OWN CORRESPONDENT, Port Elizabeth | Friday 10.30PM.
FEDSURE Medway turned on the turbo when it counted most to win the 1998 Lipton Challenge Cup for the first time on Friday.
Co-skippered by Pete Shaw and Steve du Toit, and crewed by Ken Venn, Bruce Keytel and Mike Clarke, the Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club team sailed aggressively and confidently all week, deservedly being crowned champions of South Africa’s most prestigious yachting event.
Before Friday’s sixth stage there was a mere half point’s difference between Fedsure Medway, Daly’s Insurance and Orion Challenger. So Friday’s race was very much matter of winner takes all.
In a strong westerly, Fedsure Medway go off to a flying start and by the time they reached the first beat were well and truly in the lead and on their way to title honours.
All they needed to do was consolidate and be conservative, which they did, opening the way for a stunning victory.
Daly’s Insurance found themselves fighting to make up ground from the start, and were never in a position to catch the leaders.
Defending champions Royal Cape Yacht Club also started poorly, and when their spinnaker blew on the final triangle of the course their hopes of victory were equally in shreds.
The results and final standings after race six of the Lipton Cup yachting challenge in Port Elizabeth
(yacht, club, position for the day, total points, final position)
Fedsure Medway GBYC 1 117.25 1
Daly’s Insurance TSC 2 115.75 2
Orion Challenger RCYC 3 114.00 3
Maxtec HBYC 6 107.00 4
PG Glass UCTYC 7 104.25 5
Spirit of Sprite ABYC 5 104.00 6
Quit FHBSC 4 89.00 7
MTN Pinnacle ZVYC 8 82.25 8
Computer Associates RNYC 12 77.00 9
Spirit of Continental PEBYC 9 75.00 10
Unicorn Cheetah DYC 10 70.00 11
Philanderer DAC 13 59.00 12
Cellular Shop RYC 17 47.00 13
MTN Pulse PYC 11 46.00 14
Abraxas Technologies PSC 14 40.00 15
L-Bent FBYC 16 39.00 16
Jackhammer ELYC 18 32.00 17
Streetcar KWTYC 15 29.00 18
Jedi POYC 19 24.00 19
Mischief LDYC 20 14.00 20
Ronnies Motors QYC 21 7.00 21
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