Tamatea wins 92nd Lipton Cup Regatta



(L-R) Callum Dowie, Reg Sparrey, Rob Algie, Andy Ball.

by Justin Henehan, with pictures by Ant Vickerstaff

The 92nd Lipton Cup Regatta was a hard fought battle from start to finish, with three different boats leading at various times and a finish that came down to the last mark and 22 seconds over the 4 hour, 21 mile race.



Tamatea on the final run to the finish after pipping Orion II on the line. 



A mixture of jubilation and relief as Tamatea finishes

There was plenty at stake in this year’s race: Ben Freedman’s Valeria, designed and built by Arch Logan, was racing in her 100th year with Roy Dickson, whose father was on-board for her first Lipton Cup win in 1922, calling tactics; Tamatea, which surprised everybody with her wire-to-wire win in the 91st Lipton Cup, had just gone back in the water the week before after lengthy repairs, only to suffer multiple gear failures; and Orion II, who had dominated the season’s racing, was keen for retribution after being beaten the year before.

The smoke of the starting gun had barely cleared when the race was thrown into confusion; someone had hit the line early but no one knew whom. Buona Sera and Valeria turned back while the rest of the fleet raced on cautiously. Buona Sera eventually took the penalty, leaving Valeria to re-join the fleet, rueing a good start wasted.

Tere Kanae came out strong on starboard and led the fleet to the top mark at Bayswater for the first of three windward-leewards to ODM buoy. Tamatea rounded second with Orion II and Valeria close behind, Martana, Contessa and Buona Sera scrapping for position. Tere Kanae and Tamatea had a disastrous first rounding, losing their kite halyards up the mast at the hoist. Matty Murie and Callum Dowie on TK and Tamatea were sent scrambling up the rigs, but the damage was done, both boats losing places.



Orion II leads the fleet to Resolution Buoy

The fleet then headed up the harbour against the incoming tide to Resolution Buoy. Orion II and Valeria chose to stay out of the tide with a series of short tacks along the wharves, while TK and Tamatea sought pressure in the shifty 10-knot nor’ easter up the middle. Tamatea saw she was losing time on the leaders, so tucked into the wall, cutting a couple of tight tacks to lay Resolution and then Torpedo Bay ahead of Tere Kanae, but still well behind Valeria and Orion II.



Tamatea gets ready to hoist her spinnaker



Valeria heads down harbour under spinnaker

The drag race down the harbour back through the bridge saw the wind shift north and then nor’ west making it tricky to carry a kite – Valeria smashed her boom into the drink at least once.  Some dropped and hoisted leaders others ran under genoa to Birkenhead.



Tamatea and Valeria tussle for second place

By now Tamatea had closed the gap on Valeria and soon took second place on the second windward-leeward run from Watchman Island to Birkenhead after kite problems stalled Valeria.

Tamatea then had Orion II in its sights and, on the second beat to Birkenhead, caught her napping as she ran down on starboard to Watchman Island. Tamatea, the leeward boat, held its course, forcing Orion II luff up at the last moment and drop her spinnaker. In the chaos Orion lost her course notes overboard as Tamatea’s bowsprit narrowly missed her backstay. Tamatea wasted no time protesting (boats on same tack, overlapped) and Orion II immediately completed its 360-degree turn. 

The course then went down to Meola Buoy and back up to Chelsea, and it became clear Orion II didn’t know where she was going as she headed off towards Watchman Island. At this point, the fleet was split three ways, Orion II and Tamatea out in front, Valeria and TK further back with Martana, Buona Sera and Contessa bringing up the rear.

 Tamatea took the lead briefly heading back towards the bridge, but was overhauled by Orion II, who was faster on a reach, laying Bayswater on port past Little Shoal Bay. Tamatea punched through the middle of the main span in pursuit while Orion II held hard up with good breeze and less tide to the Northcote Point pylon and, helped by the eddy against the pylon, poked her head out into clear air ahead.



Orion II leads Tamatea at the final set of windward-leewards.



Tamatea grabs a slim lead over Orion II

Tamatea responded by tucking in and drafting Orion II’s wake to Bayswater for the final set of windward-leewards. Both Orion II and Tamatea set kites on the first downwind run and were even on boat speed. They were close enough to touch for much of the last dig, but Tamatea just managed an overlap back to Bayswater on the wind to make the last mark rounding first and run down to the finish under her leader to take the line.   

It was a satisfying follow-up win for Tamatea, owned and crewed by Rob Algie, Callum Dowie, Graham Andrew, Justin Henehan and Brian Trubovich, helmed on the day by Andy Ball and with Reg Sparrey on the bow. Valeria came in a close third, followed by Tere Kanae, Martana, Buona Sera and Contessa.

Later, an outstanding protest from Martana on Tere Kanae saw Tere Kanae disqualified for failing to complete a 360-degree turn penalty after a port-starboard violation. The disqualification sees the Nepia Cup (first on handicap) go to Orion.

Line:

Tamatea 3:56.30

Orion 3:56.52

Valeria 3:58.13

Tere Kanae 

Martana

Buona Sera

Contessa

Non-Spinnaker division:

Buona Sera

Contessa

Handicap finishing order:

Orion

Valeria

Tamatea

Martana

*Tere Kane disqualified for failing to complete a 360-degree turn after port-starboard protest from Martana

If you have any more pics of the race or comments, please email them to info@mulletboatracing.co.nz