The best yacht club is here
Nevertheless, the essential nature of the Lipton Challenge remains the same
The Lipton Challenge Cup was donated in 1909 to the Table Bay Yacht Club, which subsequently became the Royal Cape Yacht Club, by Sir Thomas Lipton, world-famous entrepreneur and five-time challenger for the America’s Cup.
Nevertheless, the essential nature of the Lipton Challenge remains the same.
It is an annual inter-club contest – one boat per club – to be held off-shore during the months of July and August.
At least the three “traditional courses” in the Deed – a windward-leeward or leeward-windward, an equilateral triangle and a quadrilateral – of no less than 12 nautical miles each have to be completed for the contest to stand.
The winning club defends the Cup the following year on its home waters, or nominated port in the case of an inland club.
The next Lipton Cup will have to be at a nominated port… The reason being that an inland club has won it for the first time in nearly 40 years, and for only the second time in the Lipton Cup’s history.
And not just any inland club, but Witbank Yacht Club (WYC).
Our very own inland club.
This is a major achievement for WYC as the three legs of the competition were held on the open ocean; making even finishing one of these legs an incredible achievement as not only was the sea rowdy, but the weather didn’t play along either.
