With the Challenger of Record, Royal Natal Yacht Club, and the defenders, Royal Cape Yacht Club, having already entered the Lipton Challenge Cup, the third entry has been received from the Hermanus Yacht Club.
The Cape 31 (C31) ‘Magic’ will be sailing for Hermanus Yacht Club which has won the Lipton Challenge Cup twice before.
Their entry will be jointly skippered by Malcolm Hall and Roger Hudson who will undoubtedly surround themselves with some highly talented crew. In fact, one suspects that the crew will have several Lipton Cup victories to each of their names as Roger Hudson and his L26 team, sailing for the Royal Cape Yacht Club have won the last two Lipton Challenge Cup competitions, with some even having world championship titles and Olympic experience.
A highly motivated and very competent team compete on ‘Magic’. They are the Cape 31 Class Champions having won all but one of the events that constituted the championship. These guys never rest on their laurels, and spend an inordinate amount of time practising, analysing and fine-tuning their boat to ensure that they are always at the top of their game – so they will be a formidable team and one which will provide tough competition to the other teams.
Malcolm Hall (co-skipper) has been sailing for 41 years, and has wealth of experience in national and international dinghies and small keelboats. Last year he and his team won the FarEast 28 World Champs.
Roger Hudson (co-skipper) has two world championship titles to his name, 3 Lipton Cup titles and has twice represented South Africa in the Olympics. Plus a string of impressive results across all forms of the sport.
Hall and Hudson, plus their crew who are still to be announced, will be sailing to win the first ever Lipton Cup event sailed in the Cape 31 class yacht – a new class which offers highly competitive fast yacht racing.
The Royal Natal Yacht Club entry is due to be launched on Tuesday 9th of July and will be named ‘Orion DYP’. She will be raced for the first time on 20 July in a C31 race day.
