101ST LIPTON CUP CONTINUES UNBROKEN RECORD

The 101st Lipton Cup was raced in near perfect conditions in March 2022 by the L Class Mullet Boats, the class featured in Nigel Sharp’s August 2021 issue of Classic Boat magazine, writes Janet Watkins. The trophy is rare because it has been raced for in every year since the competition was started, 1922. The Mullet boats were a fishing fleet in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in the 1800s, before the mullet stocks became depleted and the boats became private vessels.

The 2022 event was regular crews depleted because of Covid, so crew numbers were limited to a minimum of five and maximum of six. It was an 11th win for Orion II and Martin Robertson and the 12th win for the Ponsonby Cruising Club. Martin’s crew were Orsa Levent, Grant Ewing, Reg Sparrey, Graham Andrew and Chris Ward.