DF95 US National Championship 2025 at Sail Newport and Newport Model Sailing Club

by Kim Cooper 21 Oct 08:11 PDT

Brad Read wins overall - DF95 US National Championship at Newport © Matthew Cohen / cohenphotography.com

"Don't call these toy boats," says Brad Read (Middletown, RI). "These are every bit as serious and competitive as big boat sailing," he adds.

Sailors from all over the U.S., Barbados, and the U.K. traveled to Newport to participate in this weekend's DF95 National Championship at Sail Newport. Entrants were required to qualify at regional events to earn a berth in Newport for the remote-controlled sailing event.

Sunday was the last day of the three-day series of racing. October sailing is considered premium from local sailors, and this weekend did not disappoint with a variety of challenging conditions.

Today, the reliable Newport sea breeze delivered nine knots of southerly and steady wind, which built to an average of 14 knots at the end of the race day. Five more races were completed, bringing the series to a total of 14 races of four flights each.

The racing took place adjacent to the Sail Newport Sailing Center. A crowd gathered to watch the intense competition of tiny boats zip across the water in Brenton Cove.

After Brad's first-place win, Ken Read finished in second place, three points behind his younger brother. Brian Shores (Lakewood, TX) came in third place, with Peter Feldman (Harrison Township, MI) in fourth place and Tony Gonsalves (Bridgetown, Barbados) finishing in fifth place.

Among the fleet, the racing was tight at the starts, around all of the marks, and across each finish line.

However, the fiercest competition was between the two brothers, Brad and Ken. Both world class sailors, with dozens of regional, national, and world championships between them, the Newport sailors were embroiled in a racing duel right to the end.

DF95 US National Championship at Newport - photo © Matthew Cohen / cohenphotography.com

Brad won the day Friday, Ken overtook the first-place position Saturday, and It came down to the final day of racing Sunday to determine which brother would emerge victorious.

"After the first race today, I felt like I was going pretty fast and I didn't have to take chances," Brad says about his strategy to retake the top of the leaderboard. "I was fairly conservative at the start and didn't battle at the windward end, where all the congestion was. I stayed away from people," he says.

In the first two races, Brad got around the top mark in the top three, which would position him to keep the pressure, score well and ultimately win the regatta.

DF95 US National Championship at Newport - photo © Matthew Cohen / cohenphotography.com

The racing continued to be a drag race though, as Ken had a couple of comebacks to close the gap and finish well in the last few races. It still wasn't enough to take first place back, as Brad cinched the national championship before the last race was called.

It's been a lifetime of training and fun sailing rivalry for the Read brothers.

"I'd like to think that Kenny is so good because I push him. But certainly, I would not be nearly as good as I've gotten without him pushing me. The local fleet is just so good and so deep that we've all gotten better together. But certainly Kenny pushed me super hard, and the success I had this weekend was due to the push," Brad adds.

DF95 US National Championship at Newport - photo © Matthew Cohen / cohenphotography.com

The Newport Model Sailing Club, which co-hosted the event with Sail Newport, fleet burst in popularity during the Covid pandemic as a weekend sport.

"I had no idea what we were doing at first. But, it's addicting, I love it, and it's made me a better sailor," Ken, who was recently inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame, says.

"It's like being back to being a solo sailor versus sailing on the big boats that I sail on all the time. When I get on the big boats, I understand everyone's job better," he says.

Brad agrees and adds, "You're a helmsman, a tactician, jib trimmer, main trimmer, you're everything about what makes a sailboat go. To me, that makes us better sailors."

"We expect the remote-controlled sport to continue to grow and come back to Newport with more events," he adds. Sailing in legendary Newport is epic for all sailors he says and the race committee skill is second to none."

As one visiting competitor put it, "Oh, we'll be back, It's like walking into Fenway Park for us."

(L-R) Henry Dipietro, Tony Gonsalves, Peter Feldman, Brad Read, Ken Read, Brian Shores and Tom Kirk - DF95 US National Championship at Newport - photo © Matthew Cohen / cohenphotography.com

Links:

Class website: dragonflite95.us
Regatta website: sailnewport.org/calendar/2025-df95-national-championship
DF 95 Class Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/dragonflite95usa
Results: theclubspot.com/regatta/wW1JTskTze/results

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	Pts
1	88	Read, Brad	1	2	1	1	2	14	2	3	2	2	6	1	3	13	26
2	4	Read, Ken	1	1	12	8	1	1	3	1	1	14	2	2	7	1	29
3	117	Shores, Brian	16	8	2	3	3	2	6	14	3	5	10	4	2	18	62
4	42	Feldman, Peter	1	6	11	7	5	6	5	5	11	1	1	5	15	23	64
5	51	Gonsalves, Tony	2	5	4	2	13	12	11	16	6	9	13	9	1	2	76
6	13	Arndt, Eric	4	16	27	11	4	3	1	18	7	10	7	6	4	5	78
7	111	Fidler, Sean	2	7	3	10	11	9	4	8	8	3	12	14	11	10	86
8	214	Taylor, John	2	3	16	9	6	13	14	2	9	7	8	12	13	11	95
9	175	Batzer, Barr	8	4	19	16	19	27	24	9	4	18	4	7	10	8	126
10	44	Rogers, Jon	4	12	10	13	7	4	16	25	29	21	19	8	6	9	129
11	74	Sears, Jim	5	21	19	19	26	25	15	10	16	4	3	10	12	3	137
12	190	Henshaw, Tommy	6	23	5	19	23	20	10	15	24	11	11	3	9	7	139
13	32	Bradley, Sean	9	34	33	24	24	21	9	4	5	12	9	11	17	14	159
14	9	Innes‑Jones, Scott	3	14	6	4	12	11	18	28	20	22	24	19	16	19	164
15	12	Landeau, Steve	7	17	23	20	10	18	25	20	15	23	20	13	5	4	172
16	109	Ives, Keith	10	9	13	15	27	24	17	22	27	13	5	16	25	16	185
17	11	North, Brig	3	21	20	21	21	15	22	21	19	19	19.9	26	8	15	202.9
18	1	LeMahieu, Chuck	16	59	46	59	14	5	7	13	10	8	14	19	19	32	203
19	45	Luscomb, Jon	16	33	21	25	25	10	12	11	18	6	17	24	26	27	211
20	406	Wakeman, Wiley	7	22	26	29	17	19	19	7	12	15	23	15	29	46	211
21	39	Sahbaz, Burak	10	26	28	26	9	8	13	12	13	16	30	37	40	31	222
22	23	White, Joel	3	13	9	14	15	31	36	34	14	17	29	39	37	22	237
23	71	Boell, Gary	3	10	7	5	8	16	30	46	48	48	33	32	42	6	238
24	7	Bowers, Martin	4	15	14	17	20	22	21	24	22	26	26	31	39	36	242
25	541	Bentz, Bill	5	24	25	12	16	7	8	17	31	37	34	43	35	39	251
26	998	Hayes, Kevin	2	11	8	6	18	32	45	46	42	33	15	20	33	33	253
27	939	Ward, Matthew	5	27	24	23	22	28	23	26	23	24	25	27	18	28	267
28	121	Shier, Dan	9	43	57	37	28	26	20	6	17	20	22	29	27	30	271
29	147	MacLeod, Scott	5	28	22	30	37	23	27	19	25	28	21	28	26.2	35	282.2
30	215	Reggio, Anderson	1	18	15	33	34	36	33	31	35	35	16	21	21	26	284
31	21	Millican, Chuck	11	49	31	36	36	34	37	32	34	25	27	17	14	12	309
32	22	Herve, Philippe	7	30	30	22	31	29	28	29	37	34	33	34	28	25	326
33	430	Campbell, Michael	6	25	17	20	29	39	29	38	41	30	41	46	47	33.5	348.5
34	15	Feldman, Mike	6	32	32	35	38	37	40	43	28	32	40	35	22	20	357
35	14	Shluger, Bob	12	48	53	52	40	17	26	27	21	29	35	33	36	40	364
36	187	Pace, Brian	6	29	34	27	30	41	43	56	54	58	45	23	24	17	373
37	43	Rogers, Dennis	14	39	36	46	54	30	31	39	33	36	19	30	33	37	377
38	85	Grant, Larry	9	38	46	59	39	33	39	37	26	31	36	38.4	58	47	419.4
39	90	Sumner, Charlie	12	52	52	39	41	40	34	35	36	38	42	36	41	29	423
40	59	Roszyk, Gary	13	53	51	51	51	49	32	33	30	45	54	25	20	24	424
41	78	Sole, Matt	4	19	29	46	58	43	59	41	46	47	47	42	33	46	443
42	531	Collins, Chris	12	55	54	49	57	54	53	57	46	27	28	22	23	21	444
43	97	Bose, Len	14	47	48	28	33	38	35	30	38	42	56	51	43	53	447
44	112	Bailey, William	8	37	46	46	48	44	44	40	39	39	38	40	38	34	447
45	62	Saindon, Michael	16	51	49	59	56	35	38	42	51	40	37	38	34	41	472
46	47	Sollas, Tom	8	36	42	34	33	45	52	48	44	43	57	53	50	44.8	479.8
47	933	Pascalides, James	7	31	43	48	46	48	47	36	43	49	59	57	51	46	495
48	38	Shaw, Mike	12	42	55	50	50	47	55	23	32	41	43	47	54	59	496
49	93	DeJong, Fokka	10	35	35	38	42	46	50	49	56	54	49	58	48	49	505
50	445	Pike, Buster	9	44	37	46	43	51	49	47	59	50	53	52	44	52	524
51	884	Brodsky, Rob	13	45	58	59	35	42	46	53	47	46	51	50	52	50	530
52	191	Gazelle, Scott	10	41	39	40	47	53	48	52	49	57	46	54	57	51	530
53	64	Boissoneault, Hank	11	50	38	46	44	50	41	46	53	51	48	55	55	54	532
54	5	Hogan, Brendan	8	40	41	46	55	55	51	55	55	52	52	48	46	42	536
55	82	Roberson, Michael	11	56	47	47	53	57	42	51	40	44	50	46	56	55	542
56	107	Cadman, Larry	11	54	40	33	59	58	57	58	57	53	44	56	53	38	554
57	48	Elliott MD, Eugene	15	46	56	53	49	52	56	50	52	56	39	41	46	59	555
58	665	Corkell, Anthony	13	57	50	59	52	56	54	54	50	55	55	49	49	48	585