Knysa Yacht Club extends their lead

With very light winds out of the west, it was touch and go as to whether there would be a race today. Fortunately, for the sailors, the Compulsory Courses had been sailed and this allowed Di Hutton-Squire, the Race Officer, to set a shorter course of around 6 miles. After bobbing around Table Bay for a couple of hours, waiting for the wind to fill in, the race finally started at 1435. With only 5 knots of wind over the course, it was slow going and imperative for the skippers to start in clean air and get away from the melee at the start and then take advantage of every puff and wind shift.

Carrying three wins forward, Greg Davis and Gareth Blankenberg sailing "Team Colorpress" (Knysna YC) were the boat to beat and it would be a tough battle to beat them in the light conditions. Today's course was a sausage shaped course, where the teams would have to sail to a mark set directly into the wind, before returning dead downwind to the bottom mark, very difficult in light airs, especially when your speed downwind makes the wind that you're sailing in less.

The Lipton Cup Challenge is much like the America's Cup in that the winner of the event becomes the Defender of the next event and prior to the start has to notify the trustees where they will hold the event, should they win . With "encouraging ocean sailing" as part of the Deed of Gift, there is a requirement that all Challenges be sailed in the ocean. Now that it looks like Knysna Yacht club will most likely win the event, the Challenge next year will be held in Mossel Bay.

Once again it was "Team Colorpress" first across the finish line, but it was in the pack behind them, that everything changed. 2nd was "Orion Challenger", 3rd  "UCT Maverick", 4th "Team Intasure Marine Insurance" and 5th "Team Intersure".

What is interesting now is that while it looks like it's a sure thing for "Team Colorpress", it's never over "till the Fat Lady sings" and in the coming days, there will some opportunity for for the other top boats to interfere with the leaders and take their lead away, but it's going to be tricky and take a lot of skill. - Mathew Thomas

Race Four Results Click to Download

Click here for the overall results