ISLANDS RACE NEWS

By Karina Sandhu, 

San Diego, CA (October 25, 2025) – After an exciting weekend of tight racing in quintessential San Diego weather, the 110th Challenge for the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup concluded on Sunday, October 26. The prestigious, invitational-only regatta brought together 12 highly competitive yacht club teams from across the United States and Mexico including Club de Yates de Acapulco, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, American Yacht Club, Balboa Yacht Club, Bayview Yacht Club, California Yacht Club, Coronado Yacht Club, Long Beach Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, San Diego Yacht Club, and San Francisco Yacht Club. Regatta Chair, Dave Vieregg, stated “We had an incredible collection of highly skilled teams racing in the 2025 Lipton Cup. It was an honor to host them at SDYC and watch the competition. The Challenge for the Lipton Cup is Southern California racing at its finest.”

The 110th Lipton Cup returned to San Diego’s South Bay for 4 more races in the 12 race series, featuring more sparkling San Diego weather. PRO Bruce Golison shared his thoughts on today’s conditions and competition. “We postponed for 30 minutes due to light and variable winds. A southwest breeze finally filled in at 7-8 kts and we got the first race of the day off just after noon.

Friday October 24th kicked off the 2025 Challenge for the Lipton Cup with 12 yacht clubs bringing their competitive teams to race in South San Diego Bay in a fleet of J/105s. Each team will race once in each of the 12 J/105s borrowed from SDYC members, that have been well prepared by volunteers over the last few weeks. After the morning skippers meeting and transit across the bay and under the Coronado bridge, the stage was set for the first 5 of 12 scheduled races to take place Friday through Sunday.

The 110th Challenge for the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup returns to San Diego Yacht Club October 24 - 26. Named after legendary yachtsman and tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton, the Lipton Cup is one of the most highly anticipated regattas of the season and one of the most highly coveted trophies in Southern California.

The one design race weekend features J/105s, which are loaned to the event by individual SDYC members, bring twelve teams from across the United States and Mexico together to compete in a round-robin format. In addition to racing the same model of boat, each team is required to rotate between each individual boat, sailing each one once over the course of three days to keep every aspect of the regatta even.

SDYC has arranged discounted rate hotel rooms for the Lipton Cup Regatta at The Bay Club Hotel & Marina.

BOOK NOW

The hotel is walking distance from SDYC. Discounts available Thursday October 23 - Sunday October 26, 2025. Discount available through September 23, 2025. The discounted rate is $219/night.