The Lipton Challenge started in False Bay on Wednesday with the Royal Natal Yacht Club defending the Lipton Challenge Cup which they won last year on Saldanha Bay.
Challenging them are five other clubs, namely the Royal Cape Yacht Club as the Challengers of Record, Aeolians Club from the Vaal Dam, False Bay Yacht Club, Imperial Sailing Club from Muizenberg, and Walvis Bay Yacht Club from Namibia.
The perennial question always asked on the eve of the event is simply ‘who will win?’
There will be six “hot” teams duelling on False Bay for the right to lift the Lipton Challenge Cup in victory, and on paper each team has an equal chance of winning.
Many Lipton challenges in the past have been in one-design fleets with the first boat across the finish line, the winner.
This year is very different as the yachts are all handicapped with the winner of each race coming from the yacht which wins on corrected time. This may make it difficult to follow racing, but thanks to the generosity of Ellian Perch, a long-time benefactor of sailing in this country, each boat is fitted with a YB Tracking unit.
The unit will give the actual positions of yachts on the water, plus approximate results on handicap. The bonus is that the trackers will poll the yachts every minute of the race.
To follow the racing on YB Tracking, go to their website (https://www.ybtracking.com/) and scroll down to the bottom where the link to The Lipton Challenge Cup 2022 can be found.
Clubs competing:
Aeolians Club – Philip Baum – ‘Nemesis’
False Bay Yacht Club – Allan Lawrence – ‘Avatar’
Imperial Yacht Club – Paul Cartmel – ‘Atura’
Royal Cape Yacht Club – Jimmy Jacka/Rob van Rooyen – ‘RCYC Jackal’
Royal Natal Yacht Club – Davey James – ‘Orion DYP’
Walvis Bay Yacht Club – Bjorn Geiger – ‘MB Racing’
The opening day of the Lipton Challenge Cup ended up being a hard-fought battle, with the wind elements and errant crew errors doing anything but assisting their overall positions on handicap.
The first race was run in conditions which were probably marginally over the limit for really great racing, not that I believe anyone was complaining.
The acid test of good sailing always lies in the results, and today, after two races, two Clubs are tied for first place overall – showing what a close contest it really was.
Walvis Bay Yacht Club and Royal Cape Yacht Club each won a race, and each scored a second place – so the game is now on and it’s up to everyone else to catch them in the next six races. Just imagine a Lipton Challenge Cup contest in Walvis Bay next year?
Third overall today after the two races was Aeolians Club. They had a poor first race to finish fourth then pulled off a third spot after starting the second race on port tack and going off to the starboard side of the course where they obviously felt the advantage was up that windward leg.
The ‘feather duster’ in today’s race was undoubtedly Davey James and the Royal Natal Yacht Club team, who led both races for most of the way, but suffered breakages from which they were not able to recover.
They were certainly the fastest on the water, with a philosophical Davey James reminding everyone that he won the 2021 Lipton Cup in the last 100 metres of the final tenth race.
There are a maximum of six more races to sail, and many scenarios which could play out. Stay tuned to the daily live commentary on WhatsApp and the race tracking on YB Tracking.
Richard Crockett
