CalCup is an annual series of windsurfing races held in the Bay Area that has 20+ years of history in the Bay.
By Jane Morson
Published: August, 2006
CalCup is an annual series of windsurfing races held in the Bay Area that has 20+ years of history in the Bay.
Since the CalCup inaugural beginnings in the 1980s, where the races were then only held in Berkeley’s south basin, CalCup has evolved. Now the races are held anywhere in the Bay Area.
Today Mike Percey is at the helm, a position he has held since 1999. Taking over from Don Lester and Emily Dale, Percey has strengthened CalCup and taken it into the 21st Century.
Now, CalCup has its own race committee boat, website and telephone hotline, which is key because nobody, except the CalCup organizers, knows where the day’s races will be held; and that keeps everyone in suspense.
On the Friday afternoon, the day before the race (all races are on Saturday afternoons), the race location is announced, with the proviso of a possible update by 11AM on the morning of the race.
Everyone involved is kept on their toes.
This is where the hotline comes in. Everyone has access to the telephone hotline and the CalCup website where all the details of the races can be found, which includes details and a map, so that participants can find the day’s rigging and racing locations.
The CalCup organizers’ day starts at around 6:30AM. First, the CalCup boat has to be prepared. Race Committee and the organizers have a breakfast meeting at about 9:30AM to look at the wind, weather and water predictions. Based on all the information, they then decide if the racing venue will change. Race day conditions have been known to hold up to seven races in one day’s event.
Next, the course is drawn up. Afterward, the CalCup boat is towed to a boat launch site nearest to the racing venue where organizers and racing crew set the day’s racecourse.
A skippers meeting is held at 12:30PM at the rigging area, then depending on the wind, the first race starts at 1:30 PM.
At the end of the day, the organizers put the boat safely away – until the next CalCup race day.
This is the fun and suspense of CalCup, because you can’t be exactly sure until the morning of the race, exactly where the day’s races will be held. The CalCup format is very special. Where else in the world can you find this?
There are three more races to be held in this year’s CalCup series, unless we are skunked, then another date, if possible, will be added.
The last three race days of the CalCup Race will be on: Aug. 19, Sep. 9 and Sep. 19. For more details visit the CalCup website www.calcupevents.com or info@calcupevents.com
