Lipton Challenge Cup Day Two Race One

Royal Natal Yacht Club
Lipton Challenge Cup

Day two got underway in the Lipton Challenge Cup, South Africa’s most coveted sailing trophy, with Greg Davis skippering the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s entry Co-Ordination taking an early lead in Simonstown.

No stranger to winning the Lipton Challenge, veteran sailor Davis led from the start as the rest of the fleet jostled for positions.

Drama happened minutes before the fleet were under starters’ orders with Hermanus Yacht Club’s Maverick Meerkat losing her mast. Another withdrawal happened when UCT Yacht Club’s Maverick started taking on water and had to make her way back to port.

Durban’s two entries, the Royal Natal Yacht Club and Point Yacht Club had a steady start to their 2014 Lipton campaigns with skipper Brennan Robinson on Orion B2G2 and his crew tucked in a consistent third for majority of the race, staying right up there with the leaders.

Out of the blocks, the top five leaders rounded the first buoy all within 80seconds of one-another, Durban’s Robinson rounding in fifth position. As they went around the second mark, Orion B2G2 was still in fifth position. On nearing the third buoy, False Bay Yacht Club dropped back a few positions and Orion B2G2 sailing magnificently, gained a place moving to fourth place.

Tackling lap two, the wind shifted a bit which meant that the race officer had to adjust the course slightly and Royal Natal Yacht Club’s skipper read the wind shift perfectly jumping to third position and remained there for the final two laps.

Skipper for Orion B2G2 Brennan Robinson said when back on land, “First race of Lipton was really blustery, with a mix of light and howling wind thrown at us but we managed to stay in the leading pack finishing up third today. I was really impressed with our top speed that we clocked in these conditions, we got an 18.2knots maximum speed.”

Continuing the young skipper said, “It was very challenging with False Bay offering both light and very strong blustery winds. Positions changed a lot at the top end of the fleet, but sailing conservatively we managed to be up there all the time. In the past we've seen that consistency pays.”

Second placed B&G flying the Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club burgee, skippered by Daniel Agulhas had a slow start, but made big gains in when a drastic wind shift came through. The next four races #are going to be interesting as Robinson skippered Orion B2G2 to victory recently in the MSC Week with Agulhas finishing second in the week long regatta.

Craig Millar from the Point Yacht Club was right up there in second for the first two laps, behind Co-Ordinations’ Davis but on his final lap lost momentum finishing the race in fifth position.

Fifteen boats headed out from host club False Bay Yacht Club in a stiff North Westerly that was registering 17-25 knots with lots of gusts. Sea conditions were lumpy as the sailors took on a rectangle course in their one-design L26 yachts.

For the second year in a row, day one saw a frustrating start to the event with zero wind which eventually meant racing on day one was abandoned.

Leader board
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 LTC / Cab Technology SA (Hout Bay Yacht Club Theo Yon), 5 Point Yacht Club (Point Yacht Club Craig Millar)

ENDS