Lipton Day 2 and the Compeition Gets Tighter

With one day of racing under their belts and a sense of who were the teams to beat and watch out for, the 25 yachts competing in this years Lipton Cup Challenge Cup left the confines of Table Bay Harbour and headed out onto the race course in light NW winds of around 9 -11 knots and lumpy seas, left over from the cold front that passed through the area two days ago. Difficult sailing conditions on little 8 m yachts who are easily stopped by the swell.

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With whales traversing the race course and the wind switching back and forth it was going to be another tough day on the water, where skippers and crews would have to constantly monitor the wind shifts, take advantage of every single one, while avoiding the whales, as well as the kelp fronds that had been torn loose by the swell. At this level of competition, you are always guaranteed that the starts will be tight and racing hard, which often ends up in having numerous boats across the line at the start. If you're over the line at the gun, you run the risk of being forced to restart, which can end up costing you dearly. Your only hope at that point is that there are numerous boats across with you and the race officer will call for a general recall, which will give you another chance to start and get away cleanly. Having sailed a number of Lipton Cups, I know only to well, how crowded and furious the starts can be and how easy it is to be forced over the line early in a fleet this competitive.

In keeping with the high level of competition, the fleet was recalled twice at the start before the race got underway. On the third start, only one boat, Gordon's Bay Yacht Club's "WYKCO" was over the line and then had the unenviable task of avoiding all the other boats and returning to the cross the start line before they could get on their way. Yesterday' top boats, Knysna Yacht Club's "Colorpress" and False Bay Yacht Club's "Team Intasure Marine Insurance" got away cleanly.

Point Yacht Club's entry, "Orion Challenger", sailed by 23 year-old Ricky Robinson and his young Durban based crew, found themselves deep in the middle of the start melee. Having sailed in numerous International Dinghy events including the 2005 Youth Worlds and the 2007 Junior European Championships, Ricky is no stranger to highly competitive starts and seeing that he was no longer in a favourable position, did the next best thing and tacked away to find clean air. Now the hunt was on and and it was time to sail hard, play the wind shifts and work his way up the leader board.

Another young sailor who has also represented South Africa internationally, as well as competing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, is Dominique Provoyear, sailing the Imperial Yacht Club's entry, Bandito. Dom is sailing the only boat crewed entirely by women and was not on the pace yesterday, but put that all behind her and sailed into a 5th position today.

With the compulsory Sausage Course sailed yesterday, the race officer decided that today's course would be another compulsory course and chose to set the Triangle Course. With 2 of the 3 compulsory courses now completed, tomorrow's course is probably going to be the Square Course, which will pose another set of challenges to the teams, especially with two of the legs at 90 degrees to the wind and the swell.

After a day of hard sailing the results for today's race where: 1st, Knysna Yacht Club's, "Colorpress", sailed by veteran sailor and multiple winner of this event, Greg Davis and Gareth Blankenberg,  Followed by Andrea Giovaninni and Markus Progli sailing False Bay Yacht Club's, "Team Intasure Marine Insurance", and in 3rd place, after fighting his way through the entire fleet was Ricky Robinson, sailing Royal Natal Yacht Club's "Orion Challenger" - By  Mathew Thomas

Race 2 Results - Triangular Course