It’s official - San Diego Yacht Club is the winner of the 2022 Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup. The home team has done it again. It all came down to the battle of the coasts in the final day. After 10 highly competitive and close races, San Diego Yacht Club and New York Yacht Club got off the starting line one more time with determination to prove which coast is in fact...the best. The final results have San Diego Yacht Club (Skipper Tyler Sinks) in first place with 38 points, Coronado Yacht Club (Skipper Scott Harris) in second place with 43 points and New York Yacht Club (Skipper Peter Levesque) in third place with 45 points. "It’s just staying in the fight and continuing to battle. When it wasn’t looking good, we stayed in it and never lost faith. It worked out for us," commented Sinks upon their champagne arrival back at the Club. Sunday started off with a short postponement and two general recalls. Boats were eager to get off the starting line and fight for the sought-after trophy in the final two races. Spectators lined the course in anticipation. Long Beach Yacht Club (fourth overall) had their strongest day of the regatta finishing race 10 in first place with NYYC and Newport Harbor Yacht Club right behind them. With NYYC earning second place and SDYC two boats behind in fourth, the two teams finished race 10 with only one point dividing them. The competition between SDYC and NYYC started again during the sequence for the final race (race 11). The two teams battled for their spot on the starting line as if in a match race. To avoid follow the leader tactics, NYYC split from the fleet. Unfortunately for them, it did not pay off. SDYC rounded the weather mark in third with NYYC in tenth. Even their four-boat gain on the downwind could not make up for the upwind loss. Coronado Yacht Club made it their mission to stay ahead of SDYC for the entire race and finished first, placing them second overall in the final results. The team sailed an amazing regatta, but just couldn’t gain the necessary points on SDYC to take the overall win. Hats off to Skipper Scott Harris and his Hawaiian-shirted crew for a well-earned second. Avid followers of the Lipton Cup each year will know that SDYC skipper Sinks is no stranger to the Lipton Cup championship title. In fact, the skipper has won five of the last seven run regattas (2022, 2021, 2018, 2017, and 2015). His team of Erik Shampain, Nevin Snow, Max Hutcheson, Lucy Wallace, Jake La Dow and Nick Kaschak can be found sailing together quite often. Erik Shampain is actually the most "winningest Lipton Cup sailor of all time." Shampain commented, "I’ve been told that Dave Ullman and Dennis Conner have six wins, and this is my seventh. I was really honored when Dave called me a few days ago and said if anybody breaks it, I’m glad it’s you. That was really nice. We were trying to get off the start line, get clean races, sail by ourselves and keep an eye on the competition. We had a nice last start right above New York, and we controlled our destiny. For complete event details, visit https://sdyc.org/liptoncup/.
