Never Alone wins the 2025 National Championship

January 15, 2026 in Latest news 0

The 2025 Cal 25 National Championship was hosted by BYC this year in the Detroit area. The event, that has been so special and respected by Cal 25 sailors, was well organized by Commodore Keith Ziegler and his wife Dana. The first National Championship was held in California in 1965. Over the years there have been many renown champions. The Regatta turned out to be a great success and a hard fought battle between competitors. Every boat brought accomplished racers all with the hope of adding there name to the trophy.

Day one was predicted to be winds of 20-30 knots with gusts up to 35 knots. At the skippers meeting, the PRO advised the teams to check signals on shore before they left the dock on Friday morning. The RC sent out a boat, but racing was wisely cancelled for the first day. It was a good decision because the Melges 24 fleet did the same thing.

Now it was coming down to be a two-day windy Regatta that would sort out a championship. The RC did a great job in these tough conditions. Plus, they managed to run eight good races.

Day two turned out windy just as predicted and all the Cal 25s had their 110 percent blades up still giving the boats plenty of power upwind. Art Melendres, a multiple time National Champion from California sailed with our own Brian Shenstone also a multiple time National Champion on his boat Draco. They used their #2 very effectively. The #2 sails that we use in Detroit are 145 percent genoas with the leach also cut back. Art’s #2 sail is trimmed to the cabin top and they kept it up all the time when we were switching from jib to number one and back.

The Cal 25 one design class in Detroit is being reenergize by young sailors that already have shown to have great sailing skills. Best out of the box was the crew of Goat Yard Sailing skippered by Alex Hume with all notables on board. They handily won the first race and were on top of the leader board on Saturday night. Keith Ziegler on Thor was not to be topped and he showed his heavy air speed with two bullets on the first day. Suzanne Scoville on The Hotness (Scoville units for pepper heat) finished the Regatta in style by winning the last race on Sunday. Tough racing led to close scores on Saturday night at the end of a tough day!

On Sunday morning we were comfortable being in third place. I slept better that night and it made the previous night’s party with friends even more enjoyable. Now with the breeze still up, and if I were a betting man, I would have put a few chips on John McAllister sailing his boat, Patriot. He and his team have always been formidable in big air. So, on Sunday the boats were switching between number ones and jibs between races and during races. The crew on Never Alone opened with a bullet. That was like rattling the sword.

Even though we were overpowered and the main needed to be eased generously and never cleated, Ron Sherry always found pressure and a decent angle to go with it. Ross found a way to drive the boat fast through the difficult conditions in all eight races and Ken Swetka, wow Ken, can trim and make a Cal 25 go fast all of the time. He never seems to get tired! When we came into a port gate, and the takedown was to weather, it was always great to see my hot box man Tom Dawson next to me on the foredeck to help get the kite down at the last minute.

Even when we were with other boats, patience was the key and we always seemed to get a little something special to get us out in front again. We scored a second bullet on the next race and that felt good, but the third bullet was the key that opened the door to winning the Regatta. We could not catch “The Hotness” on the last race of the day. They were too spicy for us! But finishing second and seeing the other leaders behind us, we all got that loving feeling that comes from racing sailboats together. Wow, what just happened? I flashed back to before the Regatta. I reviewed the crew lists of all the Cal 25s that competed. You could not have been unmoved by the depth of talent on each of the boats in this class. I am proud to race a Cal 25 in Detroit.