2015 Cal 25 National Championship overall

by Rick Roberts on 17 Aug 2015 2015 Cal 25 National Championship – The local Cal 25 team of Art and Scott Melendres, Long Beach Yacht Club, became three-time winners in this two-day regatta organized by local Cal 25 Fleet V and hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club.

Redefining the word ‘dominate’, they scored six first place finishes out of a seven race regatta, only slightly stumbling in Saturday’s race four with a second place finish.

High temperatures have been searing Southern California all week and that usually means fluky breeze. But Saturday’s breeze filled in with 10-17 knots. Sunday’s breeze was more shifty but stayed solid at seven to 10 knots which allowed all seven races to go off without a hitch.

Throughout the regatta, whether the Melendres boat, One Time, was first off of the starting line, or buried in the eight-boat pack fighting to get to the front, it became very apparent early-on that they were going to be the boat to beat.

“The results may have indicated something else,” said Art. “But each race was a dogfight.”

The Melendres team is made up of father Art, son Scott, daughter Monica Oviedo, nephew Chris Lopez, Pat Graham and James Yano.

“In a word, we’ve got a great team,” said Art. “Our crew work was excellent. They didn’t blow any tack, any douses… every single move was an excellent execution.

“My son [Scott] is phenomenal. James [bow] absolutely eats the spinnaker in every douse. My daughter is the downwind driver and catches every swell.

“The bottom line is that I’ve got the easiest job on the boat!”

Second place went to Alamitos Bay Yacht Club’s Bob Anderson on Rhyme N Reason.

“I think what helped us out was a little bit of local knowledge,” said Anderson. “When the wind went left or right we were ready for it.

“We don’t sail the Cal 25s all of the time but the crew work ended up pretty solid and we didn’t have any mistakes. We had the right sails for the race, but the crew work was the big part of it.

“But One Time really was the boat to beat.”

Taking third in the regatta was local fleet captain Felix Basadre, Seal Beach Yacht Club, and his boat, Tiburon.

“We had a variety of wind this weekend,” said Basadre. “It was typical Long Beach wind on the first day, but the second day was lighter conditions.

“Certain teams do better in lighter winds, but it didn’t really work out for us.

“One Time is able to sail well in any kind of wind. They were well prepared. We wish we’d done better today to try and catch them, but it just didn’t happen.”

Speaking as the class’s local fleet captain and organizer of this regatta, Basadre commented on the weekend and the Cal 25 class.

“We really can’t say enough about LBYC’s race committee,” said Basadre. “They were well organized and did a really great job.

“We’ve had some challenges in the past with participation, but it was really great to bring eight boats to the line this weekend.”

Final Results
1. Art and Scott Melendres, LBYC, One Time, 1-1-1-2-1-1-1, Eight points
2. Bob Anderson, ABYC, Rhyme N Reason, 5-3-2-3-2-4-3, 22
3. Felix Basadre, Seal Beach Yacht Club, 3-2-3-1-5-3-7, 24
4. Christina and Scott Holcomb, Cabrillo Beach YC, Calamazoo, 2-4-4-5-6-6-2, 29
5. Noah Farrell, South Coast Corinthian YC, Got Wind, 7-6-9DNF-6-4-2-4, 38
6. Dennis Diem, LBYC/ABYC, The Iguana, 4-5-5-4-7-7-6, 38
7. Charlie Husar, Annapolis YC, Chicken Little, 8-8-6-7-3-5-5, 42
8. Charlie Legeman, LBYC, 6-7-9DNF-9DNC-9DNC-9DNC-9DNC, 58