Melges 15 Demo Boat Available

by Bob Naylor, posted in Member Interest, Racing Updates

Coming out of the crazy exciting Club Championship race last May, there was lots of buzz about the possibility of fielding a new, sportier, fleet of modern boats within AYC. The Melges 15 was discussed, and an informal meeting of 18-interested sailors was held in mid-June.

Now, our friends at West Coast Sailing have generously loaned AYC their Melges 15 demo boat! The boat was picked-up from Sail Park City last week and it’s here!

We’ll be organizing an on-going series of demonstrations / “test drives” starting this Sunday. The VERY FIRST showing is Sunday, Oct-23, beginning at 12PM at Tempe Town Lake. Interested TTL racers – show up ahead of Sunday’s dinghy races to check-out the M-15. We’ll continue announcing and hosting demo sails over the next month, and look to conclude evaluations coming out of our Dinghy Days Weekend at Lake Pleasant (Nov-19 and 20). After that, we’ll meet to discuss the go-forward plan, and determine whether we have a sufficient number of skippers willing to place orders for a new M-15.

West Coast Sailing is also offering the demo boat FOR SALE at a cost of $10,800, which includes the boat, dolly, and cover. That’s a substantial discount over the price of a new M-15!

Have you driven a Melges lately? If you are interested in evaluating the Melges 15, click below to be added to the list. You will receive email updates about on-going evaluation “test sail” opportunities. Sign-up here: AYC Melges 15 Interest Group.

Thanks to members Rob Gibbs, Bruce Lee, and Tony Chapman for their help with the demo boat! And thanks to West Coast Sailing president Chris Brown for working with AYC on this opportunity. We also appreciate Sail Park City’s Geoff Hurwitch for sharing his club’s insights, and in helping with coordination and loading the boat for transport.

Read more about the Melges 15: