2021 CAL25 National Championship

Chesapeake Bay, Sep 4 – 6

Finally, and I do mean FINALLY the Cal 25s were able to go out and compete for their National Championship . Calendar year 2020 was a complete disaster because of the Pandemic. The Annapolis fleet was scheduled to put it on however like the rest of the country it was left dangling on a string as various levels of governments struggled to find a strategy to overcome Covid 19.  Not so however in 2021. Annapolis fleet members Charlie Husar and Kyle Bollhorst stepped up, organized the event in its entirety and ended up putting on a great show.

The event was attached to the Annapolis Labor Day Regatta for the weekend and then parlayed over to a race committee made up of various entities associated with Eastport YCs for Monday’s racing.  Three days in all.  A total of fourteen boats were entered and no less than thirteen of them made it to the starting line.  Two boats (Thor and Patriot) came from Detroit.  Keith Ziegler (Thor) had been competitive all year in Michigan and John McAllister (Patriot) is a former National Champion having won his title in the waters of Chesapeake Bay. Does anyone need to say more? Art Melendres and son Scott trailered their boat from Long Beach, CA , a distance of 2672 miles, but who’s counting.  And then, or course, they had to trailer it back.  An interesting note pertaining to “One More Time” is that it is Hull #1.  The very first Cal 25 off the assembly line out of a total of 1848 built during its production run between 1964 and 1976. “One More Time” has been totally restored by the Melendres’ and is looking beautiful. Rounding out the competition were ten solid competitors from the Annapolis Fleet.
(Note: You can read about the restoration project at another part of this website).

Now on to the racing: Anyone who has ever raced on the Chesapeake knows that you best expect anything and everything because there’s a good chance you will get it. Wind, no wind, chop, current, heat, humidity and now just to top things off the racers had to deal with debris coming down from some dam opening up North.

Saturday’s racing was cancelled due to no wind. Read zero. The weather was hot, humid and STILL. The local competitors went to their favorite bar. “Towners” went sightseeing. I have often heard that “Annapolis is a drinking town with a sailing problem.” True?

Sunday’s forecast was for more breeze. We indeed got more breeze but not much more. I don’t believe the velocity got up to seven knots and, if it did it didn’t stay there very long. The committee got two races in and Patriot ended up winning the day albeit by a tiebreaker as they were numerically tied with Thor and One More Time.

In the first race Kyle and Lee Bollhorst’s “One Eyed Jack” was motivating to the weather mark and got there first. They had a hiccup however and didn’t negotiate the offset mark as clean as they would have liked. The mistake cost them dearly. It wasn’t a problem though for Tim Bloomfield’s “White Cap” as he got around everything in fine shape and took the regatta’s first bullet. Thor was second.
Patriot who took a fourth in the first race came roaring back to take a bullet in the second. John McAllister is tough in all conditions but excels in the light stuff. Again, another race in very light air. One More Time was the second boat to finish. Upon returning to the Burnside dock everyone was treated to a Margarita party courtesy of the Melendres women from Long Beach.

Monday’s forecast was for even more breeze and all the competitors were hoping that it was accurate. After all, there never would be a sport of “sail boat racing” if all we did was just drift from mark to mark. The wind forecast was accurate but to a degree. While the velocity got up above nine or ten knots (some gusts above fifteen) the consistency was not there.

The first race saw the “towners” go up the middle or even left while the knowledgeable locals went right and got rewarded. White Cap again took the honors with another bullet. One More Time was again second and starting to love life a little. Monday’s second race was kind of funny. The “towners” took heed at what happened in the first race and went right as soon as they could. No off set mark problems this time for One Eyed Jack as he got around everything clean and took a bullet. Again, One More Time was second and starting to love life a little bit more.

The race committee (a very good race committee) wanted to get in three races and as per the SI’s no race could start after 1500 hrs. Thus, out of necessity, all races had to be one-lappers. The final race of the regatta encompassed an upwind leg, downwind leg and two reaching legs. Annapolis likes to do that.

It was a pretty clean start and everyone was off for the final race of the 2021 Nationals. Everyone was doing their thing and motivating to the weather mark albeit with a few protest flags tossed along the way. One More Time was protested for a port/starboard allegation but did a penalty turn to absolve themselves. Thankfully, it was on the first leg of the course so they had 3 1/2 legs to catch up. The downwind leg of this race was “class racing” at its best. One Eyed Jack took the bullet without too much of a problem and Patriot took second with relative comfort. Thereafter, Neugen, One More Time and Thor were locked side by side for what seemed to be an eternity. First one, then the next, then the other took their turn at the lead only to lose it. At the finish it was a three way photo finish with Thor taking the third spot. Racing was over. Now the bragging, lying and excuse making could commence.

The top five finishers were as follows:
1. One More Time (14 pts)
2. Thor (17 pts)
3. One Eyed Jack (19 pts)
4. White Cap. (22 pts)
5. Patriot ( 27 pts)

One More Time won the regatta without winning a single race because she was the most consistent boat for the weekend. Keith Ziegler, came to Annapolis and showed everyone he knows his way around the race course. One Eyed Jack and White Cap each won two races but their consistency suffered a bit and couldn’t be overcome. Kyle’s probably having nightmares about “off set marks.” Tim Bloomfield had some equipment breaks that hurt him. John McAllister showed everyone his integrity by calling a foul on himself after finishing a race, thereby giving him a last place finish in that race. The remainder of the competitors fought, scratched, clawed their way around the course and flat out made it a lot of fun.

The dinner and awards ceremony a the Severn Sailing Association were outstanding. The Detroit fleet instituted a new award honoring those persons who have been instrumental in developing and maintaining Cal 25 fleets and racing through the years. The first two recipients of this “Hall of Fame” award were Charlie Husar and Art Melendres. I know I speak for Charlie when I say we are both humbled and honored.  Charlie Husar caught a very bad break when he lost a key crewman to injury the night before the regatta; yet he was still out there competing and doing a fine job at it. Kyle Bollhorst was truly outstanding. His organization skills and continual assistance to visiting yachtsmen were greatly appreciated. Couldn’t have been better. Thank you Charlie and Kyle. The hospitality and camaraderie exhibited by everyone in the Annapolis fleet was as great as could have been hoped for. You should all be proud, you earned it.

In conclusion: Dark and Stormys in Long Beach don’t hold a candle to those made in Annapolis. I keep trying to duplicate the recipe but no luck thus far.

Next year it’s Detroit’s turn. I’m certain they will do a fine job.

— Art Melendres

 

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