Epic fleet for British Championship of Champions

Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex (October 13, 2017) – A total of 30 entries have signed up for Britain’s dinghy champion of champions’ event – the Endeavour Trophy – on October 14 to 15.

Not only is this one of the largest entries ever recorded, it is also one of the few events in the world where such a concentrated group of champions compete against each other in the same class of boat.

To ensure a relatively level ‘playing field’, this invitational championship, for national, European or world champions from the most popular dinghy racing classes, will be contested, for the third year in succession, in one-design RS200s with new suits of sails courtesy of RS Sailing and Hyde Sails.

Ben Saxton and Toby Lewis – double Endeavour champions – who are back to defend their title, have a tough challenge ahead given the particularly strong level of talent at this year’s event. With the likes of serial Endeavour champions Nick Craig and Holly Scott (D-One), Christian Birrell (470), and Matt Burge and Tom Pygall (Fireball), lining up on the start line tomorrow, racing is expected to be intense.

Competitors for this bumper event have travelled from far afield, including Federico and Filippo Maccari (RS 500) from Italy, and Stuart Urquhart and Brendan Lynch, who made the long road trip from Kinloss, Moray, Scotland earlier today.

There is also a good showing of young sailors to watch out for such as local champions Ben Hutton-Penman and Lucy Hewitson (RS Feva), Bettine and Jamie Harris (Cadets), and Jamie Cook and Finley Dickinson (Optimist) from Penarth, Wales. The youngest competitor is Imogen Wade (11) sailing with her father Dave (Mirror).

Looking ahead at the conditions tomorrow for the start of the eight-race Endeavour Championship series, which kicks off at 1030, Edwin Buckley, event director and race officer commented: “I am delighted we have a full house of 30 entries this year, and with some good winds expected, there is every indication that 2017 is going to produce some exceptionally competitive racing.

“The forecast is for a good south-south-westerly breeze of about 15kts and scorching sunshine, which couldn’t be better. My intention, depending on the wind of course, is to run up five or six races tomorrow with the remaining races on day two.”

Event details – Facebook

Confirmed entries
• 2016 Champion, Ben Saxton and Toby Lewis
• D-One, Nick Craig and Holly Scott
• Scorpion, Andy Mckee and Steve Graham
• Supernova, Alex Horlock and Arthur Henderson
• RS Feva, Ben Hutton-Penman and Lucy Hewitson
• National 12, Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantine
• Enterprise, Jeremy and Becca Stephens
• RS400, Jon Gorringe and Emma Clarke
• Comet, Chris Hatton and David Harris
• 470, Christian Birrell and Rob Henderson
• Topper, Sam Cooper and Simon Hall
• 420, Niamh Harper and Ross Thompson
• RS200, Ben Palmer and Amy Seabright
• Albacore, Tom Lonsdale and Oli Meadowcroft
• Miracle, Dave Butler and Ross Fleming
• National 18, Stuart Urquhart and Brendan Lynch
• Optimist, Jamie Cook and Finley Dickinson
• Fireball, Matt Burge and Tom Pygall
• Firefly, Nigel Wakefield and Mary Henderson
• 2000, Stephen and Sarah Cockerill
• Cadet, Bettine and Jamie Harris
• Mirror, Dave and Imogen Wade
• International 14, Roger and Jane Gilbert
• Merlin Rocket, Alan Roberts and Rosie Sibthorp
• Women’s 470, Anna Carpenter and Martin Wrigley
• Laser Radial, Ben and Sam Whaley
• 29er, Nick Robins and Billy Vennis-Ozanne
• RS800, Chris Rashley and Hannah Bristow
• K1, Simon Heusen and Allan Tyler
• RS500, Federico and Filippo Maccari

Brief history of the Endeavour Trophy
The Endeavour Trophy is a solid silver scale model of the J Class yacht Endeavour presented annually to the Champion of Champions at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch.

The origin of the trophy stems from Tom Sopwith’s J Class yacht Endeavour, America’s Cup Challenge in 1934. Following a pay dispute and dismissal of his east coast-based professional crew, Sopwith teamed up with ‘Tiny’ Mitchell, the Commodore of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at the time, to recruit amateur members of the club to form a crew.

Although Endeavour won the first two races against Rainbow, and lost the series, this was the closest England ever came to winning the coveted America’s Cup.

In recognition of this achievement, Robin Judah – respected member of the RCYC – established a series of races for dinghy sailors in order to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK’s most popular dinghy racing classes. Beecher Moore, former Endeavour crew, and marketing man behind the successful dinghy designer Jack Holt, joined Judah in his quest to run this event and presented for the overall winner, his solid silver scale model of the yacht.

The first invitation-only race took place in 1961 and the winners were Peter Bateman and Keith Musto, representing the International Cadet class. The event is now recognised as one of the ultimate achievements in British dinghy racing.

The competition is exceptionally challenging and those who qualify through winning their own class championship, are given the opportunity to race equally talented sailors in this unique, highly demanding two-day event on the River Crouch.

Given the diverse entry, which includes singlehanded, doublehanded, heavy and lightweight crews, and to ensure the racing is as fair as possible, carefully selected, strict one-designs are chosen for the event. The original idea back in 1961 was to use the club’s own fleet of 15 Royal Corinthian One-Designs but they were considered too specialist and would have placed a perpetual limit on the number of entries. The first event was, therefore, sailed in Enterprises.

Since then numerous one-design classes have been used for the event including the GP14, Laser 2, Lark, Enterprise, RS400, Topper Xenon, and the Topper Argo. The 13ft (4m) Phil Morrison-designed RS200 – a smaller version of the RS400 has been the chosen class for the Endeavour Championship since 2015. It weighs in at 78kg and is an ideal choice to suit a wide crew-weight range.

Current Endeavour Champions (2016 winners) –Ben Saxton and Toby Lewis representing the Nacra 17.

Source: Sue Pelling