“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Some Lipton Cup Stats

This is probably the first ever photo of the magnificent Lipton Cup and was taken in about 1909.
RCYC Archives

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 crews that will be competing on Table Bay next week is out of the top drawer with their being 49 winners “caps” in the star-studded fleet shared between 16 different people.

33. The Lipton Cup has been won on Table Bay 33 times (46,5%) and 23 times (32,4%) off Durban.

18. Royal Cape Yacht Club has won 25.4% of all contests with 18 wins. Royal Natal and Zeekoe Vlei have 11 wins each.

15. Just 15 clubs have ever lifted the Lipton Cup in victory.

15. The most prolific individual winner of this contest is Greg Davis with 15 victories – 13 as skipper and 2 as crew.

11. The next most prolific individual winner is David Rae with 11 wins – 7 as skipper and 4 as crew.

8. Cyril Warne from the 30 Square Metre Class era has the most ever wins, 8, as crew.

6. Greg Davis has scored the most consecutive wins in this contest with 6 between 2006 and 2011.

3. Sean van Rensburg and Trevor Spilhaus have 3 wins each as crew.

As mentioned, I have an almost complete record of each race, although I do need a complete race-by-race set of results from 2003. If anyone has these, please share them with me (editor@sailing.co.za)

For reference, the following is a list of the competitors from that year. My hope is that one of those skippers or crew from those competing clubs has the full race-by-race results that they will share.

1Theewaters Sports ClubMark Sadler / Rick NankinDaly's Insurance
2Royal Cape Yacht ClubDave Hudson / David RaeGreenlight
3Royal Natal Yacht ClubGeorge Amoils / Martin LambrechtOrion Challenger
4Zeekoei Vlei Yacht ClubIan AinslieMSC Donna Mia
5Transvaal Yacht ClubEwald SternagelRote Hexe
6Hottentots Holland Beach Sailing ClubPaul LagesseDynamic ID Systems
7Bluff Yacht ClubCraig Millar / Alec Lanham-loveLipton Yellow Label
8Point Yacht ClubJerome MclauchlinForeshore
9Port Owen Yacht ClubSieraj JacobsBound for Gold
10Henley Midmar Yacht ClubHarry EllensParental Guidance
11Victoria Lake ClubRob WillcoxLA Dique
12University Natal Yacht ClubNeil TocknellLipton Spirit of Summer
13Algoa Bay Yacht ClubRobert ArchibaldBlick Challenger
14Knysna Yacht ClubDeclan NurseWarlock
15University of Cape Town Yacht ClubJamie WatersTeam UCT
16Zululand Yacht ClubNigel MilinDockleveller
17Deneysville Aquatic ClubPaul ThompsonAlfa Romeo
18Aeolians ClubPaul WillcoxTyco
19Hout Bay Yacht ClubR Turner / N OrmondBondito
20Gordons Bay Yacht ClubMatthew MentzDonne Mia Always
21Island Sailing ClubTrevor DonaldSL Filtrations Con
22Witbank Yacht & Aquatic ClubDave GarrardCommodore Waterfront Hotel
60Settlers Yacht ClubAlastair PedenJML3 Aries
24Milnerton Aquatic ClubRay MatthewsEscape
25Seal Point Yacht ClubGlen MarshallMischief
26Lake Deneys Yacht ClubTielman BurgerTatoosh
27Durban Radio Boat ClubThomas ThorntonContainer World
28Saldanha Bay Yacht ClubPeter RoeloffzeLufthansa
29Vaal Cruising AssociationJessica LenzElectron Colour Presss
30False Bay Yacht ClubAndrew MackenzieFBYC Pride
31Langebaan Yacht ClubJonathan WooldridgeJML1
32Defence Yacht Club - KZNSteve HawkinsKaap St Lucia
33Cannons Creek Sailing ClubDavid ArnotEl-Cid
The Lipton Cup as it stands today – with four oak tiers of silver shields depicting the winning Clubs and skippers.
pic from RCYC Archives

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