FINAL REPORT
Prior to this weekend,
Brack Duker had won the
California Cup four
times. This weekend he
convincingly showed why.
Going into the final day
of racing Duker’s Holua
was tied with Grand
Illusion sailed by James
McDowell. However Duker
won both of Sunday’s
races and became the
only five time winner of
this prestigious event.
McDowell’s GI took the
second spot on the
podium, by winning the
tie-breaker with Per
Petersen’s Andrews 70,
Alchemy.
Duker had previously won
Cal Cup three times with
his first Santa Cruz 70,
Evolution, and this
year’s victory makes it
two in a row for him and
his present sled, Holua.
DAY ONE REPORT
Although the TV weather
lady promised beautiful
summer weather for this
year’s Cal Cup regatta,
there was zero sun for
day one. However she did
deliver 7-10 knots of
wind with just enough
shifts to keep any
tactician from getting
complacent. At the end
of two races, we find
the Cal Cup defender -
Brack Duker’s Holua -
tied with the 2007 Cal
Cup winner, Grand
Illusion, skippered this
year by James McDowell.
GI got off to a third
row start in race one,
but tactician Dave
McCauley (who has been
winning races on the
Santa Monica Bay since
they dredged out Mud
Lake to create Marina
del Rey) found just
enough shifts to correct
out for an eight second
win over Taxi Dancer -
which had finished two
minutes and 14 seconds
earlier on the 7.4 mile
course. (The event is
being scored with ORR
handicaps.)
Although line honors in
the second race went to
Peter Tong’s OEX, Brack
Ducker’s Holua was an
easy corrected time
winner, with Per
Petersen’s Alchemy
taking second place and
Grand Illusion in third.
With two races left on
Sunday, GI and Holua are
tied for the lead with
four points - and
Alchemy is just two
points further back in
third place.
In past years, ULDB 70s
have raced for the
California Cup on 18
different occasions, and
the “Cal Cup Wall” just
inside the entrance to
our clubhouse proudly
displays half-hull
models of each of the
winners of those
memorable regattas.
