Lipton Cup 2019

This year’s Lipton Cup has been hailed as one of the greatest contests on SA waters in many years. The final result was only determined in the last few minutes of the last race after six days of racingon the newly introduced Cape31.

Witbank Yacht and Aquatic Club sailing Nitro, co-skippered by Mike Hayton and David Rae, emerged as the winners for the first time in therace’s history after a titanic battle on the last day.

Heading into the final race,there were just five points separating the Witbank team and the home team, Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) sailing Yanmar and co-skippered by Gerry Hegie and Asenathi Jim.

It appeared that all was lost when the regatta leaders had to stop several times to free kelp and then plastic from their keel, resulting in them languishing at the back of the fleet. A massive effort then saw them clawing their way back into contention, finishing in seventh spot to RCYC’s fourth, doing enough to claim the coveted Cup by just three points.

“I’ve never seen a closer finish to the Lipton Challenge. The Cup was in the balance until the closing minutes of the eighth and final race,” said an enthusiastic Dave Hudson, who stood down as Chair of the Lipton Trustees for the duration of the event to compete with the Aeolians Sailing Club crew.

“RCYC did a great job on the organisational side, and feeding on-the-water commentary out on social media was a popular innovation. Unfortunately live tracking doesn’t work well on Table Bay owing to patchy network coverage, but that aside, it was a Lipton to be proud of,” he added.

“The highlight was the quality of the racing. Tight and intense, but all in a great spirit. I do think that having a powerful International jury in attendance -a first in the history of the Lipton Challenge -helped to keep things positive in the high pressure moments.

”Speaking about the switch to the Cape31s, Hudson was full of praise.

“This was a game-changer. The role of the trusty L26 over the past four decades, not only in the Lipton inter-club but in sailing in SA more generally, should never be underestimated. However the world of small keelboat racing has moved in the direction of “sport boats” and beyond. It was time for a change, and the launch of the Cape31 presented an opportunity not to be missed.

“This was a trial year for the Cape31, and the result could hardly have been better. It gave the Cape31 class an opportunity to showcase what it offers –modern one-design racing at its best –and it attracted our top sailors back to the Lipton Challenge. If you look at the international track records amongst the 75 sailors in this year’s challenge, it’s clear that we’ve never before in this country’s history had a stronger group of SA sailors racing in the same fleet at the same time."

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. A lot of comments along the lines that this was the pinnacle event that the Lipton Challenge should be.”Paul Withers, who was the head of the international jury for the event was also enthusiastic in his response.

He added: “I think the 2019 Lipton Cup was a very successful regatta in every way –it was special. Very well organised –good behind-scenes work on documentation and technical issues, good race management (committee boat, mark layers and results), good mooring facilities, nice opening ceremony and great prize giving. This was reflected by a good atmospherethroughoutthe event with competitors having respect for each other afloat and ashore.I enjoyed my involvement with your event, it was a special for me too.

”As for what makes the Lipton Challenge Cup such a special event on South Africa’s sailing calendar, Hudson concluded: “The rich history of the 110-year-old event, the uniqueness of the inter-club Challenge with its longer-than-usual races over traditional courses –none to be discarded –and of course the Cup itself. The fact is that it’s the South African sailing trophy that most of our most competitive sailors would most like to win.These all go to make it a really special event."