Lipton Challenge Cup – A New Era Dawns

The Lipton Challenge Cup sailing event is this country’s most iconic yacht racing regatta, with its origins dating back to 1909 when Sir Thomas Lipton gave the South African Sailing Community the magnificent Lipton Cup trophy.

The opening paragraph of the Deed of Gift says: “Know all men by those present that I, Sir Thomas Lipton, of London, England, for the purpose of encouraging yachting in South Africa, and especially in the way of friendly contests in sailing and seamanship in deep sea yacht racing, do hereby give to the Table Bay Yacht Club of Cape Town, Cape Colony, the silver Cup delivered herewith”.

At the same time, Sir Thomas left a trade mark which may be described as Rule 1 of the yacht racing rules.

The essence of Rule 1 is: “Competitors shall keep in view the ordinary customs of the sea and discourage all attempts to win a race by other means than fair sailing and superior speed and skill”. In this highly commercialised sporting world of ours this is perhaps of more than passing interest.

This year is the 66th Lipton Cup contest with competitors seeking to win this 110 year old trophy exclusively for inter-club competition.

While Sir Thomas spoke of “friendly contests”, the regatta has always been a very tense affair with no quarter given at any time on the water. Yet despite the closeness of the on-water competition, the rivalry has always been friendly.

To date just 5 separate classes of yacht have been designated as Lipton Cup classes. This year sees the 6th change of class with the super-fast, super-slippery and most modern up-to-date Cape 31 racing yachts being raced for the first time.

For many years there had been concern about the continued use of the L26 class yacht as the Lipton Cup boat, but there was no alternative choice until the Cape 31 was developed by Sir Irvine Laidlaw in 2017. Designed and built to cutting edge technology, the concept piqued the interest of many top yachtsman, and quickly a 14-boat fleet was built and launched. The racing has been so close and competitive that the Cape 31 was quickly touted as the next Lipton Cup boat, with the yacht clubs of South Africa voting for its inclusion in 2018.

And with this change of boat, has come a complete rejuvenation of past sailors coming back to the competition with the intention of winning. Many of the great names in the sport locally, and in terms of being Lipton Cup winners, have emerged and are racing highly competitively in the Cape 31.

The above, coupled with the fact that the Lipton Challenge Cup races are all a minimum of 12 nautical miles, makes it a very tough competition as races might last as long as 2 hours, with no respite. Concentration, supreme fitness and complete team work are simply a few of the ingredients that will be required to lift the Lipton Cup this year.

The defending club is the Royal Cape Yacht Club who accepted the challenge from the Royal Natal Yacht Club to contest the Lipton Cup for the 66th time.

One stand-out sailor worthy of mention is Rick Nankin who at the age of 69 is the oldest skipper in the fleet. Yet despite his age he comes with a massive pedigree in the Lipton Cup and sailing in general. He will be competing in his 25th Lipton Cup regatta, and is the only person in the fleet to have sailed in the last four designated Lipton Cup classes – those being the 30-Square Metre in the ‘70s, the 1/4-tonners in the early ‘80s, the L26 and now the Cape 31. Plus he has won the coveted cup as skipper on several occasions.

Like Nankin there are others with a rich vein of success in this regatta, but simply too numerous to mention.

The big question is who will win? That’s simply too close to call, and which is why its going to be a ‘must follow’ regatta this year with interest already aroused throughout the sailing world.

Follow the Lipton Challenge Cup with these options:

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The regatta will take place from Sunday 4 August to Saturday 10 August in Table Bay. The first race is on Monday 5 August. The host Club is the Royal Cape Yacht Club.

10 Clubs have entered as follows:

YACHT CLUB	SKIPPER/S	BOAT NAME
Royal Cape Yacht Club	Jerry Hegie & Asenathi Jim	Yanmar
Royal Natal Yacht Club	Mark Sadler	Orion DYP
Aeolians	Philip Baum	Nemesis
Gordons Bay Yacht Club	Rodney Tanner	Ski
Hermanus Yacht Club	Malcolm Hall & Roger Hudson	Magic
Langebaan Yacht Club	Greg Davis & Geoff Meek	Scud
Sailing PE	Rick Nankin	Vivaldi
University of Cape Town Yacht Club	Nicholas Ryall	CuAl6 UCT Maverick
Walvis Bay Yacht Club	Bjorn Geiger	MB Racing
Witbank Yacht Club	Mike Hayton & David Rae	Nitro

Lipton Challenge Cup Winners

No.	Year	Venue	Class	Skipper	Club	Yacht
1	1911	Cape Town	6 8 Metres	N.W. Chiazzari	PYC	Tess
2	1912	Durban	IRR of GB	N.W. Chiazzari	PYC	Skabenga
3	1913	Durban	IRR of GB	H.J. Spradbrow	PYC	Skabenga
4	1914	Durban	IRR of GB	H.J. Spradbrow	PYC	Skabenga
5	1922	Durban	IRR of GB	H.J. Spradbrow	PYC	Skabenga
6	1923	Durban	IRR of GB	H.J. Spradbrow	PYC	Skabenga
7	1952	Durban	30 m2	F. Meadows	PYC	Avocet
8	1953	Durban	30 m2	L.E. Thomas / A.Austin	RCYC	Tarpon
9	1954	Cape Town	30 m2	G.I. Bartholemew	ZVYC	Yvette
10	1955	Cape Town	30 m2	L.E. Thomas	RCYC	Tarpon
11	1956	Cape Town	30 m2	M. Gronn	ZVYC	Yvette
12	1957	Cape Town	30 m2	H.W. Kohler	RYC	Trickson II
13	1958	Algoa Bay	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Sunmaid
14	1959	Durban	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Mariquita
15	1960	Durban	30 m2	L.N. Horsfield	CN	Rapid
16	1961	Durban	30 m2	L.N. Horsfield	CN	Rapid
17	1962	Durban	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Mariquita
18	1963	Durban	30 m2	L.N. Horsfield	HSC	Rapid
19	1964	Cape Town	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Mariquita
20	1965	Durban	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Mariquita
21	1966	Durban	30 m2	W.I. Hancock	RNYC	Mariquita
22	1967	Cape Town	30 m2	R.S. Chedburn	RCYC	Yvette
23	1968	Cape Town	30 m2	H.A. VanHoogstraten	ZVYC	Trickson II
24	1969	Cape Town	30 m2	C.C. Bowley	HYC	Sunmaid
25	1970	Cape Town	30 m2	W. Bongers / H.A.Van Hoogstraten	ZVYC	Trickson II
26	1971	Durban	30 m2	J.M. Whittle	RNYC	Sunrose
27	1972	Durban	30 m2	D.L. Cox	PYC	Tintomara
28	1973	Durban	30 m2	J.M. Whittle	RNYC	Sunrose
29	1982	Durban	IOR 1/4 Ton	H.F. Ellens / A.G. Hurter	PYC	Fuel Free
30	1983	Durban	IOR 1/4 Ton	G.V. Meek	RCYC	Royal Flush
31	1984	Cape Town	L26	E. Sternagel	TYC	Galactica
32	1985	Durban	L26	B. Savage	UNYC	Element
33	1986	Durban	L26	E. VanCuyck / C.P. Keeping	RCYC	Omega Heatwave
34	1987	Cape Town	L26	E. VanCuyck / C.P. Keeping	RCYC	Joko II
35	1988	Cape Town	L26	C. King / R. Nankin	ZVYC	SX Stainless
36	1989	Cape Town	L26	C. King / R. Nankin	ZVYC	SX Stainless
37	1990	Cape Town	L26	C. King / R. Nankin	ZVYC	SX Stainless
38	1991	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis	HBYC	Judron
39	1992	Cape Town	L26	C. King	ZVYC	FG Minnitt
40	1993	Saldanha	L26	C. King	ZVYC	FG Minnitt
41	1994	Saldanha	L26	C. King	ZVYC	Dalys Insurance
42	1995	Saldanha	L26	G. Davis / D.Hudson	RCYC	MBS
43	1996	Cape Town	L26	M. Schultz / G. Meek	HYC	Africa Glass
44	1997	Gordons Bay	L26	G. Davis / D.Hudson	RCYC	MBS Challenger
45	1998	Algoa Bay	L26	P. Shaw / S. Du Toit	GBYC	Fedsure Medway
46	1999	Gordons Bay	L26	C. King / R. Nankin	TSC	Dalys Insurance
47	2000	Simons Town	L26	G. Davis / M. Sadler	RCYC	RCYC Orion Challenger
48	2001	Cape Town	L26	R. Nankin	TSC	Dalys Insurance
49	2002	Cape Town	L26	I. Ainslie	ZVYC	MSC Donna Mia
50	2003	Durban	L26	R. Nankin / M. Sadler	TSC	Dalys Insurance
51	2004	Cape Town	L26	R. Nankin	TSC	Dalys Insurance
52	2005	Cape Town	L26	D. Hudson / R. Hudson	RCYC	RCYC Greenlight
53	2006	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / G. Blankenberg	TSC	Dalys Insurance
54	2007	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / G. Blankenberg	TSC	Dalys Insurance
55	2008	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / G. Blankenberg	TSC	Dalys Insurance
56	2009	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / D. Rae	RCYC	Dalys Insurance
57	2010	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / G. Blankenberg	KYC	Colorpress
58	2011	Mossel Bay	L26	G. Davis / D. Rae	KYC	Colorpress
59	2012	False Bay	L26	R. Robinson	RNYC	Orion B2G2
60	2013	Durban	L26	R. Weddel	PYC	PYC Choose Life Coordination
61	2014	False Bay	L26	G. Davis / D. Rae	RCYC	Co-Ordination
62	2015	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / D. Rae	RCYC	Co-Ordination
63	2016	Cape Town	L26	G. Davis / D. Rae	RCYC	Co-Ordination
64	2017	Cape Town	L26	Roger Hudson	RCYC	RCYC Race Ahead
65	2018	Durban	L26	Roger Hudson	RCYC	RCYC Homechoice
66	2019	Cape Town	Cape 31	M Hayton / D Rae	WYAC	Nitro