Mercury Class National Championship Sailed at LAYC

The 2025 Mercury Class Championship, held on the weekend of September 27/28, will go into the books as one to remember. The conditions saw abnormally light wind on Saturday, while still light and building on Sunday.

Saturday racing had a long postponement, and only two races were completed in the light conditions. On Sunday the sky cleared, and while still light, the breeze was solid and continued to build to maybe 10 mph. Three races were completed.

Congratulations to Chris Messano and Chris Vilicich for their decisive win with 10 points, never finishing below third in any race.

Second place went to Erik Lidecus and Greg Dair with 14 points. This was Erik’s first Mercury regatta. He finished very strongly, winning races four and five. And welcome back to Greg Dair, who has been absent from Mercury sailing for a while.

Tied at 17 points were Mike Burch and Chris Raab, with Mike taking third on the tie breaker.

The highlight of the series saw Andy Goodman and Elijah Sanford winning the Silver Fleet and finishing fifth in the Gold Fleet. After a long absence from sailing Mercurys, Andy and Elijah raced at Huntington Lake and had so much fun they decided to come to the championship.

In looking at the scores after the top five, you can see the conditions were challenging and the scores were mixed. The boats were battling in the middle of the fleet, and it was easy to slide back in the light conditions.

A big thanks to LAYC, Sean McMillen, and his team for their hard work in setting and moving courses as required this weekend. Also thanks to LAYC commodore Marjorie Irwin and the club’s hospitality. Commodore Irwin was on the race committee boat each day and at the club every night!