Melges 15 Class Takes Center Stage at Long Beach Race Week

The 2024 Melges 15 West Coast Championship is preparing to get underway at Long Beach Race Week co-hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in California June 21-23. With 17 boats registered, the Melges 15 represents the largest one-design fleet racing at the event. 

“LBRW is definitely the highlight of the SoCal racing season, so it’s awesome to have the West Coast Championship held in conjunction with it!” said local owner, Brad Thomspon. “I think it will help encourage more people to join the M15 class - especially since we have the most boats competing in only our 2nd year at LBRW.” 

The Melges 15s also represented the largest class at Cal Race Week earlier this month hosted in Marina del Rey, CA. The fleet’s increasing presence at West Coast events is a testament to how well-suited the design is to the region. 

“It’s great to see a good mix of local competitors and teams traveling from further away for our events,” said Tim Clarke, owner of Vela-LA and M15 sailor. “The competition was strong at CRW and it has been great to build on the success of that regatta. That event generated more interest in the class and we were happy to welcome some new owners to our local Melges 15 fleet.”

Racing is scheduled for Friday-Sunday with the awards on Sunday afternoon. Follow the action on lbrw.org.