2011 Cal 25 Fleet V Championship

2011 Cal 25 Fleet V Championship:

Melendres’ “One Time” shows rain can’t dampen winning effort

Written by: Rick Roberts

11/06/11

Long Beach, Calif.—Don’t let it be said that the local Cal 25 racers are not serious sailors. Sunday morning, the Cal 25 Fleet V Championship dawned cold and rainy, but they all came out and put on a closely-fought show ending the day with Art Melendres’, “One Time” as the winner on a tie-breaker.

 

“We’re really thankful the race committee saw fit to hold this regatta,” said Melendres. “It was a real dogfight from beginning to end. Everything you expect a Cal 25 regatta to be.”

The first race of the day the wind was a moderate 10-11 knots, but coming from the wrong direction… off the beach at Belmont Shore which is about 180 degrees from its normal southwesterly direction. Not that big of a challenge for the race committee but for the sailors, local knowledge and local experience was thrown overboard.

But when the rain quit and the skies cleared the wind clocked around to its normal direction for the last two races of the day and settled in at 9-11 knots. 

“We had three completely different races,” Melendres said, “with three different winners… and it came down to a tie breaker in the last race. That’s pretty competitive racing.”

Second place honors went to Bob Daniel and his boat “Nemesis”.

“I love the one-design aspect of racing in the Cal 25 fleet,” Daniel said.

At the end of the day’s racing, there was a tie for first and only one point behind was “Nemesis”.  

     

“We had a third in the last race,” said Daniel. “If we had gotten second, we would have won this. But, it was great racing and I had a great crew, especially my foredeck person Kristy who was terrific.”

Rick Sottile and Felix Basadre finished in third place with their co-owned Cal 25, “Tiburon”.

“It was a lot of work and strategy to out maneuver the rain and wind today,” said Sottile. “It took a lot of extra skill to find the wind lines.

“The last race of the day was great with all of the boats together. You really had to be on top of your game to win this one today.”

 

Putting a winning team together is a family matter on “One Time”. Melendres gives credit to his son Scott Melendres and daughter Monica Ouiedo.

“I owe this win to the fact that I have a great tactician [Scott] and a great driver [Monica],” said Melendres. “The team never quit. During one of the races our foredeck man fell and cut himself. But he got up and hung in there.

“When it got down to the last race, everyone on the boat stepped up and did their jobs.” 

Final Results 1. Art Melendres, LBYC, “One Time”, 4-2-1, 7 points on tie-breaker 2. Bob Daniel, ABYC, “Nemesis”, 1-3-3, 7 3. Felix Basadre/Rick Sottile, SlBYC, “Tiburon”, 5-1-2, 8 4. Don Reiman, ABYC, “Rhyme N Reason”, 2-4-4, 10 5. Dennis Diem, LBYC, “The Iguana”, 3-5-5, 13 Complete results are available at www.lbyc.org  PRESS OFFICER Rick Roberts ricksoffice@sbcglobal.net 562.493.5173 Mobile: 310.367.9079

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Cal 25 Nationals

This year the Cal 25 Nationals were held over the Labor Day weekend in Annapolis, MD and in conjunction with Annapolis Race Week. I am told this is the largest regatta in the world and after surveying all the competitors on three racing circles I am in no position to dispute that claim. The format consisted of three races on Saturday, three on Sunday and two on Monday. Hurricane Earl was blowing through the area and though it didn't bring rain to the Chesapeake Bay it certainly brought an abundance of wind.

On Saturday the wind was blowing at twenty-two to twenty-five knots with gusts as high as thirty-three on the bottom of the course, approximately fifteen knots in the middle and (get this) only about seven at the windward mark. Go figure. Cal 25s are old boats and all of us were wondering whether they would hold up in such a brisk breeze. They held up just fine. Although I'm sure most of us wouldn't have complained had the races been postponed, absolutely nobody dropped out. Cal 25 racers are made of sturdy stock. The high winds were kind to us and at the end of the day we found ourselves solidly positioned in second place. This was beginning to look easy.

Sunday's wind dropped off significantly to about five knots. I'm told this is normal for this time of year. The lighter winds were shifty (a gross understatement) and the sea was lumpy. Because of the light winds the famed Chesapeake Bay current was now in play. Though we were newcomers on the block it was somewhat satisfying to hear the locals also complain about having to deal with the current. Driving in such conditions was a new experience for me and as a result our scores suffered significantly. All of sudden not so easy.

Monday's wind was more to our liking. The velocity was good all day and climbed to about seventeen knots for the day's final race. This was right in our "go fast" range and we made the most out of it by getting our second bullet of the weekend and thus were able to finish the regatta on a high note.

When the dust cleared the champion was once again "Draco" (their fifth championship) from Bay View Yacht Club, Detroit,MI. They won because they sailed more consistently than everyone else. An Annapolis boat named "Upchuck" finished a very close second, a mere one point behind. We took third place. Not what we wanted but pretty satisfying nonetheless. Especially when considering that we were racing a "loaner" boat in unfamiliar waters against stiff competition.
In the final analysis it was three days of great racing with numerous conditions thrown our way and against sixteen very tough competitors. What a sport!

Report from Art Melendres

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2009 Cal 25 Nationals

post #60
Long Beach, CA

The Cal 25 Nationals were at LBYC on July 24-26, 2009. The attendance was not huge, but the competition was good which showed a great one design-keel boat dominance by Ullman Sails customers.

The class recently implemented new sails could not be made from aramid (kevlar or carbon), so the top boats had Ullman Sails build new pentex fiberpath genoa's that performed perfectly!

Along with the pentex fiberpath genoas were dacron polykote mains and AirX spinnakers!

1st

Steve & Jane Horst

"Jane's Addiction"

100% Ullman Sails

2nd

Scott & Art Melendres

"One Time"

100% Ullman Sails

3rd

Sottile/Basadre

"Tiburon"

partial Ullman

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