Following three years of good weather at the Cam Cup, challenging conditions returned for the Cam Cup 2025. This year the challenge came in the form of very light winds. We arrived around 08:00 on Saturday morning, hopeful to be able to race despite the very light forecast. After the course and borrowed fireflies had been set up, the waiting commenced. There were some moments of hope, but unfortunately the wind did not fill in to the level required for racing, and by 15:00 the decision was made to abandon racing for the day. Fortunately, the forecast for Sunday looked far more promising but this left a question of what to do about the format of racing. After a vote was taken by the competitors, it was decided to switch to a Swiss league format to enable more peer-to-peer racing in limited time.
Following this decision, everyone headed off for the Cam Cup Dinner which, this year, was a black-tie dinner in Revolution Cambridge.
Arriving again at 08:00 on Sunday, the wind looked better but not yet enough to start racing at our ambitious start time of 08:45. Eventually some wind did fill in and much to everyone’s relief racing was able to commence. Each team was able to complete five races. At the end of the day, going undefeated to win the Cam Cup 2025 was Exeter Blue, who excelled in the light conditions. Cambridge alumni teams Cumberland Sausages and Bonbonbonbons came second and third.
I would like to thank all the Cambridge volunteers as well as the Umpires and KSail for helping to run an event despite challenging conditions, and we look forward to what will hopefully be better weather next year.