2010 Plympton Cup - 120 year old silver Mermaid smiles upon Sporties

by Steve Hall on 21 Jun 2010 2010 Plympton Cup - ‘The Cup is of pure Broken Hill silver, and is valued at 150 guineas – Probably the finest trophy ever raced for by yachtsmen in the Australian Colonies' – The Advertiser, Monday 16th February 1891

The 2010 Plympton Cup one of the two major South Australian sailing events of the winter season (the other the iconic Port Line Cup), was raced on Sunday 20th of June between Outer Harbor and a turning mark off Adelaide Sailing club (formerly Glenelg Sailing club and Holdfast Bay Yacht club)

With a high pressure ridging in the gradient breeze, predominately a light northerly, the weak solstice sun unable to produce a thermal breeze to assist the racers

The conditions for the 2010 race could not have been more different from those of 1891 - ‘Four boats had entered for the event and would have competed had it not been for the adverse nature of the elements' (two boats withdrew). ‘The wind blew in fierce gusts all of the afternoon causing a heavy swell, and the waves dashed so furiously against the jetty at times many of the spectators were drenched with spray' – The Advertiser, 1891

Typical of winter sailing on the Gulf, without thermal breezes sailing is subject to either the furious fronts from the south west or high pressure with little breeze. With a large front traversing south east Australia this week the Gulf was settling with much dead seagrass washed up on the normally white beaches

Racing started after several recalls, with four divisions including J24's and Multihulls, the outgoing tide pushing the fleet over.

The fifty boat fleet raced down the coast, spinnakers flying much to the delight of those enjoying lunch and exercising along Adelaide's beachside suburbs

Yachts entered from a number of clubs including; Port Adelaide Sailing Club, Garden Island Sailing Club, Cruising Yacht club of SA along with the Royal SA Yacht Squadron who ran the race

The 120 year old Plympton Cup was presented to Holdfast Bay Yacht club in 1890 by Mr Morish of Plympton, with the first race being won by Mr J Luxmore sailing Winfreda in 1891 and has been won by many of South Australia's noted sailors including, Tom Hardy in Nerida (1934) and in T.G. Flint in Sam (1971)

The Cup itself is magnificent, a smiling Mermaid holding aloft a giant conch shell, her tail in a boiling sea with yachts battling nature's fury, very much reflecting artistic values of the time

Sportsboats dominated this year's event taking the first three places

The gradient breeze dropped out at the turning mark with three Sportboats featured in the leading five, the first Sportsboat only a couple of minutes behind the leading division 1 racer after the long downwind leg

The fleet headed back upwind, with the smaller Sportsboats and Multihulls tacking close up inshore dodging the jetty as they raced to finish before the six hour time limit, the race officer shortening course just north of Henley jetty

The Multihulls suffering a similar fate to the large displacements boat, unable to compete downwind against the slippery Sportsboats with their limited wetted area and massive spinnakers proving a winning advantage

Provisional results; Jeff Price in ‘Touch n Go' a Lyons 750, second Peter Freeman, ‘Firecracker' and 3rd Doug Gladman in ‘Peer Gynt'


Sponsors of the Plympton Cup – Bethany Wines with Becker Enterprises sponsoring the combined winter series.