Xavier Ferlet Narrowly Wins the USA's Top Windsurfing Racing Series
The United States top Windsurfing Racing Series, the CalCup, just recently wrapped up a phenomenally successful 2010 that saw Britain's Xavier Ferlet (pictured top) taking the season series championship by the slimmest of margins.
The CalCup racing series is one of the longest running windsurfing series around and features some of the top Formula racers in the country duking it out for top honors over a summer long 5 race series.
Not that it’s all that unusual for CalCup, but this year every single event was met with solid wind for racing.
What was a bit unusual however was the static nature of what is normally a nomadic event with the infamous Berkeley Carpet hosting every single race in the series this year. As the saying goes “never drive away from wind” and Berkeley simply delivered ideal conditions week in and week out. Sage event organizer, Mike Percey, made the call each week and a good call it was.
At the beginning of the year it looked like Steve Bodner would be the man to beat as he won the first race of the year while the eventual champ, Ferlet took a 10th place result in to his scoring line.
But as the season wore on Bodner began to fade, succumbing to an ailing back just while Ferlet began to find his form. It was never easy for Ferlet, as legendary sailor Steve Sylvester was pressing him at every turn. The final margin at the end of the season series saw Ferlet winning by a single point with a 12 point total to Sylvester’s 13 points.
This year’s CalCup broke new ground and in the spirit of inclusion reached out to the kiteboarders to join in the fun.
For the second race of the season, on May 15th, the Kites were invited to race on the same course, and start on the same starting line as the Windsurfers. Being that this was possibly the first time anyone had ever attempted such a feat anywhere in the world only select group of Kiteboarders were invited to attend. Thankfully the local scene has some of the world’s top kiters to draw from including the Current World Champion, Adam Koch, previous number two in the world UltraNectar’s Chip Wasson, and current number four in the world Johnny Heineken all of whom got in on the action.
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