It was tough and tight, but the Hermanus Yacht Club has been crowned as the worthy winner of the Lipton Challenge Cup 2025.
According to experts the Lipton Challenge Cup contest has never gone the full distance of 10 races, “yet Hermanus Yacht Club (HYC) has emerged as worthy winner of the contest by simply sailing consistently well in every single one of these 10 races”.
The Lipton Challenge Cup boasts a long history. It was donated in 1909 to the Table Bay Yacht Club, nowadays known as the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC), by Sir Thomas Lipton, world-famous entrepreneur and five-time challenger for the America’s Cup. And according to their website this annual inter-club contest – one boat per club – is held off-shore during the months of July and August. The long history of the Lipton Challenge in many ways reflects the history of competitive sailing in South Africa, and today the Cup is widely seen as the domestic trophy most SA sailors, young and old, would most like to win.
And this year the honour went to HYC as Jacqui Low (commodore), Calvin Gibbs (helmsman/skipper), Markus Progli (co-skipper), James Rae, Scarlet Cilliers and Owen Middleton (reserve) showed nerves of steel as they emerged victorious. It was also the first time Hermanus had walked away with the glory.
It was quite a nail-biting battle where any one of the four clubs – Hermanus, the RCYC, the Royal Natal Yacht Club (RNYC) and Saldanha Bay Yacht Club – could have emerged victorious at the end of the day.
On Saturday (the last day) the racing was intense as mathematically any one of the four clubs was in contention, and each of those teams had a strategy worked out in their minds as exactly what they needed to do to win.
The RCYC team blasted out of the startline and led from start to finish. This fine victory was not enough as the Hermanus team was next to finish – and with that second spot was able to lift the Lipton Cup in victory.
What makes the Hermanus team so remarkable is the presence of two youth sailors for whom this was their debut Lipton Cup and whom, as they emerge as victors, will be pinching themselves for a reality check for a long time to come. The debutants were James Rae and Scarlet Cilliers, both still at school.
