Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In association with Royal Natal Yacht Club, Henley Midmar Yacht Club,
the Retractaline Da Gama Ocean Race and
the 2002 NCS Regatta.
As so often happens the final day of the 2002 Lipton Cup was the best one with good
breeze giving the competitors their best days sailing so far.
Race four started early in the hope of it being the first of two
races for the day. Ian Ainslie on MSC Donna Mia sailed an outstanding race to
win by a comfortable margin of a minutes and ten seconds.
In second place was Rick Nankin’s Daly’s Insurance. With the other
two pretenders to the crown having bad races and finishing relatively far down
the order this left Nankin and Anslie as the only likely winners with the final
race still to sail. The three point margin meant that Nankin needed to win the
race with Ainslie in fourth or lower. Not an easy task but not beyond the
realms of possibility either.
This fifth and final race of the regatta took a while to get
underway with a general recall at the first attempted start. The fleet got away
cleanly at the second attempt though and it was Mark Sadler’s MSC Orion
Challenger that led at the first weather mark. Ainslie was in second but Nankin
was nowhere to be seen and was in fact down in twelfth place.
No matter how good you are coming back from that far down in this
fleet is next to impossible, especially when you need to be winning. Ainslie
briefly took the lead during the race but for the most part ran in second
behind Sadler which is where he eventually finished.
This was enough to ensure that the cup went back to Zeekoivlei
Yacht Club. Ian Ainslie and his team on MSC Donna Mia are defiantly deserving
winners, they have sailed consistently well all week and were always in the top
bunch. Add to this that Ian, if not the best sailor in South Africa, which he
could well be, is certainly the most practiced at the moment. His crew is also
one of the most talented ones available with Charles Nankin, Michael Giles,
Mark Lagesse and Golden Mgedeza making a formidable line-up. All in all I think that the trophy has ended
up in the right hands.
After five races the top five positions in the 2002 Lipton Cup
Regatta were as follows:
1st Ian Ainslie MSC
Donna Mia Zeekoeivlei Yacht Club 11 Points
2nd Mark Sadler MSC Orion Challenger Royal Natal Yacht Club 18
3rd Rick Nankin Daly’s
Insurance Theewaters Sports Club 19
Check
the web site a bit later for the full results will be posted on the Smooth Sailing web site at www.smoothsailing.co.za/liptonresults.html
just as soon as they become available.
For
more information you can also visit the regatta web site at www.liptoncup.co.za.
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83
783 8805
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