Sailing Magazine
pic by Trevor Wilkins
The opening 2 days of the Lipton Cup have belonged to the weather gods. Day 1 had insufficient wind in which to sail, while day 2 was blustery at the start with 25 knots being recorded, before a massive wind shift brought lighter winds resulting in positional changes which saw teams go from hero to zero – and vice versa.
The team which reversed the trend and went from zero to hero was the Zeekoevlei YC team helmed by Sieraj Jacobs. Jacobs and his team profited big time from a massive wind switch. They put the Royal Cape YC team, which incidently looked invincible, under enormous pressure. They zoomed up the leader board into second spot which was vacated by Craig Millar and the Point Yacht Club team who got that big shift totally wrong, slipping down the field in rather dramatic style.
Due to the massively reduced wind pressure during the first leg, most teams had to change up from smaller headsails while on the second leg.
One can see from the pics supplied by Trevor Wilkins that the RCYC and ZVYC had a thrilling tussle towards the end of the race, but the superior ability of the ‘ageing’ RCYC team was severely tested by the young up-and coming team from ZVYC.
The only consistent team on the water was the Royal Natal team who remained 3rd throughout the race.
The trackers being used to show the race unfold live appear to be working well, so if you have the time, go to www.liptoncup.com and follow the link to the trackers. But be warned, it is addictive, so you need time on your hands.
Results (Provisional)
1 Royal cape Yacht Club
2 Zeekoe Vlei Yacht Club
3 Royal Natal Yacht Club
No further results are available so far, so this post will be updated once the full results become available.
