Baran, Ken Wild and Steve Delva for RD duties and course setting. Ken Campbell’s Racing Rules Clinic/Score keeper and Bill Bridge and numerous other hands assisted with clean up!
We had a respectable showing of eight IOM skippers. Plus a generous showing in the DF 95 fleet, with twenty boats challenging the starting line. Thank you to all that participated!
Sailing Rules Clinic – Starboard vs. Port & Tacking
IOM Races 1 to 6 (#1,2,3,6 from the start/finish line, #3,4,5,6 from drone)
DF 95 Starting Action
After a strenuous day of sailing skippers were treated to another great hotdog bbq at the boat shed. Thank you Bob Williams for another fun day at the pond!
March was an active month on our pond with three consecutive weekends of sailing events! Thank You, to all that participated!
The month wraps up with IOM and DF95 fleets, with a competitive day of sailing. Winds were favorable all day and each fleet easy completed a series of six races.
Prior to racing and our skippers meeting Ken Campbell conducted a 10 minute discussion with the topics When do the Rules Apply and Proper Hailing. Hailing is a subject all skippers are aware of, but challenged to initiate, while engaged on the water. There were numerous questions and clarifications during this seminar. The challenge to all is taking the knowledge to the race course. Kerim documented the class:
When do the Rules Apply
Proper Hailing
Before the races, Commodore Mark Hallberg recognized volunteers by handing out cash awards to those who routinely contribute to club activities. This was a huge incentive to get involved with our club. Don’t spend your dividends all in one place!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
IOM’s were on the course at noon, greeted by southwest winds in the 6-8mph range. Medium courses were the norm. As the day progressed and the IOM’s had a few races under their belt, winds shifted right for a little variation. Nice conditions!
The fleet of twelve DF95 started their series of six races with slightly freshening wind conditions and competitive racing. Chris Stager is back on the Argonauts sailing circuit with years of RC racing experience. It’s great to see the level of competition continue to grow!
At the end of the day Bob Williams, on his 80th Birthday, fired up the grill and served delicious hot dogs. Happy Birthday Bob.. Thank you for all you do!
IOM’s Video 1 of 16: (Automatically continues to the next video, or click next arrow)
VOLUNTEERS MAKE THESE EVENTS POSSIBLE-SMOOTH-AND FUN!
THANK YOU TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED TODAY:
Bill Bridge – Skiff and Mark Prep
Ken Campbell – Rules Seminars & Points Scoring
Ben Reeve – Registration & Collections
Kerim Baran – IOM RD and Drone Video Documentarian
Gil Jansky – Course Marks / RD DF95 series
Commodore, Mark Hallberg – Assistant RD and Scoring
