By: Allyssa van Rensburg

I sailed my first Lipton Challenge Cup last year, and this year I set out to sail my second Lipton on my very own boat.

When the J22 was announced for Lipton, I phoned my dad to ask if Jalapeño could come down to Cape Town. He said yes right away, and in April he officially put Jalapeño into my name. I became the proud owner of a J22.

That moment was exciting but it came with plenty of challenges. Jalapeño’s mast had snapped in 2022 while I was sailing her offshore Durban, right before the 2022 Worlds. We sleeved the mast and thought the problem was solved, but she had not been sailed since then and had been sitting unused, collecting dust.

Jalapeño arrived in Cape Town on 18 May. She had lost her mast supports during the trip, so her freshly sprayed mast already looked battered. Chafing marks ran along the deck and fittings from where the mast had been wobbling forward and back.

From May to August, I became a pro at putting the mast up and down, mostly because of constant “lemon” moments.

I spent nearly every evening after work and every weekend fixing, changing, or training on Jalapeño.

People say it takes a village to raise a child. For me, Jalapeño is that child, and she has a village behind her. The sailing community is incredible. So many people stepped in to help. I learnt almost everything about fixing boats: from rigging screws and thru-hull fittings, to the hard truth that Sikaflex never comes out in the wash.

By the time racing began, Jalapeño had been nearly rebuilt. She had not looked this slick in a very long time.

We went into Lipton with an all-female team.

• Jemima Baum, helm. An accomplished Optimist sailor and a sailing instructor at the Royal Cape Sailing Academy.
• Mitzi Ellemers, tactician and upwind trim. An experienced 420 sailor, collegiate sailor, and coach from Canada.
• Tammy Bailes, bow. Cape2Rio line honours, an accomplished dinghy sailor, and an offshore sailor.

Tammy joined only a week before Lipton when our original bow had to step out due to school commitments.

With the team ready, it was time to take on the challenge.

Day 1: The Cape Doctor Arrives

On the first day the Cape Doctor showed up in full force.

In Race 1​​​​​​​ we held our place in the fleet. The quadrilateral course was punishing, especially the long reach to the second mark. We hiked harder than ever before, trying not to lose height or speed while keeping our lane. Being one of the lighter boats made this especially tough.

Race 2 brought a true southeaster. The kind of wind where I was not even sure Jalapeño would hold up, but she did. At the top mark I looked ahead and saw most of the fleet hoisting spinnakers, only to broach one after another. We made the call to stay conservative and not set. Some may have seen that as fear, but we were not going to throw our regatta away on day one. Three laps in that wind felt like torture, but we made it through without breakages. Around us, chaos unfolded. Matt’s team broached and lost their spinnaker. Another team retired, another broke their rudder, and one boat capsized for 45 minutes trying to unwrap their kite. It was pure survival out there.

One of the other teams using Ullman Sails blew up both their new kite and their backup. Tyran and Wesley pulled an all-nighter, built them an entirely new spinnaker, and delivered it before the next day of racing. Absolutely insane.

Day 2: Swimming Lessons

Day 2 was forecast to be a little calmer, but it still blew hard.

In Race 1 we cracked off a solid start and were holding our own. On the last downwind we snapped the starboard-side tweaker fairlead. It was not ideal, but we could still sail with it.

Race 2started even better. We were ahead of the boats we needed to be ahead of, but on the final run we had a massive broach. I lost control of the spinnaker and it wrapped itself around the forestay. We tried to drop the halyard, but it was wrapped so tightly that nothing budged. I went forward to help Tammy, but the sail was locked solid. We finished second last, still carrying a wrapped kite.

After crossing the line we tried again to free it. We kept sailing and trying, keeping the boat flat, but the kite would not come free. Eventually the chase boat came by and told us we would have to capsize the boat. The idea felt so wrong, but we had no choice.

I grabbed a Leatherman. Jemima headed up, the boat rolled over, and I went into the water while Tammy started walking the mast down. I remembered someone telling me that if there is even 30 kilograms at the spreaders a J22 will not right itself. So I shimmied along the shrouds, pulling the mast down, cutting, and untwisting. At one point I was half inside the kite, just trying to keep it under control so I could cut the halyard.

I managed to free most of it, but I was so fatigued I could barely lift my arms. When I tried to climb back aboard I failed, weighed down by soaked foulies. Mitzi tried to pull me, but I slid back into the water. I felt like a beached whale. Eventually someone from the chase boat pulled me out.

Back on Jalapeño the clew was still wrapped. Mitzi, being the tallest, went forward and started cutting at the sheet, but the kite was also twisted in the jib halyard. I went back to untwist it and was making progress when Jay, from another J22, suddenly jumped aboard. He sprinted to the bow and untangled the sail in no time. He packed it into the turtle bag, Tammy handed me the tow line, and I collapsed onto the bow while the others rolled the mainsail. Jay hopped back to his own boat and I threw the tow to the chase boat.

By then we had drifted far out. The tow back to harbour took more than an hour. On the way we had a team talk and admitted to each other how scared we had been. But we also realized how well we had handled it as a team.

On shore we repaired the tweaker fairlead and rethreaded the halyard. That night Tyran and Wesley repaired our spinnaker and it looked brand new the next day.

Day 3: Where Did the Wind Go

Day 3 was the opposite of the first two. Northerly breeze and much lighter. The course was triangles, so the first beat meant everything.

We stuck with our plan, but one of the boats we had been keeping behind us went hard right. Mr Manager, Tony Strutt, had always told us, “Never go right, it only pays one in twenty times.” As the first boat rounded the top mark Tammy turned to me and said, “There’s the one in twenty.”

Then our spinnaker pole failed. The beak bent right out of the pole fitting. On a triangle course this was a disaster. We still had another lap to go, so we tried sailing extra high on the reach and then coming down without a pole. It worked to some extent, but the wind went a bit unstable and the gamble did not fully pay off.

Day 4: A Breath of Air

The wind filled in that afternoon and we managed two more races. The conditions were light and tricky, and we struggled to find the rhythm. We felt it in the results.

Day 5: The Last Push

By the final day we were all tired and discouraged, but we pushed through. We fought our way through two more races, especially down the runs, playing tactics with some of the top boats and forcing them into tight situations.

The results were not incredible, but the lessons were invaluable. Each of us added skills and experience that will serve us well.

For me, Lipton was about far more than the racing. It was about the months of preparation, the hours of fixing and training, and learning how much all of that matters once you hit the racecourse.

This regatta was a huge learning experience, and it is only the beginning for Jalapeño and me at the Lipton Challenge Cup.

It felt like everything was against us from the beginning, but honestly I would not have had it any other way. This campaign has taught me so many things, and shown me exactly what to do better next year.

As my dad always says, when everything feels stacked against you, it is just “school fees.” There is always something to learn from these experiences.

I have been one disaster away from renaming Jalapeño to School Fees.

photos Bronny Daniels