CAL25

US758 Never Alone – Comes out on top !!!

The North Channel Race is hands down is the best distance race a Cal25 can do and is my favorite sailing race of the year. If you’ve never had the chance to experience it add it to your bucket list. If you’ve done it then I’m sure you have a story to tell from it and those are priceless.

As usual the 10 day forecast before the race didn’t disappoint in the form of an emotional rollercoaster leading up to the start. We saw survival mode in  high wind speeds to another drifter like we had in 2023, sunny skies to rain, and a little of everything in between temperature wise.  Hurricane season was in full swing down in the south east United States and likely pulling on the strings of our weather condition excitement.

The race took place on the same weekend as Cal 25 nationals in Annapolis so across the country we had boats leaving the dock to enjoy some competition in our optimized racing machines.

 

Click here to see the complete results on YachtScoring…

As mother nature willed it conditions fell somewhere in between the extremes and the fleet was gifted with mid 60’s, clouds, light rain and a disturbed sea state at 8am for the start after a 25-35kt northeaster blowing down the lake the day prior.  Fortunately the wind had come down but not died and we started to see #1’s going up across the fleet for the start. It was likely top end for a #1 at times but needed with the waves vs a smaller sail.

Our tentative pre-race plan involved playing the shore until 9mile then pushing out to work right. Try to never leave the fleet and check back in whenever boats started to separate too much. This adventure tends to be multiple races in one and a hard fought trip across the lake can be quickly lost with a race reset in the river.

Pre-race Goal’s:

• Get across the lake still in the hunt
• Stay with the leaders from PH1 until Decker’s Landing if the leaders aren’t us.
• Duke it out in river and be become the leaders by the Russell island buoy since good luck with a lead change during a downwind sleigh ride home.

As it turned out, that race plan changed slightly when we were stuck behind a pile up of boats all trying to win the boat end of the line. We quickly bailed out into the lake for some clean air then headed back in to shore. (Tracker below for the start of the race, I know I know I wish I had the whole race too!)

Until 8/9mile road the fleet had yet to make any major splits and everyone was close together crossing tacks and daring how far they wanted to go to shore before running out of wind and water (maybe current too?). After that point the fleet started to spread out across the lake and any leverage the shoreline may have had fell away.

After keeping an eye on the fleet and working right where possible we slowly re-converged with some boats and found ourselves between Chickenhawk the leaders and Antelope a close 3^rd . We all were pressing up and out into the lake trying to keep the boats moving which was a real challenge. The wave conditions had made it difficult to get up to speed and maintain it. Any time one of us came down off a wave poorly, boat speed would drop from 5.5 to 3.0 and would take a long time to recover with how confused the cop was. This was especially noticeable as Chickenhawk was able to shower our excited crew with Fireball shots all while sailing from leeward of us across our bow into an even more controlling position and arguably a better angle to continue raining down shots. An absolute highlight of the race but one of many to come!

While the three of us had pressed out some, Pepper and Black–Hercules Mulligan–Dog had covered the shore where in the past its certainly paid dividends. For sure something to keep an eye on but nothing we could do from our position and would let the entrance into Anchor bay decide how it sorted out.

Approaching PH1 the first mark of the course, Chickenhawk had extended their lead but only to shouting distance and a few other fleets had descended on us to make the challenge of navigating the narrow channel even more exciting… If you’ve never done this race, think of this as a series of field goal posts you have to go through and going much outside of them may give you a fairly sudden stop. The addition of an Express 27, J24, a 36ft boat and two Cal’s all navigating this together up wind, in current, made it especially exciting…

Chickenhawk extended their lead through here as a few of these other boats became road blocks for us. We did appreciate hearing Andy on Chickenhawk identify that there was “some muddy water around them” after a tack of theirs disturbed the bottom which may have helped them keep their distance from the other boats. His delivery was better than I do it justice here, but the comic relief was well appreciated. As a general rule of thumb, in this race if you aren’t touching (ground) you aren’t trying hard enough.

I likely should have also mentioned that as you enter Anchor bay the wave conditions start to flatten out which was a nice change after crossing the lake all morning. The breeze had also started to die here and getting through a 1-4knot current upwind in light breeze is where the next challenge starts.

There are advantages to being in the lead and sometimes the rich get richer in sailing, but in this race being slightly behind the leader at the North Channel gives you opportunities to learn and try something different to get upstream.

• Stay close in the lake. (complete)
• Stay close through Anchor Bay. (complete)
• Make your move in the river before Russel island. ( ___TBD______)

And that’s how it played out. We were fortunate to be slightly behind coming into Decker’s Landing where the breeze was stronger toward the middle of the river. Seeing this we rolled the dice and passed Chickenhawk, the J24 and the Express here who all had mostly full sails further out in the river but also more current. We ghosted along the shore mostly out of the wind but also current to take the lead.

Around the bend the wind fully died for a time and we used this opportunity to drop sails and swap into one better in lighter air. This next part of the race while only a short distance, consumed the greatest patience, highest number of tacks, and most stress of the day. I won’t go into too much detail but the bullets below describe our experience.

• Person on the bow watching for depth (visually)
• Rotating spinnaker gear in the hopes we can use it
• Deciding  if we can make it around an anchored barge or could go inside of it.
• “Getting” to go swimming
• More tacks than we could count
• ·Raining harder than it all day
• Going 0.001knots for 10 minutes in front of the car ferry waiting to launch as the driver twirled his fingers in a “can you hurry up motion”
• Making it around the last turn where you can see the Russel island buoy and see how close behind the fleet was. (note at this point Pepper, Black Dog, Chickenhawk and Antelope had all caught up to striking range) This last turn was met with very little wind and few places to get out of the current. The end finish times don’t reflect how close the fleet really was at this point. Everyone still had a chance to win in the last stretch with the very light air and fighting the current. The first boat to round gets on the express way home.
• Tacking up the Algonac shore and getting excited every time we made a few feet.
• Having an unexpected Little Creasers Pizza delivered just before the turn down stream. Thanks Adam and Mac!
• Going twice as far as was needed up stream just to be sure we were going to make it around that turning mark.
• Launching the kite and going from 0.01-1knot upstream to 7+knots downstream. Pizza was had, more beers cracked.
• Opening up the insulated bag to find that dinner was still warm. My awesome wife Karly heats bricks in the oven pre-race to pack dinner around. That nights meal was stuffed baked potatoes with the inside hallowed out and pizza sauce, cheese, and sausage with a small amount of potato still inside. Sounds funky but it’s a great hand food for a race and usually stays hot until dinner.
• Only were forced to drop the kite once going down stream to climb with the #1.
• Followed the channel back all the way to the finish.
• Was watching a bow light behind us getting closer.
• Found out that it was a bigger boat motoring back that had dropped out.

It’s my favorite race of the year, you can’t change my mind.
Can’t wait for the next one! Come out next year and make some stories you’ll remember forever!

Cal-25 US758 Never Alone
–Ross Nuechterlien

Annapolis MD   Sep 27 – 29

This year’s Cal-25 National Championship was hosted by the Annapolis Fleet and the National Trophy was dedicated to Charlier Husar, a long time Annapolis fleet supporter and promoter. Lisa Finney and the many volunteers that assisted her organized an outstanding event featuring great racing and fun social events.

This regatta was made even more special sailing with my good friends Ken Swetka and Paul Nuechterlein alongside my son Andy. We sailed with only four crew members as past years proved to be light air competitions, whereas most boats this year opted for five or six crew members.

We sailed in predominantly over powered conditions the first day but managed to do well. We thought we should have finished at least second in the first race but fouled our good friends from California, One More Time, on a port/starboard incident so we did our penalty turn and subsequently ended up fourth. We finished the first day of racing scoring 4, 2, 2, 2. Two of our second places were beating our friends from California literally by inches at the finish. At the end of the first day of racing, Thor was solidly in first place with four bullets, followed by Patriot, One More Time, The Hotness and Fahrvergnugen rounding out the top five.

The second day of racing featured light winds and we were very excited since we were perhaps the lightest crew in the class. We were very fast in the lighter conditions and finished first with a nice lead. We watched the series leader, Thor, work his way back from mid fleet and were momentarily encouraged we would tie the series, but Thor sailed an outstanding leg to finish second and keep his series lead. Unfortunately for us, the RC abandoned any further racing for the day as the wind lightened up a little more. We were confident we would have done well in the light conditions. With only one race on the day, there were no position changes within the top five boats.

The third and final day presented us with winds to our liking as we had everyone on the rail at all times. In fact, we found ourselves slightly overpowered again during the first race but were able to win. With each race we closed the gap on Thor. With the final race of the day, we needed to win and place a boat between us and Thor to win the championship. We were able to break Thor’s overlap and round the leeward mark slightly ahead of them with One More Time rounding the opposite gate almost simultaneously. Our plan was coming to fruition – stick close to Thor and get a boat between us and him to win the event. My son Andy was responsible for telling me what Thor was doing as they were rounding the mark. I especially needed to know if they were going to tack; as we would tack too and cover. After about five boat lengths from the mark Thor still hadn’t raised their headsail and something appeared wrong. About half way to the last windward mark Andy reported seeing someone going up Thor’s mast in a bosun chair. As it turned out they lost/skyed both their jib and spin halyards and went up the mast on the main halyard. Unfortunately, by the time Thor got back underway, most of the fleet had past them. We rounded the windward mark just behind One More Time and realizing we were going to win the event, we enjoyed the last downwind leg to the finish finishing behind One More Time.

Congratulations to the Hall of Fame Inductees – Steve Bandy, Tim Bloomfield and Brian Shenstone – who all have made their mark and contributions to the class. It was moving to hear the tribute to Charlie Husar, with his family members present. Charlie left a lasting impression on all who knew him and on the Cal-25 community.

Thank you to those who worked behind the scenes, including our family who provided us support so we could concentrate on sailing. Special thanks to Eric for hosting a great party at his beautiful house. The food was great and the conversations were lively. Finally, we want to thank the Annapolis fleet for hosting this memorable regatta and providing some great fellowship on the water and at the social events.

John McAllister
US466 Patriot

Click here to see racing results…

Crescent Sail Yacht Club hosted the first annual Crescent One Design Regatta this summer and showed that small boat one design racing is strong in Detroit. Ten fleets represented both keel and centerboard boats. The PROs Champ Glover and Matt Bounds set the courses for great racing. The Cal 25s ended up with a great six race series and eleven well sailed Cals on the line. We were rewarded with great food, live entertainment, and bonfires on the beach. It was a great experience for all sailors and families that attended. With three bullets, Paul and Ross Nuechterlein won the Cal-25 event on Never Alone followed by John Harper on White Fang, Dana and Keith Ziegler on Thor, John McAllister on Patriot,  and Curt Rozelle on Pepper.

Paul Nuechterlein
US758 Never Alone

Click here to see racing results…

Friends of Charlie Husar,

Very very sad news ~ Charlie died peacefully at 2:08PM today (March 30, 2024). “Sunshine of Your Love” was playing on the TV music channel.

Jim Pembroke, a long time and dear friend was with him at the hospice care facility when he passed. Please pass on the news to all of those who knew Charlie. I was so hoping he could have gotten his trophy in person. He so loved the CAL25 fleet and all of you.

— Harken7777@aol.com  (Annapolis Fleet)

Guys,

Sorry to inform you but Charlie Husar passed away today; peacefully while sleeping. As you know he has been afflicted with serious cancer for quite some time.

I was seriously hoping that they would be able to get the trophy change to him while still living but it’s my understanding that they were not. I hope I’m wrong. Too bad.

He was a good man and absolutely loved Cal 25 racing. I vividly remember our first meeting; Brian, Charlie and I met years ago in Las Vegas. At that time the three fleets (Detroit, Annapolis and Long Beach) were doing their own thing in a lot of areas. We met for two days in a Las Vegas hotel room and “homogenized” the rules. We are still guided by those rules today.
I’m going to miss him. I can guarantee you that a few Scotches will be consumed tomorrow in his memory.

Please say a prayer for him tomorrow during Easter services and keep him in your thoughts.

–Art Melendres (Long Beach Fleet)

 

Friends,

We are sad to hear of Charlie’s passing. We were fortunate to get to know Charlie on three trips to Annapolis to sail the Cal-25 National Championships. His legendary dark and stormies on the Burnside dock and sharing stories was a highlight of the regatta. He was a happy soul and always willing to help with whatever anyone needed. Thankfully we were able to celebrate his induction into the Cal-25 Hall of Fame at the last Annapolis Nationals. Charlie was very touched by this award, and it was a moving experience for all who were present.

It is unfortunate we did not get the Cal-25 National Trophy to him before his passing as it was unanimously agreed upon to dedicate this trophy in his name. Charlie’s memory will live on with the passing of this Trophy and in the hearts of all who knew him.

Click here to see Charlies generous university gift …

Please feel free to leave a comment or a Charlie story on this site for all to enjoy and commemorate Charlie…

–John McAllister  (Detroit Fleet)

Rebuild of Hull #1 – This is the restoration of the very first Cal-25 hull built !!!

Well it finally appears that we have finally completed the project of rebuilding Cal 25 Hull # 1.

This endeavor started in the summer of 2017 when my son Scott and crewman Pat Graham found hull #1 languishing in a home dock on Naples Island in Long Beach, CA. Once they verified its authenticity as the “first Cal 25 off the assembly line” it was purchased for the grand sum of $600.00. The original plan was to trailer our current boat “One Time” (hull #50) to the Detroit Nationals, sell it there for $6000.00 and utilize the proceeds towards restoring #1. Thus far I have spent slightly north of $23,000.00 on the restore and are still counting, albeit at a slightly slower pace. My business acumen knows no bounds.

I have no intention of misleading you. As I write this somewhat lengthy description I often use the pronoun “we.” I did this because it was convenient to do so. In actuality the entire endeavor was the result of a division of responsibilities. My son did “ALL” of the work and I wrote “ALL” of the checks.

On to the restoration: Upon first inspecting #1 it did not appear to be in too bad of condition. In fact nothing could have been further from the truth. As the old saying goes, “you can’t bid what you can’t see.” Well, in this case we didn’t “see” a whole lot. The bottom was in such a state that it was surprising that it hadn’t already sunk. Blisters were everywhere. Termites infested virtually every piece of wood above the water line. Dry rot and water logged wood were prevalent.

Phase One:
The first order of business was to put a bottom on it to prevent sinking.  Thereafter virtually all of the decking had to be torn out, repaired and/or replaced.  The transom had to be totally rebuilt. Ditto with the mast step.  None of the hardware was salvageable. Winches, cleats, chain plates, standing rigging and anything else that is affixed to the boat needed to be replaced. Previous owners drilled holes everywhere and each one had to be filled. New windows of course. There was a huge hatch hole on the front deck that had to be filled. I guess a previous owner had installed an air vent for ventilation or something. At any rate it had to go and it did, although filling the hole so that it was structurally sound was no easy project. The mast was salvageable but just barely. It had to be refurbished and and then painted. Not so lucky with the boom. It was tossed in the trash heap and replaced with a new one.

Most of this work was done while the boat was in the water which, as it turns out, caused some of our neighbors (unknown snitches) to complain to marina management that the boat was an eyesore and detrimental to the neighborhood. We were prime candidates to be piled on. Fortunately, the marina people worked with us and cut us some slack. In the end we didn’t disappoint them.

As sidelight while all of this was going on we actually took the boat out for a race. While heading for the starting line we were still drilling holes for equipment so that we could sail the darn thing. We didn’t win but it made for an interesting topic at the bar afterward.

Phase 2:
Once all of the above was completed the boat was in pretty good sailing condition. The deck was laid out exactly the way we wanted it and all of the equipment was in good condition. The problem was that it looked like hell. It’s not within me to own an ugly boat so this condition needed to be rectified. The whole exterior above the rub rail was painted with several coats of the best marine paint we could find. The interior wood of which much was rotted was repaired or replaced. It was then varnished or painted as appropriate. New cushions were purchased and new rugs installed.

Phase 3:
Back to the boatyard so we could give her the “racing bottom” she deserved. This meant that we could fare the bottom, eliminate the blisters, long board the heck out of it, put on a primer/sealer coat and then spray paint it to our hearts content. We then smoothed the whole thing out. Smoother then the proverbial “baby’s bottom.” While there we painted the hull. We also attached lifting points on the keel to facilitate lifting it out of the water. Things were looking more then just pretty good.

In conclusion there’s still a few minor things that need to be done to the interior. They’re all cosmetic in nature but as we all know you’re never really done tinkering with a boat. Are you?

Some of you, like my son and I, are in love with Cal 25s and don’t think there’s anything on the water that is better.  We’re proud to be the owners of the first one ever made and even more proud that it is in “mint condition.”

Many names were considered but we settled on “One More Time” because it fit.  Our plan is to trailer it to the Annapolis Nationals in September 2021. If you’re there and you want to take a look then feel free to do so. If you’re ever in Long Beach, CA and want to do likewise then give me a call and I’ll be glad to show you. We might even just take it for a tour of the harbor.

— Art Melendres

Related posts

• Restoration of hull #1 – Art & Scott Melendres (Part 2 of 3)
• The Very First Cal 25 (Part 1 of 3)

Congratulations to US1029 Holmebrew and crew for capturing the coveted Detroit Cal-25 Season Championship by winning both the Cal-25 Short Course (WL) and Long Course (PP) championships.

US1029 holmebrew

Owner David Holme
Club Bayview Yacht Club

Click here to see more …
 
 
 

The first Wet Wednesday series is in the books (May-20 – Jun-24, 2015). Congratulations to One Time. They came out with their hair on fire with three bullets in the first three races. Tiburon tried to fight back with 2 bullets of their own in the ensuing two races. So it was really a match race between One Time and Tiburon last night. Tiburon had a chance if they could get themselves a victory and beat One Time on the tie breaker. It didn’t happen. One Time took care of business with a bullet to close out the series with an impressive victory. We missed Iguana last night, they were unable to make it out. Story I heard was that Dennis was boozing all day and forgot where he left the boat? I’ve got to give a shout-out to Go Big Daddy. They sailed great last night and almost rounded the weather mark in first place. One Time squeezed by them in first, Go Big Daddy in second followed by Tiburon in third. With the wind holding steady it was a routine finish with no drama in the channel. Click here to see more …

OK we have about seven weeks to go before Nationals (August 15th and 16th). That should give everyone plenty of time to get their boats and crews squared away. If you’re going to make one regatta this year, please make it the Nationals! Talk it up, get as many people fired-up as possible. There are boats that are available should someone want to put a crew together and enter. I guarantee it will be fun!

Long Beach Fleet Captain

— Felix Basadre