New Fleet Alert! Columbia Sailing Club

Welcome to the newest Melges 15 Fleet at Columbia Sailing Club (Columbia, SC)!

Situated on Lake Murray in South Carolina, Columbia Sailing Club has very active dinghy and PHRF fleets. “Some people at the club have been sailing and racing a variety of old designs, but none of them have any momentum,” said CSC member and new M15 owner, Rich Horton.

Local Melges dealer, East Coast Sailboats, brought two Melges 15s to the club for a member demo event. “We had almost 30 people sailing over the beautiful weekend,” said Hardy Peters, East Coast Sailboats. “I sailed a bit with some of the members, and we had a blast putting the chute up and gybing.”

Sailing Director David Van Cleef took a sneak peek at the M15 prior to the demo weekend. “I wanted to get a feel for what the boat could do for our membership and was blown away with how easy the boat was to sail with my wife and 4-year-old,” said Van Cleef. “I quickly realized this was the right boat for the club to get behind. Super fun, easy to sail, stable, sporty, and would appeal to a wide range of skill levels.”

A majority of the M15s at CSC are planned to be sailed by families – husband/wife and parent/child teams. “For folks who want to race, the fact that the class already has momentum is a huge plus,” said Horton. “It is very easy to see huge numbers of this boat being sailed in the coming years.”

CSC had its first official M15 fleet meeting last week and has set a tentative regatta date for October 16-17. In addition, the M15 will be sailed during the dinghy series running spring through the fall season.

“The response from our membership to have 6 boats purchased and several others seriously interested blew me away,” added Van Cleef. “The future looks bright for the M15 at CSC.”

For more information on how to get a fleet started at your club, email sales@melges.com.