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With a light southerly wind maxing between 8 & 10 knots on flat water in what most pundits would call a perfect day for yacht racing, things were very tough for all competitors. The most consistent results were put in by the defending champions from the Hermanus Yacht Club who grabbed the 72nd Lipton Challenge Cup contest (sponsored by the City of Cape Town) by the cups ornate handles, sending a message to all teams that they are the ones …

By Richard Crockett As there was no racing yesterday due to strong winds, I am unable to share the racing report with you, so instead have posed the question in the above heading. A “grand slam” is scored when a competitor wins every single race in a series – something that is quite rare, and a feat becoming more and more difficult I would think as fleets simply get more competitive, and more races are sailed. In the founding era …

By Richard Crockett Racing in the 72nd Lipton Cup contest starts today on Table Bay with the first race scheduled for 11h00. So what is everyone racing for? To answer that one first needs to understand how the Lipton Cup was obtained for competition in this country, and how important the Deed of Gift is in terms of the competition. I firmly believe that no one can talk with any authority on this contest without having read the Deed of …

by Richard Crockett Tomorrow the 72nd Lipton Cup contest commences on Table Bay, and only a fool would bet on the likely result come next Saturday. The contest is tight and highly competitive with the winner coming from the team that does not blink under pressure and which can consistently count good positions. With no discard permitted, there is absolutely no room for error, with every single result counting, whether good, bad or indifferent. This year’s fleet is one less …

By Richard Crockett When the 72nd Lipton Cup contest commences on Tuesday (25th August) the 353rd race in the history of this fascinating contest will start. Over many years I have been collecting data on this contest and now have an almost complete spreadsheet by race, and with all the winning crew since the very first contest in 1911. This enables me to pull the statistics I share today, and they read like this: 49. The quality of the competing …

by Richard Crockett Today I will wrap up the 30 Square Metre era of the Lipton Cup, but before doing that I will briefly cover the final contest in 1973 which was held on Table Bay. At the Mayor’s Reception during the previous contest in Durban it was sportingly announced that the leading Cape boat would name this year’s Lipton Cup waters. Not unexpectedly ‘Tarpon’ (SBYC) nominated Table Bay, from 9 – 13 April. The wind gods were on the …

by Richard Crockett The fleet was back to seven again as ‘Sunmaid’ and ‘Rapid’ dropped out and ‘Mariquita’ (FBYC) once again joined the contest. This contest is remembered for the “grand slam” scored by David Cox, the Commodore of the Point Yacht, sailing ‘Tintomara’. The last “grand slam” having been that of Wilfred Hancock and ‘Mariquita’ in 1966, as well as with ‘Sunmaid’ in 1958. These two Durban skippers were the only ones to have grand-slammed in a five race …

by Richard Crockett The very valuable assistance of the Navy is often mentioned in dispatches pertaining to the Lipton Cup. In recognition of their services the City of Durban awarded the local naval base S.A.S. lnkonkoni the “Freedom of the City”. What a grand gesture. Reporting on the event then was Bianca Lavies who lamented the fact that they do not let women, reporters or photographers, on their guardships! The name of Wilfred Hancock has, for several previous Lipton contests …

by Richard Crockett The fleet swelled to a record nine yachts, with ‘Sunmaid’, ‘Yvette’ and ‘Tarpon’ not being entered despite being previous winners. Two new yachts came into the fray – being ‘Mariquita’ and ‘Tintomara’, with ‘Avocet’ and ‘Rapid’ returning for another shot at lifting the Lipton Cup. ‘Mariquita’ was a Arvid Laurin design, built in 1958, making her the newest in the fleet. ‘Tintomara’ was a Harry Becker design and built in 1955. Besides new boats, there were new …

by Richard Crockett In 1958 Rapid and Chiquita made way for ‘Sun Rose’ and ‘Sea Swallow’, with the fleet size remaining at eight, as it was in the previous contest. This was ‘Sun Rose’s’ first foray into the Lipton Cup contests. A Knud Reimers design, she was built in 1950. A massive change to the contest was the addition of two additional races at the request of competitors, making five races in all, the first time there had ever been …

by Richard Crockett Another new yacht, ‘Trickson II’, was added to the contest, making a fleet of eight. She was new to her owner, Harold Kohler, and was an unknown quantity as she had only been raced once in this country. She was an Arvid Laurin design, built in 1944. This series of races will probably go down as the most unfavourable to competitors as two days before the scheduled start the boats were unable to sail because of the …

by Richard Crockett Again seven yachts competed in the 11th contest with ‘Rapid’ making her first appearance, and ‘Sea Swallow’ dropping out. ‘Rapid’ was designed by Harry Becker and built in 1938. The Merthley Boating Club (MBC) from Natal was competing for the first time, with Ronald Elsdon-Dew as the skipper of ‘Avocet’ which made a return to the contest. ‘Rapid’ had been imported from Sweden by Leon Policansky, and was the longest of her class to be built. Determining …

by Richard Crockett Numbers swelled to seven for this challenge with ‘Chiquita’, another Erik Nilsson design, built in 1941, being a new yacht to the contest. She was skippered by Jimmy Whittle for the Royal Natal Yacht Club. Whittle had helmed ‘Vanja V’ for the RNYC in the 1952, 1953 and 1954 contests – finishing third on each occasion. ‘Avocet’ was entered by the Hermanus Yacht Club, the Club’s first foray in the contest, with Gordon Burn Wood as their …

By Richard Crockett Having shared some history of the Lipton Cup founding era in which ‘Erica’ played a key role, I received a call from David Abromowitz asking if I had any photos of her. Sadly photos of ‘Erica’ are something very rare indeed as I have just one original image, and a few from newspaper cuttings in that era. Abromowitz then went on to regale me, in his inimitable manner, that as a 14-year-old he walked from his family …

by Richard Crockett Just weeks before the contest ‘Yvette’, an Erik Nilsson design built in 1939, arrived in the country, and was sailed by Gill Bartholomew for the Zeekoevlei YC. She replaced ‘Avocet’ in the line-up, with ‘Tarpon’, ‘Sunmaid’ and ‘Sea Swallow’ back for another shot at lifting the Lipton Cup. In an unidentified newspaper preview it was expected that racing would be the keenest ever. “Noel Horsfield, the Olympic yachtsman, will be skippering ‘Sea Swallow’. Given the right conditions, …