Region 8 Travel Trophy # 2

2-16-2025

Helmsmen Model Yacht Club Long Beach, El Dorado Lake. Twenty-nine competitors showed up from as far away as Arizona to attend the second of seven DF 95 Travel Trophy regattas. A big thank you to Kevin Gault for taking the time to put his crew together and continuing effort in keeping Lake El Dorado venue open to RC sailing. It’s always a huge effort to keep the walkway clean, marks in place, and the many other hidden variables that spring up over a season.

By reviewing the results Jess Atkinson is at one with Lake El Dorado scoring five firsts out of six races and throwing out a second place. I’m not sure how he did it sniffing out every shift and zephyr that crossed the pond. With the light breeze, the deep sigh of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat was a constant throughout the day. This was truly expressed in heats 2 & 5 with Chris Collins having a substantial lead in both races to sail into the doldrums and have me sail up to him and then deal with the winning shift. In race five Collins stayed in the breeze as we approached the finish line while I was dealt the bad card and dropped to third. That is the amazing part of how Atkinson kept his hand on Aces and Eights throughout the day. Atkinson’s sailing was like observing a grandmaster playing chess on six different tables at the same time, and winning each match. If only I can open that door of awareness this season.

The next DF 95 Travel Trophy is April 14-15 in Good Year Arizona at [https://www.sailrc.club/event-6062594](https://www.sailrc.club/event-6062594) entries to date are Gary Rozyk, Gene Elliot, Michael Fruciano, Dennis Sharp, Henry Johnson, Bruce Rasch, Jess Atkinson, Allen Lehman, Bob Speaker, Chris Davidson, Larry Grant, Don Shirley, Len Bose, Rod Sturgess, and Bob Kruft

If you are like me trying to open that “door of awareness?”

Every Tuesday Mason Lake Irvine 11:30-3:30

KHYC Saturday, Feb 22 11:30-

Helmsmen Model Yacht Club Long Beach, Sunday, March 9th

Mason Lake Irvine March 15 11:30-3:30

San Diego Argonauts Mission Bay March 22 11:30-

Let’s Go Sailing!

Len Bose

You can now register for Travel Trophy Regattas

Arizona April 11 & 12 https://www.sailrc.club/event-6062594/RegistrationsList

Sacramento May 3 & 4 https://www.theamya.org/RegattaDetail.asp?RGID=10452

Registration in NOR.

San Diego 17 & 18. R8 Championships. https://sandiegoargonauts.com/. Registration is now the opener for the 2025 AMYA Dragon Flight 95 Region 8 Championships. The Top SIX finishers will qualify for an invitation to the NCR in Newport, RI in October.

Region 8 Travel Trophy # 1

Saturday, December 28, 2024, Alamitos Bay, Long Beach Yacht Club “Holiday Regatta”. This is the start of the DF 95 2024/25 Reg. 8 Travel Trophy Series along with the beginning of a new sailing season. I started the day at 7:00 Am by sending, the organizing authority, Keith Ives a text with a couple of items that came to me in the early morning. Ives must have been on the same wavelength as me because of his quick response, and I am quite certain he had a couple of other concerns about getting the day started.

I had a quick chuckle when being one of the first to arrive, the San Diego crew was already in the parking lot with their boats rigged and game day faces on. Jon & Dennis Rodgers, and Jess Atkinson, Larry Grant was the first to arrive for the home team. Tina & Keith Ives were next to arrive by boat and hit the dock like a U.S. Marine beach landing both headed toward their objectives and completed them ahead of schedule. Chris Raab arrived laughing and said, “Oh man, everyone is here, this is going to be a rather bit challenging today.”

This is the third year for the “Holiday Regatta” which started with fifteen competitors attending and now pushing over thirty entries. This round we had Rod Sturgess driving in from Arizona, Gary Roszyk from Lake Arrowhead, Henry Johnson from Crestline both driving down from the San Bernardino Mountains, Austin Artis came in from Ventura, along with five skippers from the San Diego area all traveling close to two hours plus. This time of year, has proven to be an attractive time to schedule a regatta, and again it’s rather simple to make the trip when you are located in Southern California. I can’t imagine how the folks in Newport Rhode Island who had the saying “Neither Snow, nor rain, nor slush or freezing conditions will keep us from sailing on this weekend. At the Sandusky Sailing Club in Ohio, I noticed photos in hard dinghies breaking ice in the harbor to sail this weekend.

Back to the Long Beach Yacht Club with 5-7 knots of breeze out of the southwest with a cool 63-degree air tempter. Our biggest problem was how to stuff enough sailing in three hours with 29 skippers on the dock ready to sail. The Ives and I looked down the dock and went with Keith’s idea of stretching out the course and going with one division rather than splitting the fleet in an HMS system. We understood the risk of such a large fleet and went for it, yes it had its challenges, yet the cream always seems to rise to the top. Look at the results and my guess you could have picked the top ten at the start of the race. The Ives and their team got in 10 long races. After the skippers meeting, we had our awards presentation of the 2023/24 Travel Trophy with Chris Davidson taking 3rd, Mark Golison in 2nd and Larry Grant being awarded the first Yellow Chair for the victory.

The breeze filled in right on time with most of the competitors looking for the best angle to view the 29-boat starting line. The breeze did shift back and forth a couple of times changing which side of the starting line was favored. The interesting variable was that if you did find yourself on the wrong side of the line you could still make it to the weather mark in good order as long as you kept your bow out in front of the crowd. The following day after racing I checked in with five of the competitors who all said they had a great time, and it all worked out. I wanted to give a Bravo/Zulu for a job well done to Tina Ives, she made it look easy.

The Long Beach Yacht Club is the first yacht club with the insight that Remote Control sailing will continue to grow attracting more members and can be spectated from the Yacht Club itself. LBYC is very fortunate to have a perfect venue that can support a world-class event and be viewed from their club’s balcony. It goes without saying the LBYC recognizes the potential of promoting this class along with an increase in food and beverage sales!

Thank you Jennifer Golison for the photos!

Next TT February 16 Helmsmen Model Yacht Club at El Dorado Park.

Let’s go sailing!

1. Short Video

Len Bose

By: Chris Staiger

Photo by Jennifer Golison

The San Diego Argonauts continued their 45-year triennial tradition by opening Race Week XV with the AMYA 2024 Dragonflite95 National Championship Regatta August 1st – 4th. 42 Skippers, including 3 past DF95 National Champions, from 9 different states competed.

Thursday afternoon began with check-in and practice-racing. Technical Committee members Jess Atkinson and Steve Ross performed check-in and measurement. Skippers were treated to Hot Dogs courtesy of Bob Williams who grilled hot dogs all week for all the Race Week classes!

Friday morning saw the remaining skippers and boats checked-in. Gil Jansky provided coffee and donuts and distributed Gift-Bags containing logo hats, coffee mugs, mini tape measures, stickers (and Cuda Scissors courtesy of Chuck LeMahieu!)
PRO Chris Staiger set 8 marks: an inside leeward Gate, a Starting Line, a Finish Line and two windward marks. The course, which was used for every race in the regatta, consisted of: Start, two windward marks to port, inside leeward Gate, two windward marks to port, inside leeward Gate, Finish. The HMS with 3 Fleets and 4-Boat Promotion/Relegation was utilized, resulting in 17 Boat Heats throughout the event. Finishes and Scoring were recorded by Steve Delva.

Following the Skippers Meeting, competitors were greeted by perfect sailing conditions: mild temperatures and sunny skies with 8 – 10 knots of wind straight down the racecourse with only minor left-right shifts. Friday’s competition was tight, but past Champion, Peter Feldman, dominated by winning 6 straight heats and accumulating only 5 Points for the day (throwing out a First Place!) Local skipper Chris Davidson and past Champion Mark Golison were 2nd and 3rd with past Champion Dennis Rogers close behind in 4th. Daily Sandwiches were provided by Commodore Emeritus Mark Hallberg. Chips, Ice, beverages as well as complete daily pond-side facilities setup and take-down were provided by Site-Manager, Bill Bridge. Friday afternoon Bob again grilled Hot Dogs.

Saturday morning, the perfect conditions continued: Coffee, donuts and 8 – 10 knots straight down the pond! Dan Shier took video play-by-play when he wasn’t racing. Len Bose discovered how powerful the Upgraded DF95 Sail Winch can be: After a sheeting snag, his winch sheared the turning block completely out of the cockpit wall and proceeded to saw a slot in his deck between the cockpit and the hatch! Thanks to Corinthian Award winner Gary Winton, Len was able to continue racing using Gary’s spare hull!

By the end of Saturday, Peter was still in command, but Mark had narrowed the gap as he leapfrogged Chris into 2nd by managing just 15 Points for the day compared to Peter’s 21 and Chris’s 47. Meanwhile, Jess Atkinson scrambled up the leaderboard into 4th. After Day Two the Top-5 were: Peter, Mark, Chris, Jess and Barr Batzer. Following Saturday’s racing, Skippers were treated to an on-site dinner from local favorite Phil’s BBQ, served by Pat and Jan Nevitt and Henry Johnson, and a Prize Drawing was held.

Sunday morning continued the perfect conditions: More coffee, donuts, sandwiches, chips, Gatorade and Hot Dogs! (…and more mild temperatures under sunny skies with 8 – 10 knots straight down the racecourse!) Interestingly, the final day produced no changes in the Top-5
positions but the remainder of the Top-10 changed significantly. Local brothers Dennis and Jon Rogers battled into 6th and 7th Place respectively, just 2 points apart (Rematch, anyone?) Larry Grant, Jim Sears and Keith Ives rounded out the Top-10.
Special thanks to Race Week XV Chairman Gil Jansky who made the impossible seem easy, and to Protest Committee members Steve Ross, Pat Nevitt and Argonauts Commodore Tom Warren (who also manned the rescue boat!)

Photos by Jennifer Golison:

The Winners:

RESULTS:

2024 NCR Results – Final