Sailing Magazine
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, that is, light airs, this yacht has every chance of being a winner. ‘Yvette’ has shown herself to be a very fast yacht, especially off the wind. Tarpon, ‘Sunmaid’ and ‘Vanja V’ are evenly matched.”
Such was the media interest in the Cape newspapers that they even gave the following: “The yachts may be distinguished by the colour of their hulls as follows:
‘Tarpon’ – cream
‘Vanja V’ – white
‘Sea Swallow’ – blue
‘Yvette’ – brown
‘Sun Maid’ – green
They went further by suggesting vantage points: “The best vantage points for the race will be Signal Hill (with binoculars), although at the earlier and later stages a good view will be obtained from the High Level Road, Green Point. The start and finish take place within a few hundred yards of the end of the Breakwater, from where spectators will be able to watch.”
The first race was cancelled due to very heavy seas, rain squalls and the wind blowing half a gale from the north-west.
One newspaper described the heavy swells as: “some of them more than 15ft high and capped with waves. The racing yachts often almost disappeared in the swell. Only their pennants were visible!”
Race 1
In contrast to Saturday’s blustering wind and heavy seas which caused the postponement of the first race, the resail found the sea nearly flat calm, with a light north-west wind for the triangular course.
‘Yvette’ (Gill Bartholomew – ZVYC) won the first race, finishing well ahead of her four rivals. ‘Sunmaid’ (SANSA) was second.
The passengers and crew of the mailship ‘Athlone Castle’, which arrived in Cape Town had a grand-stand view of the first race. Dwarfing the myriad small craft in the bay, she steamed across the course of the five competing yachts, which were slowly beating towards the first marker buoy, near Robben Island.
While she hove to, to take the pilot on board, two of the contestants, ‘Sunmaid’ SANSA) and ‘Sea Swallow’ (PYC) crossed under her bows. Passengers lining the rails were obviously delighted to be “in” on South Africa’s premier yachting event, and lustily cheered their favourites on.
‘Yvette’ (ZVYC) rounded the first marker with a clear lead, and there was no stopping her from then on. With her spinnaker billowing in a following breeze she rounded the second buoy about half a mile ahead of ‘Sunmaid’ (SANSA) and went on to finish seven minutes before the naval entrant.
Race 2
‘Yvette’ (ZVYC) won the second race in an excellent time of 1hr. 59min. 52sec. for the 12-mile course. ‘Sunmaid’ (SANSA) was again second, 2min. 31sec. behind ‘Yvette’.
This meant that the Lipton Cup was going to be won by either ZVYC or SANSA, as the other three were mathematically out of the running. ‘Yvette’ had 200 points, 40 points ahead of her nearest rival, ‘Sunmaid’ (SANSA).
Race 3
Sailing the 12-mile quadrilateral course in strong winds and choppy seas, ‘Yvette’ (ZVYC) again won in a fast time of 1hr. 15min. 50sec., Just 57 seconds ahead of ‘Sunmaid’ (SANSA).
Such was the excitement at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, the host Club, as ‘Yvette’ (ZVYC) was towed in after the race, that the Club secretary (Mr. G. C. Guthrie) fired an old naval gun, built in 1882, as a salute to the winning crew, amid loud cheering as they drew alongside.
| Overall Results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zeekoevlei Yacht Club | Gill Bartholomew | Yvette | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | SA Naval Sailing Association | WE Kingswell | Sunmaid | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Royal Natal Yacht Club | J Whittle | Vanja V | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 4= | Royal Cape Yacht Club | 'Sonny' Thomas, | Tarpon | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 4= | Point Yacht Club | N Horsfield | Sea Swallow | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Winning Crew Were: Gill Bartholomew (skipper); Eric Bongers; Ron Chedburn; Roger Bartholomew & C Phillips.
READ MORE HERE: 1954 08 20 – argus – lipton trophy yachts in fine trim – national library_Redacted
