How to Follow the Lipton Cup Contest

The Royal Natal Yacht Club team which won the coveted Lipton Cup after 10 gruelling races on Saldanha Bay in August 2021. They defend The Cup this year when racing start tomorrow.
pic by Richard Crockett

The Lipton Challenge starts in False Bay tomorrow (Wednesday 17 August) when the Royal Natal Yacht Club defends the Lipton Challenge Cup which they won last year on Saldanha Bay.

Challenging them are four other Clubs, namely the Royal Cape Yacht Club as the Challengers of Record, Aeolians Club from the Vaal Dam, False Bay Yacht Club, and Walvis Bay Yacht Club from Namibia.

The perennial question always asked on the eve of the event is simply “who will win”?

Quite simply, there will be six “hot” teams duelling it out on False Bay for the right to lift the Lipton Challenge Cup in victory, and on paper each team has an equal chance of winning.

Many Lipton challenges in the past have been in one-design fleets with the first boat across the finish line, the winner.

This year is very different as the yachts are all handicapped with the winner of each race coming from the yacht which wins on corrected time. This may make it difficult to follow racing, but thanks to the generosity of Ellian Perch, a long time benefactor of sailing in this country, each boat is fitted with a YB Tracking unit that will give the actual positions of yachts on the water, plus approximate results on handicap. The bonus is that the trackers will poll the yachts EVERY minute of the race.

To Follow the racing on YB Tracking, go to their website (https://www.ybtracking.com/) And scroll down to the bottom where the link to The Lipton Challenge Cup 2022 can be found.

For those wanting live information on the racing direct from the water, Richard Crockett will be giving updates in the form of “voice bites” via the event WhatsApp group.

All the voice bites will be transcribed and put onto the event Facebook page as soon as possible after being broadcast.
Register on the WhatsApp Group HERE: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CTxoG4NkXRkCpfTagH0RYq

The Clubs competing in the contest are:
(Club; Skipper; Yacht Name)
Aeolians Club – Philip Baum – ‘Nemesis’
False Bay Yacht Club – Allan Lawrence – ‘Avatar’
Royal Cape Yacht Club – Jimmy Jacka/Rob van Rooyen – ‘RCYC Jackal’
Royal Natal Yacht Club – Davey James – ‘Orion DYP’
Walvis Bay Yacht Club – Bjorn Geiger – ‘MB Racing’

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