Lipton Cup Regatta

The Lipton Cup Regatta is one of Port Phillip's historic fixtures — a multi-class regatta run by the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria at Williamstown for a trophy donated by Sir Thomas Lipton and first contested in 1909. More than a century on, it draws over 200 boats across keelboat and off-the-beach classes each November, making it one of the most inclusive regattas on the bay.

What it is

The Lipton Cup Regatta is a broad, multi-class event. Off-the-beach classes — International Cadets, Optimists, Mirrors and the like — race in Hobsons Bay, while the keelboat fleet heads to Altona Bay for windward-leeward racing, with a passage race rounding out the weekend. The programme typically opens with an invitational twilight race on the Friday evening, and free berthing is offered to visiting competitors. That spread of classes, from junior dinghies to keelboats, is the regatta's hallmark, and it sits within the wider Port Phillip scene described in our guide to sailing in Melbourne and Port Phillip.

History

The regatta's name comes from Sir Thomas Lipton, the Scottish tea magnate, philanthropist and five-time America's Cup challenger, who donated trophies to yacht clubs around the world. The Royal Yacht Club of Victoria was the only Victorian club to receive a Lipton Cup — and one of only two in Australia — making the trophy a genuine piece of yachting heritage. It was first raced for on 13 March 1909, and the regatta has carried that history ever since.

How to enter and follow

Entries and event information are published by the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria through the official regatta channels. Crews should read the Notice of Race for their class, confirm any handicap or measurement requirements, and enter before the deadline. Across the keelboat divisions the result is decided on corrected time under handicap — see line honours versus handicap — while one-design and off-the-beach classes race boat-for-boat. The sailing terms glossary covers the language of the race documents.