Royal Cape Yacht Club blows ‘em away
The team can boast they won all five trophies during the Lipton Cup
THE exquisite Lipton Cup was awarded to Royal Cape Yacht Club’s team after a week of tough racing.
The competition saw 17 sailing teams of between five and seven sailors a yacht gather in Durban during the school holidays.
Sailing went the way of the Cape crew for six days of racing and the team can now boast of winning all five trophies during the Lipton Cup Challenge.
A welcome-home-celebration was held at the Royal Cape Yacht Club this past weekend to honour the winning team and recognise the other three Western Cape crews – Langebaan Yacht Club, Zeekoevlei Yacht Club and UCT Yacht Club – who took part in the prestigious offshore regatta.
Led by skipper Roger Hudson, the team from the Royal Cape Yacht Club were determined to bring the cup home.
The Lipton Cup Challenge is regarded as the most prestigious event of its kind, with yacht clubs as far afield as Namibia and Mozambique being invited to take part.
Sir Thomas Lipton donated the exquisitely ornate, huge gold-plated trophy to the Table Bay Yacht Club more 109 years ago.
Held yearly every winter, the teams participating in the challenge compete against each other according to stipulated sailing instructions contained within a document called the “Deed of Gift”, written by Lipton himself.
The rules include that every yacht club can enter only one team, yachts have to be of a similar design, the event is to be held offshore in winter and teams have to focus on consistently performing at their best, as every race will count towards the end result.
RCYC sailing administrator Kerry Pryde said the team began preparing for the challenge about two month before.
“Preparations went well. We celebrated on the night we won. It brings great pleasure that we won, as we will be expected to retain the cup in the next competition,” said Pryde.
She said the winning team chooses where the next challenge will be held and by September 13 they will have to have told the organisers of the next dates and venues.
Hudson said: “We are delighted to have won the event. We put a lot of effort and energy into going there. Of course, we are happy we won but we are relieved at the same time because there were expectations for us to win,” said Hudson.
He said the RCYC gave them a good send-off.
“The rivalry is not only between Cape and Durban, the tournament is significant and has a very rich history.”