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98th Lipton Cup


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SATURDAY 30th MARCH 2019

 

START: 1100HRS off Westhaven Marina

98th LIPTON CUP


PONSONBY CRUISING CLUB INC. ESTABLISHED 1900
 

A 22 mile race hosted by Ponsonby Cruising Club competed for annually in 22ft L Class ‘Mullet Boats’. The harbour course is decided on the day and has previously been between Narrowneck area in the East and Kauri Point in the West.

The Cup was donated by Sir Thomas Lipton and first competed for in 1922. It is made by the same silversmith as the America’s Cup and is the oldest consecutively competed yacht trophy in New Zealand. What makes it more special is that is has only ever been competed for by one class of yacht.

The Start will be ‘on the wind’ and can be viewed from the Clubrooms or Westhaven carpark area. A windward/leeward is incorporated into the course before the boats head off down the harbour. The boats will also be finishing in front of the club rooms for great
viewing.

 

LiptonCupPCC_Web-sml.jpg

The H Class will also be a racing for further entertainment for those remaining in the club rooms. They are the larger 26ft relatives of the L Class and still maintain their Gaff rigs.

You are welcome to join us at the clubrooms, from where you will be able to view most of the race. The Club will be open all day from 0730.

There will also be spectator boats available. If you would like to watch the racing from the water or have a little space on your boat for some spectators please contact the club.

Breakfast will be served from 0730hrs—0900hrs: $20pp/$22pp or $10 per child. Please see attached menu. Bookings are essential.


Race Briefing at 0900hrs. All skippers to attend.

Bar to open 1400hrs. Food will be available following the race. Please see attached menu. Antipasto, Seafood & Vegetarian Platters available for pre-order and a snack menu is available on the day.
 

Club contact details: 09 376 0245 / info@pcc.org.nz.

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The fever is building, yachts are on the hard with 1200g paper being bandied about, dehumidifiers cranked up, serious tactical breifings undertaken at Swashies and even L class crews in deep discussion at the squadron bar.

The most critical thing though is who will run the book with my old mate N C Collins gone over the bar to the most peaceful anchorage last year? 

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10 Mullet boats in the line up for the start, 10-20knt easterly straight down the guts of of the Waitemata with an incoming tide the whole day. This was going to be a challenging 98th race for the Lipton Cup.


The fleet was tight on the start but spread out a little the initial windward leewards. Every part of the fleet had tacking duals all the way to Resolution buoy resulting in Tamatea and Orion gaining the lead. The 20 mile course then took the boats over to Rangitoto back to North Head, Northern Leading, Torpedo, Resolution Bean Rock then finished on a long kite run home.


The sea state around North head saw the bigger boats gain the advantage and it was between Resolution and Rangi Yellow that saw Orion take the lead from Tamatea. This may have coincided with one of the winches being ripped out of the deck on Tamatea! As much as Tamatea pushed she couldn't quite catch an Orion that was eeking out a couple of seconds more at each mark.


Not far back a tidy looking Limited Edition was going well but never made up the ground she needed to to catch Martin (Orion) or Trubi (Tamatea). LE did a great job of defending her place from a near rabid horde close on her heals. The mob contained Tao Too, Valeria, Matanza and Scullet (once was Alias JD). As those 3 couldn't catch LE they spent the 22 miles fighting each other. Close behind them the next bunch also was in tight battle.


Orion driven by Martin Robertson and his crew took the gun by less than 2 minutes over Tamatea. It was a truly challenging race for everyone with some long beats and well fought across the fleet. From the spectators angle the fleet put on a magnificent show.


The boats entered were - Orion, Valeria, Tamatea, Rangi Manu, Limited Edition, Tere Kane, Komuri, Matanza, Tao Too, Scullet. 

 

There were three magnificent stand outs in a day of many stand outs.

1 - Tao Too a month ago was near written off by many. She was a oyster farm. Massive credit to Brendon Crawford, Suzie and there helpers to not only get to the start line but sail a bloody good race as well. Awesome effort there.

2 - Tere Kane. Again a week or 2 ago not looking good at all but a all nighter or 2 by the Father and son Murie's.

 

But the biggest, or maybe the smallest, is a dude called Maxum who was aboard Scullet. To be a mainsheet hand on these old heavy arsed boats is the position for a gorilla and a strong gorilla. As one massively experienced and very good yachtie but a Mullet boat virgin said to me 'Haven't sailed a boat that doesn't light up but just barge there way though everything like the Mullets'.  At the prizegiving all mainsheet hands were called up and in a line up of big gruntier people was this 13 year old young fella near 1/2 the size of them all (a 1/3 of one or 2 ;) ). He was not only the youngest sailor in the fleet but also wrangled Scullets mainsheet around the entire track. The dude is a legend in the making if not one already after that. A lot of people thought it was a jack up but nope, he is a genuine hardarse in the making. After playing with L Class for near on 35 years now I'm still totally gob smacked about that fella, never seen anything even close to that before. 

 

Some cool stats -

  • Oldest boat racing and first boat to ever win the Lipton was Valeria at 107 years old.
  • The young buck of the fleet is LE, she's only 30 odd years old.
  • The trophy was donated by Sir Thomas Lipton who raced and never won the America's Cup 5 times.
  • Trophy was made by the same silversmith as the America's Cup.
  • The youngest crew was Maxum at 13 but had 2 x 14yo's aboard Scullet with him.
  • The oldest was a gentleman of 7...cough cough years old. He was skipper so not far different than Maxum in the hardarse stakes, the Mullets are not known to be light on the helm.
  • 3 Skippers were hers, 7 were hims.
  • The PRO for the day is in her 8th decade.
  • The defending Champion was Orion II

 

The results – Line and Club sailed for

1 - Orion II - Martin Roberston - Ponsonby Cruising Club

2 - Tamatea - Brian Trubovich - Opua Yacht Club

3 - Limited Edition - Paige and Bianca Cook - RNZYS

4 - Scullet - Mike Thompson - Northcote Birkenhead YC

5 - Valeria - Ben Freedman - Victoria Cruising Club

6 - Tao Too - Suzie Bosher - Navel Point YC

7 - Matanza - Tania Nigh - Wakatere BC

8 - Tere Kane - Gary Murie - Taikata YC

9 - Rangi Manu - Kelsey Muir - Devonport YC

10 - Komuri - John Grinter - Richmond YC


 

Handicap - place and corrected

1 - Tao Too - 3:49:06

2 - Orion II - 3:49:19

3 - Tamatea - 3:49:53

4 - Limited Edition - 4:00:13

5 - Scullet - 4:02:07

6 - Valeria - 4:02:21

7 - Matanza - 4:03:4

8 - Tere Kane - 4:09:50

9 - Komuri - 4:20:51

10 - Rangi Manu - 4:23:47


 

The 100th Lipton Cup has been locked in for the 20th March 2021 and we are expecting to see more Mullet boats of all sizes coming out of the wood work. If this year is anything to go by it really could be anyone's race in 2 year's time.

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Talking of mullet boats how is the restoration of Tamariki progressing.

 

What happened to Snatcher.

Tamariki's restoration is now all on under the watchful eyes of Martin Robertson and Rob Waring. It is going into a Charitable Trust. Any donations and help to get this large bit of the Waitamatas history back on it would be appreciated.

 

Snatcher is on the front yard of a place in Epsom. She is being given a big going over by Suzie ready to come out next season to get some miles in prior to the 100th.

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It was certainly a fun day out. Bit of an eye opener for me having not sailed a mullet boat before. They are a very different type of sailing and keep you on your toes the whole day.

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