Lipton Challenge Cup Day Four Race Three

Royal Natal Yacht Club
Lipton Challenge Cup
Day Four Race Three

Hefty sea conditions saw the fleet work hard in the third race of the Lipton Challenge Cup down in Simonstown yesterday (Wednesday) with Greg Davis sailing for the Royal Cape Yacht Club on Co-Ordination notching up his second victory.

The crème-de-la-crème of South African sailors were expecting testing conditions with the SA Weather Service issuing warnings on Tuesday about the two fronts hitting the Cape. Racing got underway promptly at midday with the wind gusting at around 25knots and slowly increased to the 30knot mark as they sailed on a windward / leeward or sausage course.

 Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Brennan Robinson commented, “The wind came through much stronger than expected, with frequent rain squalls rolling down the course. It became a very physical game, and with some resilience we clung onto third place.”

Davis had an impressive day on the water handling the heavy conditions well. On rounding the first mark, he had already worked a five boat length lead on Daniel Agulhas’ B&G. Third around was Hout Bay Yacht Club’s Theo Yon and Durban’s very own Orion B2G2 in fourth.

Overall second placed Zeekoe Vlei had a cracker of a start but spent majority of the race playing tag with Davis and crew. They managed to get a sniff of a lead on the second lap but Davis regained it on the leeward leg and took the win a minute ahead of Agulhas on B&G.

Durban’s Mr Consistent, Brennan Robinson and his team flying the Royal Natal Yacht Club’s burgee claimed their second third place in the competition after a tiring race. Again the crew were the first KZN boat to cross the line.

“The Capies are tough to beat on their home waters and in the conditions that they're accustomed to. Shortly after the start we found ourselves in third place which we consolidated on and pushed through to the finish'

Defending champs, False Bay Yacht Club’s Markus Progli had a tough day at the office; they took a gamble and went left on the course on the first leeward leg with the remainder of the fleet sailing to the right. The gamble didn’t pay off for the defending champs and they spent most of the race playing catch up. Then on the final leg heading up to the finish, their main halyards failed and they limped to the finish under only jib power.

The overnight leader board juggled a bit with Davis and Agulhas retaining their first and second positions. Royal Natal Yacht Club’s Robinson is six points behind Davis and Craig Millar, the other Durban entry sailing for Point Yacht Club dropped a place to seventh position.

With the three compulsory Lipton courses done, the final two days will be challenging for all as they try to out-sail Davis who has won the cup nine times and he looks to have a comfortable lead at the moment but things can change with one single wrong decision out on the water.
Results

Race Three
1 Co-Ordination (Royal Cape Yacht Club Greg Davis), 2 B&G (Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Daniel Agulhas), 3 Orion B2G2 (Royal Natal Yacht Club Brennan Robinson), 4 Southern Charter UCT Maverick (UCT Yacht Club Chris Gough), 5 LTC / Cab Technology SA (Hout Bay Yacht Club Theo Yon), 6 Intasure (False Bay Yacht Club Markus Progli), 7 Point Yacht Club (Point Yacht Club Craig Millar)

Leader board
1 Co-Ordination (Royal Cape Yacht Club Greg Davis) 4points, 2 B&G (Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club Daniel Agulhas) 7points, 3 Orion B2G2 (Royal Natal Yacht Club Brennan Robinson) 10points, 4 Intasure (False Bay Yacht Club Markus Progli) 13points, 5 LTC / Cab Technology SA (Hout Bay Yacht Club Theo Yon) 16points, 6 Southern Charter UCT Maverick (UCT YC, Chris Gough) 17, 7 Point Yacht Club (PYC, Craig Millar) 18

ENDS