Three North Coast sailors from Durban’s Point Yacht Club are gearing up to compete in the 71st edition of Lipton Challenge Cup in Cape Town this week.

This year’s edition of the annual event will be hosted by the Royal Cape Yacht Club, with 18 teams participating in the historic five-day race from Tuesday to Saturday (August 26-30).

Richard Weddell (Westbrook) leads the Cell C crew on Gday, a J/22 keelboat, with bowman Struan Campbell (Salt Rock) and trimmer/tactician Rudy McNeill (Sheffield) rounding out the local trio.

They are bidding to reclaim the title they won as part of a larger five-man team in a separate category in the 2013 edition.

“We are very excited for this race, but there are a lot of pre-race nerves and jitters that we need to overcome,” said Campbell.

Weddell (40) boasts multiple national titles and international appearances. He is a four-time 29er national champion and he recently skippered the team on Da J to a bronze medal at the 2022 J/22 World Championships in Durban.

McNeill (35) arrives fresh from victories in the KZN ILCA Regionals and IASF Laser Nationals in Australia and Canada.

Campbell (51) brings offshore racing expertise, including a recent win in the 2025 Mykonos Offshore Regatta.

McNeill and Campbell were also part of the Point Yacht Club team that were runners up in the 2016 Lipton Challenge Cup.

The experienced trio will sail in the ‘One Design’ category, where every team uses identical J/22 keelboats.

Their previous victory in 2013 was in the L/26 keelboat division, alongside teammates Byron Watt and Alec Lanham-Love.

Despite their combined experience, Campbell said his crew’s preparation this year had not been plain sailing.

“So, we go down to the Cape last Saturday and it’s raining, windy and cold. We finished near the bottom a couple times but finished 10th overall.” he said.

The team have not raced J/22 keelboats in two years however, and Weddell noted the other teams had been sailing non-stop.

“We’ve spent the last few months fixing the boat and not sailing – the training races were an eye-opener for us,” said the experienced bowman.

In better conditions on Sunday, the Durbanites finished a respectable seventh after five races.

“We had a change of mindset and tactics; we adjusted our rig and made some changes to the boat. We ended up winning the last race on Sunday, which has given us a massive confidence boost,” he said.

The Point Yacht Club, which celebrated its 133rd anniversary this year, dominated the early years of the Lipton Cup, winning seven consecutive titles from 1911 to 1952 (races are not always held in consecutive years, with notable breaks for the two World Wars). The KZN club added another three titles over the next 73 years and will be looking for an 11th triumph.

“There is no second place, no podium places; only first!” added Campbell.

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