The young team from Point Yacht Club have had a challenging start to their Lipton campaign in the recent Western Province L26 Provincials that took place in Cape Town this past weekend. (13-14 August)
22 Boats took to the water in the provincial regatta held in Table Bay, the regional championship is seen by most of the competitors as a warm-up to the prominent Lipton Challenge Cup. The PYC Challenger finished eleventh overall with a highest place of fifth in the second race and ended with 57 points in total from seven races sailed.
Skipper and Helmsman for the PYC Challenger, Luke Wagner stated, “It was a tough competition, the boat was not performing well and we retired in the first race as we were struggling sailing to windward.”
The Cape Town conditions over the weekend were perfect but for sailing the Durban lads found the winds to be shifty and not ideal for their style of competing. Wagner admitted, “We battled! The Cape Town winds are certainly not what we are used to.”
After a fantastic build up to the two Cape Town regattas, the enthusiastic PYC team were thrown off footing in the most recent sailing but still succeeded in finishing in the top half of the field. The “Challengers” experienced a seesaw log with a curve in the middle where they recorded their worst results but as they acclimatised to the conditions the sailors improved considerably.
First place at the Western Province L26 Provincials went to Knysna Yacht Club’s Greg Davis on Colorpress Coordination who is the defending champion of the Lipton Challenge Cup. The crew had a consistent regatta with podium finishes in six of their races. Second place went to Royal Natal Yacht Club with their young team on the Orion Challenger skippered by Derrick Robertson.
The third boat that is pegged as a favourite is Team Intasure Marine Insurance from False Bay Yacht Club with Andrea Giovannini at the helm. “We still believe we have a strong chance in the upcoming competition. The guys and I have chatted about making quicker decisions onboard and are confident we can do it. The team dynamics are fantastic and focused and now that the Challenger has been tweaked we are hungry for some wins.”
The Point Yacht Club’s Lipton Team are optimistic as they rejuvenate ahead of the esteemed Lipton Challenge Cup in Cape Town from 20 August
