Defender on top at Lipton Cup

San Diego, CA (October 26, 2018) – Southern California’s home teams showed true perseverance in day one of San Diego Yacht Club’s Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup. Five Southern California yacht clubs dominated the top of the fleet today, despite some critical challenges on the course.

The conditions on the beautiful, city front course in San Diego Bay began with light, easterly winds but the breeze quickly increased between 8-10 knots for the rest of the day. Sunny skies and flat waters made for a smooth day of sailing, but an outgoing tide dictated critical tactical decisions to be fulfilled.

The San Diego Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup dates all the way back to 1903. Sir Thomas Lipton, the famous yachtsman and tea baron, donated a trophy in his name for West Coast yacht racing excellence. This exchange resulted in a new, prestigious yachting event – the San Diego Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup. This weekend is the 104th Lipton Challenge. Twelve yacht clubs from the U.S. and Canada are competing in a series of 12 races, rotating in a fleet of equal J/105s.

Currently standing in first place is San Diego Yacht Club (15 points), followed by Long Beach Yacht Club in second (20 points) and Coronado Yacht Club (24 points) in third.

Skipper Tyler Sinks was once again representing the San Diego Yacht Club. The team proved their experience in the regatta with a bullet in race one and race five. In addition to their first place finishes, SDYC stayed consistent at the top of the fleet for the entire day. Team SDYC is the current defender of the Lipton Cup trophy, having won last year’s event.

“We had good speed and really good team work,” said Sinks. “In sticky situations, we were able to dig our way out. We’re happy to have a good start but we know we’re a long way away from the finish line. We’re going to continue to stay aggressive, keep pushing and get a little bit better tomorrow.”

Although SDYC showed an impressive skill set today, they had real competition against second place team, Long Beach Yacht Club. LBYC, skippered by Shane Young, had remarkable scores across the board starting the day with a bullet and a second, and finishing in third place in race four and five. The team would have finished first overall for day one if it wasn’t for a critical error in race three.

“We averaged under fifth place, which was a goal of ours,” said Young. “I just had one incident resulting in a foul at the top mark which made it pretty difficult. We had to do a couple spins to put us back. Other than that, we’re trying not to do anything too aggressive. We want to stay conservative and get off the line.”

Event details – Results – Team rosters – Facebook – Photos

Day One Results:

The 104th Lipton Cup regatta brings together 12 yacht club teams for keelboat competition on October 26-28 in San Diego, CA. Using J/105s on San Diego Bay, San Diego Yacht Club will look to defend its 2017 title against teams from California, Illinois, and New York.

The 12 teams competing this year are: Balboa Yacht Club, California Yacht Club, Chicago Yacht Club, Coronado Yacht Club, Long Beach Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, San Diego Yacht Club, San Francisco Yacht Club, Southwestern Yacht Club and St. Francis Yacht Club. New to the Lipton Cup is Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.

Source: Casey Allocco, SDYC