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With the first race today, scheduled to start as the Athlone Towers met their fate, sailors from all over the country braved the lumpy seas and cold rain to compete in the opening race of this year's Lipton Cup Challenge.
One of the unique features of the Lipton Cup Challenge is that there are 3 required courses and it is customary for the Race officer to attempt to set the most difficult course, a square, on the very first day of the regatta. After dealing with the constantly shifting winds, Di Hutton-Squire, the Race Officer, decided to abandon her attempt to make use of the square course and set a windward, leeward (like a sausage) course as the first race. With the new course set, the sailors jostled for position and started the first race at 1310, only to have the Race Committee call for a General Recall after a large number of the yachts were across the line at the start.
While the boats were returning to the starting area, the wind shifted to the west which meant that the start line had to be reset. This complete, the skippers fought for the best position and the first race of the Lipton Cup Challenge started at 1324. Immediately the top boats headed toward Table Mountain, looking for the various favorable wind shifts that are often found there. With some confusion about where the top (weather) mark was, coupled with numerous wind shifts, many of the top boats over stood the lay line to the mark and the first boat to round was MSC Donna Mia, sailed for Defence KZN Yacht Club and crewed by the youth sailors from Izivunguvungu. They were closely followed by the teams from UCT Yacht Club, Knysna Yacht Club, Lake Denys Yacht Club and False Bay Yacht Club.
With 3 m swells and winds of 12 to 15 knots, (sometimes gusting into the high 20's) out of the NW, the teams set their spinnakers and surfed back down to the start mark, now 2 miles downwind. The Lipton Cup Deed of Gift, requires that courses of 12 miles are set and the teams had to complete 3 rounds of today's course. Surfing down to the bottom mark, the lead changed constantly and at the bottom mark, the students from UCT Yacht Club, skippered by Oliver Hobson, were in the lead, followed closely by Knysna Yacht Club and Lake Denys Yacht Club, with Defence KZN Yacht Club lying 5th.
Now it was time to go upwind and bash their way through the waves back to the top mark. To make it even more uncomfortable for the crews, Mother Nature decided that it was time for her to rinse them all clean and provided a deluge to further chill the crews. Approaching the top mark, the Knysna Yacht Club Team showed their superior speed and experience and led the pack, followed closely by UCT Yacht Club and False Bay Yacht Club's yachts. With the boats being strictly One-Design in nature, the top boats are very evenly matched and constantly trade positions on the water. Sailboat racing is all about consistency and making fewer mistakes that the next competitor and today the experience of the sailors on the Knysna Yacht Club entry, Colorpress Coordination saw them cross the finish line just ahead of the False Bay Yacht Club entry, Team Intasure Marine Insurance who finished second and Lake Denys Yacht Club's LDYC Round the Island Race Challenger.
With the first race completed and the rest of the week open for racing, at this stage it's anyone's guess as to who will be the team standing on the podium at the close of the 2010 Lipton Cup Challenge. - Matthew L. Thomas
Click Here to download the race results!
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