Melges 15 Wins Boat of the Week & Crowns West Coast Champions
Photo: Joy Sailing
The 2024 Melges 15 West Coast Championship was contested at Long Beach Race Week June 21-23 at Long Beach Yacht Club and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. With 18 Melges 15s on the race track, it was the largest class at LBRW.
Seven races were sailed in a full range of 12-20 knots under blue skies on the dark blue waters of the Pacific.
Keiran Searle and Declan McGranahan from Corinthian Yacht Club won the Championship title, racing in their first West Coast Championship.
“My crew and I have been sailing the boat for about eight months now and we wanted to come down from San Francisco to race Long Beach Race Week because we know it provides beautiful weather and a lot of fun off the water,” said Searle. “The Melges 15 is an awesome boat, it has more perks than is publicized – it’s incredibly stable which makes it easy for a lot of different people to sail and it’s a lot of fun.”
In addition to representing the largest class, Searle and McGranahan also won LBRW Boat of the Week! Local team Brad Thompson won the Yacht Club Challenge representing Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.
Next on the West Coast circuit:
July 20-21: High Sierra Regatta • Fresno, CA
July 27-28: CGOD • Cascade Locks, OR • Charters Available
