On a winning streak

LONG BEACH — The local Cal 25 team of Art and Scott Melendres, Long Beach Yacht Club, became three-time winners of the Cal 25 National Championship Aug. 16 in the two-day regatta organized by Cal 25 Fleet V and hosted by Long Beach YC.

Redefining the word ‘dominate’, they scored six first place finishes out of a seven race regatta, only slightly stumbling in Race 4 with a second place finish on Aug. 15.

Throughout the regatta, whether the Melendres boat, One Time, was first off of the starting line, or buried in the eight-boat pack fighting to get to the front, it became very apparent early-on that they were going to be the boat to beat.

“The results may have indicated something else,” said Art Melendres. “But each race was a dogfight.”

The Melendres team is made up of father Art, son Scott, daughter Monica Oviedo, nephew Chris Lopez, Pat Graham and James Yano.

“In a word, we’ve got a great team,” said Art. “Our crew work was excellent. They didn’t blow any tack, any douses… every single move was an excellent execution.

“My son [Scott] is phenomenal. James [bow] absolutely eats the spinnaker in every douse. My daughter is the downwind driver and catches every swell,” he added. “The bottom line is that I’ve got the easiest job on the boat!”

Second place went to Alamitos Bay YC’s Bob Anderson on Rhyme N Reason.

“I think what helped us out was a little bit of local knowledge,” said Anderson. “When the wind went left or right we were ready for it.

“We don’t sail the Cal 25s all of the time but the crew work ended up pretty solid and we didn’t have any mistakes,” he said. “We had the right sails for the race, but the crew work was the big part of it.

“But One Time really was the boat to beat,” he added.

Taking third in the regatta was local fleet captain Felix Basadre, Seal Beach YC, and his boat, Tiburon.

“We had a variety of wind this weekend,” said Basadre. “It was typical Long Beach wind on the first day, but the second day was lighter conditions. Certain teams do better in lighter winds, but it didn’t really work out for us.”

Final Results
1. Art and Scott Melendres, Long Beach YC, One Time, 1-1-1-2-1-1-1, 8 points
2. Bob Anderson, Alamitos Bay YC, Rhyme N Reason, 5-3-2-3-2-4-3, 22
3. Felix Basadre, Seal Beach Yacht Club, 3-2-3-1-5-3-7, 24
4. Christina and Scott Holcomb, Cabrillo Beach YC, Calamazoo, 2-4-4-5-6-6-2, 29
5. Noah Farrell, South Coast Corinthian YC, Got Wind, 7-6-9DNF-6-4-2-4, 38
6. Dennis Diem, Long Beach YC/Alamitos Bay YC, The Iguana, 4-5-5-4-7-7-6, 38
7. Charlie Husar, Annapolis YC, Chicken Little, 8-8-6-7-3-5-5, 42
8. Charlie Legeman, Long Beach YC, 6-7-9DNF-9DNC-9DNC-9DNC-9DNC, 58

Complete results are available at lbyc.org.https://www.lbyc.org/