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2024 Cal-25 National Championship

August 26 – August 28

PL SAIL YACHT OWNER/SKIPPER Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 PTS
1 466 Patriot John / Tracy McAllister 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 15
2 688 Thor Keith Ziegler 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 9 20
3 1 One More Time Art / Scott Melendres 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 1 23
4 756 The Hotness  Suzanne Scoville 3 4 4 4 5 2 5 3 30
5 1569 Fahrvergnugen Alisa Finney 7 6 5 5 4 10 7/SCP 7 51
6 1489 Artic Tern H Harkenrider 6 7 14/DSQ 7 7 8 6 8 63
7 1297 Quintet Mike Miller 11 8 7 10 10 9 7 6 68
8 478 Love Shack Barton Goldenberg 12 5 9 8 8 11 11 5 69
9 1226 White Cap Dan Buan 5 11 6 9 9 11/SCP 8 10 69
10 896 Alice David Hoyt 9 10 10 11 11 5 10 4 70
11 1657 Chicken Little Fred Alvarado 10 9 8 6 12 12 19 11 77
12 681 Ronin Peter Sheils 14/DNF 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 6 6 12 12 92
13 1203 Harlequin Leo Surla 8 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 14/DNC 106

Scoring System is ISAF Low Point

2024 Cal 25 National Championship Results

2024 Cal 25 National Championship – Yacht Scoring

2024 Cal 25 National Championship – Spin Sheet Pictures

 


2024 Cal-25 National Championship

Annapolis MD   Sep 27 – 29

2024 CAL25 National Champions
Patriot #466
Ken Swetka, Paul Nuechterlein, Andy & John McAllister
Gallery of Champions

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.

Elizabeth & Magie Boylan

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

2024 Cal-25 Nationals - Comment

The Cal 25 National Championship Regatta has been struggling of late partially due to the Covid Pandemic and the demise of the Long Beach Fleet.  The responsibility of putting it on has fallen to the remaining fleets in Detroit and Annapolis.  Changing it off every year has put a burden on them that has proven difficult to overcome,  resulting in no championship held in 2023.

Having said that,  this year the Annapolis fleet stepped up and elected to host the event.  And what a spectacular job of hosting they did.   Everything was planned and executed to absolute perfection.  The event was held on Chesapeake Bay, Sept 27th, 28th & 29th.  

We elected to compete which meant that our boat “One More Time” had to be towed the full 2728 miles there and back.  Luckily we made it both ways with few problems. Sailing on the Chesapeake  can be a lot of things but “boring” isn’t one of them.  Anyone who’s sailed there knows that in any three day period you can expect, and probably will get, a myriad of conditions.   During this trip we competed in rain, a nasty squall, light wind, medium wind and no wind.   Unfortunately very little sun. Not bad, huh?  

Fourteen boats showed up on the line with four of them being from out of town. The racing was exquisite.  Back and forth, giving and taking with no quarter asked or given and little complaining or grousing (there’s always at least one person). Just a bunch of great sailors going at it tooth and nail.    A boat from Detroit took four bullets on the first day and ended up not winning the regatta.  Go figure.  We lost two races to the ultimate winner by an aggregate total of about eighteen inches.  These are but two examples of the closeness of the competition.  

We concluded the racing with a very satisfactory bullet that resulted in obtaining an overall extremely close third place finish.  Not bad for a crew consisting of mostly a son, three grandsons and  two persons close enough to be considered family anyway. The winner was “Patriot” a boat from Detroit skippered by, John McAllister, a dear friend.

My thanks to the LB yachting committee for their assistance.  Couldn’t have done it without you. Let me conclude by stating that if ever you get the opportunity to represent Long Beach Yacht Club at a distant regatta,  don’t pass on the opportunity.  You will be rewarded in a myriad of ways.  

Art Melendres
US#1  One More Time

Click here to see racing results…


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