Lipton Cup 2024. A Clarion Call to Challengers

by Richard Crockett

The most iconic event that all South African yachties want to compete in, and win, is without doubt the Lipton Cup. The winners lift the iconic Lipton Challenge Cup in victory.

To raise that trophy in victory takes a huge effort, and sometimes several years in time and practice to achieve. Previous winners
honestly believe that unless one has started preparing for a Lipton Challenge early, all effort may be in vain!

So this is a clarion-call to all local yachties with Lipton Cup aspirations, to make a commitment now, rather than later, and show their intentions. While on-the-water racing in the Lipton Cup is a closely fought sprint, the preparations are a marathon, as time is needed on the water to prepare and select the crew, and fine-tune the yacht.

A question often asked since the L26 was removed as the Lipton Cup choice of boat, is why the ORC handicapping method was chosen to replace a class which had stood the test of time?

Towards the end of the L26 era competition was anything but tough and intense, with sometime just one or two key players in the mix to win. In 2018, the last year of the L26 era, Roger Hudson and his Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) team won four of the five races, by a margin or five to ten minutes or more! In most of those races they led the fleet from start to finish. The
second placed boat in 2018 only scored two second places in their five races, so competition was anything but intense and closely fought.

I wrote an editorial at the time talking of the RCYC’s “Masterclass of Light Wind Sailing” as they won the final race by a country
mile. 

The writing was on the wall for the demise of the L26, with this lack of close competition.

Since then the Cape 31 Class and the ORC handicapping system have been the options, and close racing was once again plain to see.

2021, sailed exclusively in Cape 31s, may have provided the closest finish ever in a Lipton Cup – in terms of the final race and overall.
This was down-to-the-wire racing, with the Royal Natal Yacht Club’s (RNYC) team coming from last on the final leg to finish a hair’s breadth behind the Aeolians race winner, and RCYC’s team dropping from first to fifth on that epic final leg. That result meant that the RNYC won overall by a single point, pushing Witbank Yacht & Aquatic Club (WY&AC) into second spot. The RCYC
team that had led overall at the end of every day that week, was pushed to third overall, again a single point behind second spot.

Last year, 2023, sailed using the ORC Handicapping System, the overall winners, RCYC, won the final race by a mere 26 seconds on handicap.
Had the second placed Seal Point Yacht Club (SPYC) team won that final race, and RCYC been third or worse, SPYC would have tied or even won the Lipton Challenge Cup.

 That’s how close it was in the end.

 To interpret the success of ORC in the Lipton Cup and how effective this rating system can be in enabling close racing between boats of very different designs, here are some examples from the Lipton Challenge off Durban in 2023.

 In Race 1, George Lakes Yacht Club’s Pacer 27 Sport beat Seal Point Yacht Club’s FarEast 28R by just one second after some two and a half hours of racing.

 In Race 2, a race of similar length to Race 1, Stilbaai Yacht Club’s Pacer 27 Sport beat Royal Cape Yacht Club’s Cape 31 by exactly 30 seconds.

 In Race 3, Point Yacht Club’s J33 beat Royal Natal Yacht Club’s First Class 10 by 22 seconds in a 75 minute race.

 In Race 4, The J33, the First Class 10 and a Pacer 27 Sport all finished within 44 seconds of each other in a 75 minute race.

 In Race 5, the final race, The Cape 31 won this two-hour 15 mile race by a mere 26 seconds from the FarEast 28R. In the same race the J33 beat the closest Pacer 27 Sport by just 2 seconds.

 As it turned out, after some 10 hours of racing Seal Point’s FarEast 28R helmed by Alex Schon only needed another 29 seconds (2 secs in Race 1 and 27 secs in Race 5) to tie with Royal Cape’s Cape 31 helmed by David Rae.

Just a further 1 minute and 41 seconds in Race 4, and Seal Point Yacht Club would have won the Lipton Cup.

 So with the ORC handicapping system again the choice for 2024, and a wide range of yachts with valid ORC handicaps available, all with an ability to win this event, it would take a hardened betting man to predict a possible winner!

 With this year being the 70th Lipton Cup Challenge in the event’s 115 year history, the RCYC defenders are hoping that a bumper fleet will challenge them on Table Bay from 27 – 31 August, and provide a great spectacle of close, cut-and-thrust racing at its very best.

 The RCYC defenders have signalled their defence – who is going to be there to challenge them?