Following the success of the revival of this historic regatta in 2016, the Royal Lymington Cup on the Solent returns in June 2017 with sponsorship from the Ancasta Group. The Royal Lymington Cup will be held next year from Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 June and once again the competition for this IRC International Fleet 2-boat team racing will comprise two days of racing around windward-leeward and triangular courses in Christchurch Bay provided by an International Race Team.
The Royal Lymington Cup attracted five teams for 2016’s inaugural event and was won by the two-boat team of La Response (Andrew McIrvine) and Yes! (Adam Gosling) of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Commenting on his win Gosling said: "Andrew and I were delighted to be representing the Royal Yacht Squadron in this two boat team event. Racing in Christchurch Bay gave us some wonderful 'champagne' racing in winds ranging from 8–18 knots with bright sunshine. The race management was excellent and four races on Saturday and two on Sunday left a contented and exhausted fleet. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club warmly opened its doors to us. We will be back to defend."
“This year we attracted some highly competitive yachts and crews, including many class and club champions, from an A-list of yacht clubs” commented Rear Commodore Sailing, Stuart Duffin “and next year we hope to attract even more, including perhaps some clubs from further afield and outside the UK”.
The Royal Lymington Cup is for IRC rated yachts in the range of 0.98 – 1.10 however to encourage wider participation, a lower rated IRC class of 0.86 – 0.98 is also being introduced for 2017 who will be competing for the Ding Dong Trophy. Multiple team entries from Clubs are encouraged.
A preliminary announcement of the Championships will be available shortly which include details of the full social program and the Notice of Race & Entry will be live on 1 January 2017.
About The Cup
What became the Royal Lymington Cup match race event was started in the mid-Seventies by a group led by Californian sailor and Lymington yacht builder Bill Green in open admiration for and imitation of the Long Beach YC’s Congressional Cup, then well-established as a training patch for would-be America’s Cup helmsmen and tacticians. Indeed, for the first few years of its existence the competition was simply known as ‘The Lymington Congressional Cup’. The name was changed when the present trophy was donated.
The competition attracted not only the best match racers of the day but also the top international officials and the Royal Lymington Cup was amongst the first to have on-the-water observers who evolved into the on-the-water umpires now used to decide boat-v-boat protests and to award penalties on the spot rather than having matches re-scored and on-the-water results reversed late at night after lengthy protest hearings. Among the winners of the Royal Lymington Cup are Thierry Peponnet, Marc Bouet, Sir Russell Coutts, Peter Isler Rod Davies, Chris Law, Chris Dickson, Peter Gilmour, Iain Murray and, the skipper whose name appears most often on the trophy, Harold Cudmore.
