2016 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup Results
June 18 - 19, 2016 - Port Madison, Washington

The Sir Thomas Lipton Cup is one of the oldest, and certainly among the largest at the Seattle Yacht Club. While visiting Seattle in 1911 Sir Thomas Lipton was so impressed with the physical beauty of the area, the hospitality of his hosts and what he saw as perfect sailing waters, that he promised to commemorate his visit by donating a perpetual challenge cup to the Seattle Yacht Club. Upon his return to London, Sir Thomas commissioned the cup, which arrived in 1913 and was first contested in 1914 by the "R" boats "Sir Tom" of Seattle YC and "Turenga" of Royal Vancouver YC, Canada. With the demise of the "R" class, the Lipton Cup became the main trophy for the International 6 Metre Class in the Northwest post WWII. Winners of the Cup, including boat name, skipper, and crew, have been inscribed on the Cup or on small plaques encircling the base, for the past 100+ years.

This years Lipton Cup saw some very even racing on Port Madison between the classic and modern fleets. The modern “Arunga”  owned and skippered by Bob Cadranell finished first and the classic “Goose” owned by Peter Hofmann and skippered by Eric Jespersen finished second. The at times heavily pin favored starts rewarded talented starters combining with large shifts on Sunday tending to negate any generational disparity in boat speed.

New to the fleet and the area is the 1948 Bjarne Aas designed “Elisabeth X” owned by by Rainer Muller and skippered by Andy Parker. She has an Olympic and International pedigree, is sister to the local “Fokus III” and will certainly add to the quality of Puget Sound Six Meter racing.

Only four races were held due to a very rare for the Pacific Northwest thunderstorm rolling toward the fleet dropping hail and bolts of lightning. Many thanks to PRO Joan Chandler, the race committee crew and Molly Cadranell for the awesome keeper trophies.

Photo Gallery by Dana Olsen now available.