Royal Natal Yacht Club
Lipton Challenge Cup Regatta 2012
False Bay: 19 – 24 August
Day Five: Thursday 23 August
A thrilling day of sailing saw an upset on the
leaderboard with the determined team from Royal Natal Yacht Club claiming first
position on the log with only one day of racing remaining at the Lipton
Challenge Cup.
Durban boats shone in today’s action. A nail-biting
finish saw the two Durban entries charge for the line with the team from Point
Yacht Club sailing on Choose Life High Performance Sailing Team snatch victory
from the crew on-board Orion B2G2, led by Ricky Robinson, who sailed
brilliantly ending the day in second place.
Robinson dethroned Davies off the top of the overall log
at the conclusion of day four with a single point separating the two teams.
Greg Davies, sailing for the Royal Cape Yacht Club is hunting for his tenth victory
in the most prestigious sailing event in South Africa.
The fleet had a challenging day with the start delayed as
the officials waited for the wind to fill; eventually a light shifty breeze
came through as 25 boats with South Africa’s top sailors competing on, charged four
times around a windward leeward or sausage course.
The first beat was extremely tough as the wind died down.
Around the first weather mark Zeekoevlei Yacht Club took an early lead with the
two Durban boats rounding side by side followed by Theeswater Sailing Club. A
big gap already separated the first four from the remainder of the fleet. Overnight
leaders Royal Cape Yacht Club were in fifth as they went around the top mark.
Theeswater dropped off the tightly bunched front pack as
Leroy Rudolph helming Zeekoevlei, Richard Weddel skippering Choose Life High
Performance Sailing team and Robinson read the conditions perfectly and opened
up the lead as they turned around the leeward mark heading into the second leg.
The wind picked up as the yachts set off on the second run and remained consistent. At the second weather mark positions remained the same with a very handy gap between third and fourth.
At the end of the third beat, Robinson and his team had a
slight advantage on Rudolph and Weddel as defending champions, False Bay Yacht
Club came through in fourth.
Going into the final two legs, a run and then a beat to
the finish, Point Yacht Club had narrowly taken the lead with Orion B2G2 just
on their shoulder. Zeekoevlei Yacht Club
being edged out by the two Durban boats.
A photo finish saw Point Yacht Club’s Choose Life High
Performance Sailing Team win the penultimate race by a millisecond ahead of
Ricky Robinson on Orion B2G2. Greg Davies crossed the line in tenth.
Today’s race saw a big shuffle on the leaderboard, with
Robinson deservedly being in first with 17 pts, Davies on 18pts and three boats
find themselves on 23pts False Bay Yacht Club, Point Yacht Club’s Choose Life
High Performance Sailing Team and the young team from the University of Cape
Town Yacht Club.
The final race is sure to be exhilarating as the
tacticians will get to work plotting worse case and best case scenarios to
ensure their victory. With everything to play for tomorrow, the Royal Natal
Yacht Club’s team will just have to stay in front of Davies and crew and ensure
that the third placed boats don’t finish five boats ahead of them.
Sailing doesn’t get more intense than this with the epic
final chapter of the 2012 Lipton
Challenge Cup.
Results Day Five
1 Royal Natal Yacht Club (Ricky Robinson) 17pts, 2 Royal Cape
Yacht Club (Greg Davies) 18pts, 3 University Cape Town Yacht Club (Neil Malan /
Oliver Hobson) 23pts, 4 Point Yacht Club Choose Life High Performance Sailing
(Richard Weddel) 23pts, 5 False Bay Yacht Club (Andrea Giovanni / Markus
Progli) 23pts, 6 Zeekoevlei Yacht Club (Leroy Rudolph ) 33pts, 7 Defence Yacht
Club Western Province (David Shilton) 41pts, 8 Henley Midmar Yacht Club (Craig
Millar) 43pts
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