THE Royal Natal Yacht Club recently announced its team that will take part in the 2014 Lipton Challenge Cup from 24 to 29 August in Cape Town.
Hosted by the 2013 victors, False Bay Yacht Club, the Lipton Challenge Cup is the most notorious yacht race in South Africa as teams will travel from across the country in an attempt to claim the magnificent trophy. This is the 105th challenge that is sailed offshore in South African waters.
The Royal Natal Yacht Club won the cup in 2012 and hosted the challenge in local waters last year. The team is led by Brennan Robinson, who was part of the victorious 2012 team, and will make this his fourth time racing in the Lipton Challenge Cup campaign. His age belies his experience as, along with the 2012 Lipton Challenge Cup win, he has two epic Cape2Rio’s under his belt along with a long list of accomplishments in a variety of classes.
At the announcement, Robinson said, “We had a fantastic start to our campaign, not having sailed together as a team we were able to claim the title at L26 KZN Provincials held recently offshore of Durban. But we still have a long way to go to get to the level needed to campaign for the Lipton Challenge Cup. I believe we will put a formidable challenge in for the 2014 cup.
Back for their second appearance on B2G2, Trent Bingham will be taking the role of helmsman this year and Nqoba Mswazi returns after an impressive 2013 campaign on the bow. Nqoba recently competed in the Clipper Round of the World Yacht Race where he crossed from China to America in the midst of the Northern hemisphere’s winter.
The youngest on-board is Michaela Robinson, who is excited to join her older brother Brennan as part of the 6-strong crew. This will be her first time taking part in the Lipton Challenge Cup. She has competed in numerous international regattas as well as sailing the Atlantic crossing twice in the Cape2Rio race.
Rounding up the team and the last of the new comers is Thokozani ‘Deejay’ Latha and Refeloa ‘Waterboy’ Zililo. Thokozani gained invaluable experience when he was part of the 39-strong crew on board the Lord Nelson which sailed from Durban to Kochi in India. Refeloa recently competed in the gruelling 300NM Vasco da Gama yacht race from Maputo to Durban.
The team will be coached by Ricky Robinson, the previous skipper of the 2012 winning team, and the team manager is Sandy Samways.
Commodore for the Royal Natal Yacht Club, Graham Rose, said, “We have high hopes for our young team. This is the toughest sailing challenge in South Africa and we wish them everything of the best as they represent our club.”
