With a 9th place in Race One of the Eden Island Lipton Cup on Day one, and an 8th place in Race Two we could be forgiven for thinking that a single digit placing in this year's Lipton Cup was in the bag. Sailing is a competitive and strategic sport and things can change.

After three races the provisional eighth place, in Race Two, for Aon Challenger has now become a DSQ. But, a fine sail to sixth place in Race Number Three was still not enough to compensate, leaving ABYC in 12th place.

The Lipton Cup is a hard and unforgiving regatta - one mistake over the regatta will drop you completely out of the running.

Top 10 Positions After 3 Races:

1. ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB - DALY'S INSURANCE, GREG DAVIS - 1, 1, 1
2. ROYAL NATAL YACHT CLUB - ORION CHALLENGER, MARK SADLER - 2, 2, 4
3. FISH HOEK BEACH SAILING CLUB - INTASURE INSURANCE BROKERS - ANDREA GIOVANNI, 3, 3, 3
4. POINT YACHT CLUB, PYC/ EIKOS - CRAIG MILLAR - 7, 5, 2
5. THEEWATER SPORTS CLUB, DALYS - JAMES LARGIER - 4, 8, 5
6. LAKE DENYS YACHT CLUB - LA DIQUE, BRANDOM SMITH - 8, 4, 7
7. IMPERIAL YACHT CLUB - DYNAMIC ID SYSTEMS - DALE KUSHNER, 5, 7, 12
8. TRANSVAAL YACHT CLUB - BUMBO, EWALD STERNAGEL - 6, 11, 11
9. KNYSNA YACHT CLUB - PARASAILOR/WARLOCK - IAN SLATEM, 12, 12, 10
10. HERMANUS YACHT CLUB - JML 3/AUDI - THEO YON, 20, 6, 13

A bad start for Royal Natal Yacht Club' Orion Challenger allowed Greg Davis to extend his lead in the 2009 Eden Island Lipton Cup with a third successive win.

Defending champion Davis also suffered a poor start and at the and first mark, the Royal Cape Yacht Club's Daly's Insurance was in eighth place, but eventually clawed back into the lead and took a five point advantage at the top.

Sadler, onboard the Royal Natal Yacht Club entry Orion Challenger, hit another boat at the start, and was sent to the back of the fleet.

"We had a bit of a disastrous start. We hit a boat and were penalised," said Sadler.

"Anything can still happen though. We have to beat a boat that has won all three races so far, so we are going to have to find something special."

The result is enough to keep RNYC in second place overall with eight points, while Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club's Intasure are breathing down their neck in third place with nine points.

"We can still win it. We just hope Mark and Greg go at it hammer and tongs tomorrow and just mess each other up, so we can slip in," said Intasure skipper Andrea Giovannini."

It appears that the ABYC team are slightly technologically challenged as after numerous requests for them to communicate with me at a time convenient to them they are still struggling to find the on button on their phones or the send button on their computers.

No matter - the official Eden Island Lipton Cup PR guys do send out a newsletter every day and the following is the latest report:

After an abandoned second race, Tuesday finally saw some more action in the 2009 Eden Island Lipton Cup Tuesday, with favourite and defending champion Greg Davis continuing his charge for a fourth consecutive title.

Mark Sadler, onboard the Royal Natal entry Orion Challenger, finished second but will have three more chances to get ahead of the host club, while the young crew aboard Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club's Intasure continued to be the surprise package as they snatched third place for the second time to repeated the results of day one.

The Cape Radio Yacht Club entry Slaley, has provided a nice change with it being the only all women team in the event this year. Slaley is skippered by Judy Provoyeur, with daughter and Olympic sailor Dominique onboard and at one point in the second race they held fourth place, but eventually slipped to 12th.

"We sailed well today, but it was quite tricky. There were lines of pressure in the water and if you fell out of the line you were dead in the water, but if you stayed in the breeze you looked like a hero," said Dominique

"The L class is an extremely physical boat to sail, strength is hugely important, so if we can get more combination teams it would help women in sailing a lot.

The Top Ten Places (After Two Races):

1. ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB - DALY'S INSURANCE - GREG DAVIS - 1, 1
2. ROYAL NATAL YACHT CLUB - ORION CHALLENGER - MARK SADLER - 2, 2
3. FISH HOEK BEACH SAILING CLUB - INTASURE INSURANCE BROKERS - ANDREA GIOVANNI - 3, 3
4. LAKE DENUS YACHT CLUB - LA DIQUE - BRANDOM SMITH - 8, 4
5. POINT YACHT CLUB - PYC/EIKOS - CRAIG MILLAR 7, 5
6. THEEWATER SPORTS CLUB - DALYS - JAMES LARGIER - 4, 10
7. IMPERIAL YACHT CLUB - DYNAMIC ID SYSTEMS - DALE KUSHNER - 5, 9
8. ALGOA BAY YACHT CLUB - AON CHALLENGER - KERRY BONNAGE - 9, 8
9. TRANSVAAL YACHT CLUB - BUMBO - EWALD STERNAGEL - 6, 13
10. ZEEKOEVLEI YACHT CLUB - RACE AHEAD - LEO DAVIS - 10, 11

The first in the Frostbite series for the 2009/10 Sailing Season was sailed yesterday 23 August. The Port Elizabeth Windguru unfortunately got it wrong with a prediction of a South South West of around 11 knots for the 11:00 a.m. start.

The format for the day's race was a pursuit and the South South West prediction would have suited the Pacer's for the chosen course - Harbour Start, sail towards and pastthe Bell Buoy for an hour then turn back and race to the finish.

As the weather gods would have it the wind was a westerly and rising.

The boats got off the start at 11:34 a.m. and proceeded to charge (some were seen to be sedately meandering rather than charging, though) for the Bell Buoy. On Wild Thing the decision was made to take advantage of the inshore 'protected zone' before charging for the Bell Buoy with spinnaker flying, sails flapping and various sailors holding on for dear life as we wrestled with the beast.

As we flew past the Bell Buoy just before 12:00 noon and with 35 minutes in hand before being able to turn back and beat, we decided to change direction towards Noordhoek, lest we run away from ourselves and bump an iceberg or two in a headlong charge away from the land.

With Cape Receife looming we did a smart about turn (way before the hour was up) and headed back towards the finish line. Good thing we did too, as we noticed that a number of boats had broken stop watches and with the loss of this 'vital piece of safety equipment' they had also decided to turn tail and race for the finish line.

No matter - we had great fun playing in the large swell off of Boilers and sailed on a tight fetch back to the finish.

Final Results:

1. Le Chevalier
2. Shady Lady
3. Duette
4. Jouster
5. Bonita
6. Umbaleki
7. Wild Thing
8. Seralon
9. High Spirit

Greg on High Spirit was having such fun that he decided to sail there for longer than hour - much to the dismay of Phil and Ashleigh on the finish boat as they had to wait in heaving seas and high winds for Greg to return.

The ABYC Lipton Cup team secured a ninth place on 23 August in the first race of the Eden Island Lipton Cup taking place in Cape Town.

Greg Davis sailing for the Royal Cape Yacht Club, stormed to victory on the first day of the 2009 Eden Island Lipton Cup, with his main challenger Mark Saddler battling into second on a leaking boat at the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC).

"The conditions were beautiful and I was very happy with the result", said Davis, who was aboard the RCYC entry Daly's Insurance.

Mark Sadler on the Royal Natal Yacht Club entry Orion Challenger made a late charge into second after battling with a damage hatch which allowed water on to the boat.

"It wasn't really even a race, Greg was miles ahead, but considering all of the problems I'm happy with where we finished," said Sadler.

The event has seen a rise of young talent breaking through, and Andrea Giovanni of Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club was the star of the day among the youth teams after finishing third.

"We broke something on the jib which set us back a bit but we caught up at the end. It was just an incredible day of racing," he said

Defending club Theewater Sports Club came in fourth place, but skipper James Largier was disappointed that they could not hold on to the second place they held during the race.

"Our main halyard slipped and we lost a lot in the last beat, but we finished two seconds off third," said the 20-year-old skipper.

Top 10 Boats after the First Race

1. ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB, DALY'S INSURANCE, GREG DAVIS
2. ROYAL NATAL YACHT CLUB, ORION CHALLENGER, MARK SADLER
3. FISH HOEK BEACH SAILING CLUB, INTASURE INSURANCE BROKERS, ANDREA GIOVANNI
4. THEEWATER SPORTS CLUB, DALYS, JAMES LARGIER
5. IMPERIAL YACHT CLUB, DYNAMIC ID SYSTEMS, DALE KUSHNER
6. TRANSVAAL YACHT CLUB, BUMBO, EWALD STERNAGEL
7. POINT YACHT CLUB, PYC/ EIKOS, CRAIG MILLAR
8. LAKE DENUS YACHT CLUB, LA DIQUE, BRANDOM SMITH
9. ALGOA BAY YACHT CLUB, AON CHALLENGER, KERRY BONNAGE
10. ZEEKOEVLEI YACHT CLUB, RACE AHEAD, LEO DAVIS