Ives Wins Cal 20 Champs

Long Beach, CA (August 22, 2016) – Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted the 55th Cal 20 Class Championships on August 20-21 under ideal sailing conditions varying from 10 to 16 knots. A total of 39 Cal 20’s raced in three separate divisions including Gold (23 boats), Silver (9 boats), and Bronze (7 boats) fleets. The Cal 20 is well known as a California based class as indicated by the Cal name, but teams from Washington and Hawaii participated as well in this West Coast class.

Gold fleet racing featured several past Class Champions with close, tactical competitive racing. Keith Ives sailing with longtime crew Chuck Stevens sailed a consistent series with no finish worse than third to earn their second Class Championship.

At the end of Saturday’s racing, Chuck Clay sailing with Pat McCormick and Scottie McKeeve led the series posting three firsts and one third. Sunday’s racing did not fare well for Chuck’s team as they posted a 13th and 16th in races 5 and 6 whereas Keith Ives three firsts on races 5, 6, 7 sealed the championship for this veteran team.

Other key awards in the Gold Fleet included the Neil Baker Memorial (2nd place), which was awarded to Chuck Clay, the Masters Trophy (highest finisher over 60 years of age) was awarded to Stu Robertson, and the Ladies champion (highest placing female skipper) was won by Jennifer Kuritz.

Mike DeBrincat sailing with Bryan Dair earned the Silver Fleet Championship. Second place in Silver was won by Dan Gilboa and Mike Shea. The Cal 20 Class introduced the Bronze fleet five years ago for those new to racing or looking for a more casual mode of racing at a Championship regatta.

Thanks to Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach, six of their foundation Cal 20’s made the short trek down to Alamitos Bay for Bronze fleet racing. This year’s Bronze fleet Champion was Michael Mahoney.

Event Website

Report by Todd Smith