Melges 15s Take Flight at American YC
The newest fleet at American Yacht Club, the Melges 15, just finished competing in the AYC Fall One-Design Regatta on Sept 20-21, which also included ILCAs, K6s, and 505s. The conditions were feisty, with above-forecast ENE breeze bringing big waves down the Long Island Sound. Fittingly, there were 15 boats in the Melges 15 fleet, made up of sailors representing American, Cedar Point, Centerport, Huguenot, Noroton, Riverside, and Southampton Yacht Clubs.
It was particularly fun to see the very broad mix of ages across the boats, as well as multiple parent-child and spouse teams.
As sailors headed to the course on Saturday morning, they were greeted with the strongest winds of the weekend, with gusts topping 25 knots. The conditions winnowed the field slightly, but 10 boats fought it out with intense hiking, close competition, and the occasional capsize. Over the day, the breeze softened and 4 races were completed. USA 575 (Leopold Brandl and Jasmine Chen) battled with USA 777 (Brian and Allison Simkins, Centerport) for first and second every race.
The forecast for Day 2 was a mild 6-8 knots, but instead a strong ENE breeze continued with racing held in 13 to 18 knots of wind. Upwind wave management and effective downwind wave surfing remained paramount.
At the end of 7 races, the Brandl/Chen team took first, followed by the Simkins in second and Robert Pickens and crew from Riverside/Cedar Point in third.
The Fall One-Design Regatta was also American YC's first use of the Vakaros RaceSense starting system, used by the Melges 15 class. Both Race Committee and the sailors commented upon how well it worked, and AYC expects to adopt the technology for more regattas in future.
In 2025, American Yacht Club's fleet of Melges 15s grew from one to ten boats. As with the ILCA class, the Melges 15s is one of the hot spots for one-design racing in the Western Long Island Sound. AYC is excited to both grow the fleet and foster the strong inter-club racing emerging in the Western Long Island Sound.
