2018 CAL25 National Championship

Chesapeake Bay, Sep 1 – 3

The 2018 National Championship was held in Annapolis Maryland over Labor Day weekend. Charlie Husar did a great job organizing the event and communicating all the necessary details. There were no less than ten maps provided to the Detroit boats for places, marinas and places of interest.  A huge thank-you! goes out to Marty and Eric Lodstrom for graciously launching and hauling out Keith Ziegler’s Thor  and John McAllister’s Patriot at their harbor Scandia. The hospitality afforded to us was second to none and the Annapolis sailors made us feel comfortable and at home throughout the regatta.

The weather conditions experienced during the event were similar to what we see in Detroit on Lake St Clair. Lots of chop, light winds and the occasional excessive powerboat wake. Kudos to the race committee for wisely postponing a couple races until conditions were favorable for racing.

Day 1
Only one race was scheduled for the first day and featured a 14.3 nm long distance race rounding several govt marks and contending with an anchored freighter.  The penalty for OCS was severe: 15 minutes added to your finish time in addition to the amount of time you started early. Thankfully everyone had a good clean start. The two Detroit boats got out in front maintaining a significant lead until after rounding the last mark when they found themselves in a hole, watching the fleet sailing in wind doing an end around on the left. It wasn’t until the fleet was a beam of the two Detroit boats and 1/4 mile out that the wind started to fill in again and favor the right side of the course. Ultimately, Patriot was able to fill her spinnaker before Thor and finished the race first, followed by Thor and Makani taking third place.  At the end of the first day Charlie was pouring his world famous Dark & Stormies dockside!!!

Day 2
Day two featured consistent light air, chop and excessive big powerboat wake. The Cals that were able to accelerate back to hull speed after contending with “big waves” made out well. Both White Cap and One Eyed Jack proved to be fast and displayed sound tactics, with White Cap taking a first in race #2, followed by Patriot and Thor.  One Eyed Jack took first in race #3, followed by Thor and Patriot. These races proved to be exciting and photo finishes needed to determine who beat who at the finish line.  At the end of the day and while the Cal-25s were circling in the harbor waiting for the Burnside Bridge to open, Navy jets flew directly overhead in a tribute to John McCain. Watching the middle plane going vertical with the afterburners rumbling was an awesome site.  A perfect ending to a hard, competitive day of racing.

Day 3
Going into Day 3, only six pts separated the top three boats, with one point between Patriot and Thor.  Again, the crews where challenged with light wind and lumpy conditions. Boat speed and going right on the windward legs proved important all day. The Detroit boats got out in front and battled until the finish with Patriot winning race #4 followed by Thor, Loveshack and One Eyed Jack.  The wind remained constant for the second and final race of the day with One Eyed Jack proving to be the fastest boat and winning with a nice margin followed by Patriot and White Cap rounding out the top three finishers.

John & “Admiral” Tracy’s Patriot (crew: Paul “loose-cannon” Nuechterlein, Minh Ha & Andy “bull-shark” McAllister) finishes were the most consistent during the regatta, winning two races and finishing no worse than 3rd, with nine pts overall. Keith & Dana Ziegler’s Thor (crew: Brian Issacs, Bill Jenkins & Gary Shoemaker) finished second with 14 pts, finishing with three second place finishes, a third and fifth place finish.  Third place honors went to Lee & Kyle Bollhorst’s One Eyed Jack who started off 5th after the first day, but came on strong on the W/L courses, taking two bullets.  Not far behind and rounding out the top five, Tim Bloomfield’s White Cap was fourth and Jim Burdick’s Makani finished in fifth place.

Awards/Party
Plenty of drink and food awaited the sailors at the Port Annapolis Marina. Cheers to Marty for lining up a delicious BBQ dinner and for arranging the shirts and hats “Making Cal-25s great again”  All the crews swapped stories and recapped the days racing. We talked up next year’s Nationals, hosted by the Detroit fleet to the Annapolis sailors. There is interest from several Annapolis owners to attend next year’s Nationals. While we are in the early planning stage, next year’s Nationals will take place over Labor Day weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving Monday as a holiday/travel day. Loaner boats will be limited and procured on a first request basis. Let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending and whether you will bring your own boat or need a loaner boat. Our goal is to have 30+ Cal-25s participating in the event.

All in all, this championship was well planned, well attended and provided three days of fun competitive sailing.  All the crews enjoyed the racing, making new friendships and are already looking forward to the next National Championship.

-Tracy McAllister
US466 Patriot

http://www.cal25.org/2018/07/03/2018-annapolis-cal-25-national-championship/

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