Royal Natal Yacht Club
Lipton Challenge Cup Regatta 2012
False Bay: 19 – 24 August
Day One: Sunday 19 August
The young team on Orion B2G2 from the Royal Natal Yacht Club nestle in as they hike up to the top mark in the first day of the esteemed Lipton Challenge Cup down in False Bay. They are currently in third position out of a fleet of 25 yachts.
Ideal sailing conditions saw 25 yachts attack a
triangular course in the first day of the prestigious Lipton Challenge Cup held
in False Bay with the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s Greg Davies crossing the line in
first position.
15-20knots of wind blowing from the North West made for
perfect reaches as the fleet flew around the course three times, managing to get
in some fantastic speeds. Davies, who has dominated previous Liptons showed
good form during the race but did fall back into second place on the reach during
the final lap. Langebaan’s skipper and Beijing Olympic sailor, Dominique
Provoyeur showed her prowess on the water as she challenged Davies, overtaking
him but unfortunately unable to maintain her lead, dropped back when one of the
line that controlled the spinnaker, dramatically snapped.
At the first mark, Royal Cape Yacht Club had all ready
set the pace, with defending champions False Bay Yacht Club rounding in second,
the Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Orion B2G2 in third and Langebaan Yacht Club in
fourth. As they rounded the wing mark, Davies still in the lead, the team from
Durban had moved neatly into second position, with Langebaan in third and False
Bay Yacht Club having a bad run finding themselves in fourth.
Top KZN boat, Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Orion B2G2, after
having had a conservative start, was just four boat lengths off the leaders at
the completion of the first triangle. False Bay worked hard to get into third
position with Langebaan dropping down in the fleet to fourth. As they
approached the weather mark on the second lap, Davies extended his lead
slightly, with Ricky Robinson helming Orion B2G2 sitting comfortably behind the
leader.
The team manager for Orion B2G2, Gregg Dobson exclaimed,
“The top three boats were within a boat length of each other, very close indeed
but the RNYC guys have good boat speed both upwind and downwind. Both Dominique
and Ricky were right up there, pushing Davies showing the rest of the fleet
that the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s entry is beatable this year!”
Hiking out hard, the team from Gordon's Bay Yacht Club helmed by Rodney Tanner cahse the leaders in day one of the Lipton Challenge Cup. Durban's entry, the Royal Natal Yacht Club Orion B2G2 is lying in third position in a fleet of 25 yachts.
At the end of the second triangle, Davies was followed
closely by Robinson then Provoyeur in third. The top three had a very good lead
on the rest of the boats as they broke away from the large fleet. Henley Midmar
Yacht Club entry, helmed by Craig Millar was the next top KZN yacht, sitting in
tenth position as they entered the last lap of the days racing.
The course shifted as the yachts rounded the top mark for
the last time with Langebaan having done well on the beat, finding themselves
in second position and the Durban lads dropping down to third.
As they rounded the leeward mark making their way to the
finish, positions remained the same with Royal Cape Yacht Club leading but both
second and third places pushed Davies the entire race, not letting him get too
much of a lead on them. Skippers, Provoyeur and Robinson were rewarded for
their good tactics and did well to stay within a few boat lengths of the leader
for majority of the race.
Today sees the yachts take to the icy cold waters in day
two of the top deep sea sailing event in South Africa, the 121st
Lipton Challenge Cup.
Photo Credit: Trevor Wilkins
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