Frank and Karel sail to win Lipton’s Cup

Richard Dwight

SAILING: There were as much as 18 boats each with helm and crew numbering 36 sailors, who vyied for championship honours in the Liptons Cup Sailing Regatta held on Sunday at the Ceylon Motor yacht Club, Bolgoda.

The scheduled events for the morning was an optimist race for junior sailed single handed, which had 9 boats and the other being the senior fleet race. The slogan no winds, no sailing didn’t hold, because the day turned out to be pleasant with mild breeze interspersed with steady fair winds for the sailors to keep tacking when necessary and plane through to make the race as competitive as possible.

In the senior fleet race, the combination of Frank Biesterveled (helm) and Karel Van Look (crew) did well to tilt the sails with purpose to catch the winds and sail out on the 90 minute course to be winners - following the winners closely to be first runner-up were the consistent duo of son Devin (helm) and father Asanka Goonewardena (crew). The winner of the Junior Optimist Race was Allison Maher.

The awards ceremony which was steered by the officer of the day, Mohan Balasuriya had the Managing Director of the sponsors Unilever Tea Divison addressing the gathering with a response being made by the commodore of the CMYC, Stephen Giffin.

It was learnt that in those earlier years, Lipton’s was synonymous with tea here and the man responsible was Thomas Lipton who was later knighted. Sir Thomas Lipton himself had sailed for the Americas Cup, the world’s most prestigious yachting event no less than five times.

An avid sailor, Lipton nato only sponsored trophies in Sri Lanka, but also in the states. The Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup, which for the past 95 years has been sailed for in the Pacific Ocean from San Dietgo.

Results:

Senior Fleet Race: winner - Frank Biesterveled (Helm), Karel Van Look (crew), 1st runner-up - Devin Goonewardene (helm), Asanka Goonewardene (crew), 2nd runner-up - Joseph Kenny (helm), Pramukshi Kariyawasam (crew).

Optimist Race: Winner - Allison Maher, 1st runner-up - Maleena Awn, 2nd runner-up - Dimitri Goonewardene.