Your Feedback

MORE of your views on what could and should be done with the Endeavour Trophy

Following the on from our article about the Endeavour Trophy, this is the second instalment of feedback from readers (the first group of readers' letters are on page 2).

From this years winner, Nick Craig:

I may be a little biased but thought clarify fact from fiction. Ideal weight for a RS400 is 23-24 stone, not 25+. Keith and I won the Nationals at 25 stone but we were overweight and lucky to win because it was windy. Even so, 23-24 stone is not ideal because Lark, Firefly etc helms need to sail with bigger crews to be competitive but it is not so extreme that people need 17 stone crews...!

The RS200 ideal weight is 20-21 stone - this would exclude any big helms from Finns, Phantoms, OKs etc - a 6-7 stone crew can’t handle a kite!

Net there is NO right choice! ie strong case for class rotation each year....

Venue wise, I actually think a crappy river venue is good because it keeps the racing close, tactical & starts are key. A move to a more open venue would make boatspeed key where the sailors in "home" boats would dominate even more....

From Richard Stenhouse (Musto Skiffs, Finn, Laser, OK, dinghy Champion):

I think the Endeavour Trophy should remain at RCYC because I feel if you move the venue you loose some of the history that makes it so special to win. The clubs hospitality is fantastic with good social and you get well looked after by members.

I think a good replacement for the RS400 would be the 2.4 Metre Class as it is in the spirit of the Endeavour. It is a fun boat to sail, very responsive and a fully adjustable rig whilst racing and an interesting change to the classes most of us sail. Sailing a 2.4M everyone is equal, fat n Thin, Tall or Short making for good close racing. It allows the disabled National champion to also compete (bagsy his boat), The National champion crew would also eligible to enter to give a bit of helm crew rivalry. You can party all night the keel will keep you upright.

The RS200 is not any good for me as I am already too heavy for the RS400 (its not always upwind and windy)

Well done Nick Craig there is a lot of good sailors who have competed but not won the title (Ben Ainsley, Ian Walker, Andy Beadsworth)

From Dan Vincent:

I helmed at my first Endeavour this year representing the Solo class (although I have crewed in it before. I was disappointed the field wasn't larger, but chuffed to bits to finish third in what I still believe to be the dinghy champion of champions.

To pick up on Jim Champ's comments, "Its always been a bit of a joke really", which concluded that the only way to do it would be to sail in a variety of boats in a variety of locations, I agree that any sailing competition whose aim is to find, 'the best dinghy sailor' will be flawed. If sailed in GP14s you would be stupid to bet against Richard Estaugh, if sailed in Int 14s, Rob Greenhalgh and if in Lasers then Paul Goodison would be favourite, etc. Furthermore, if it is a windy weekend (like it was this year) then it favours the heavier sailors while the converse is true in light winds. The Endeavour does not have such a lofty aim it just provides a championship for champions. What is lacking at the moment is the champions.

I believe a change of class would go a long way in encouraging more champions to turn up. My criteria would be as follows: the boat should be a two-handed, hiking dinghy preferably with an assymetric. This leaves three front runners: RS200; RS400 and Laser 2000, all one-design boats which should be available in large enough numbers. My recommendation would be that these classes are rotated on a three yearly basis.

To level the playing field further a Friday training/ boat tune session supported by the relevant manufacturer would bring those new to the class up to speed.

I always felt the hard October weather, combined with the austere landscape of the Crouch estuary provided a certain grittiness to the atmosphere which felt strangely appropriate.

From Lucy Burn:

Wow! Quick slap on the wrist first...I can't believe some of those helms were even considering ditching their crews for the event. Remember....Crews lose places Helms lose Races!

You cannot boot your National Champs winning crew out of the boat for this event. It's not fair because they won the right to go with you.

I think it would be a good idea to move the event to the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy. I can't think of a better place to hold the champion of champions event than the place we're submitting for the 2012 Olympic sailing venue. Publicity for our Olympic bid and an excellent venue too.

Maybe each year the title sponsor should be a nominated class.... they provide the boats giving you a variety of classes each year. Are the RS 400 owners getting fed up of lending their boats out year after year? The class of boat used definitely needs to be addressed anyway.... how do symmetrical spinnaker sailors find the transition to Assyms? Lots to think about for the organisers anyway!

From Martin Boatman:

I was at the Endeavour this year with Kevin Anderson (Musto Skiff National Champion) and find it quite amusing reading some of these comments. Many people talk about changing venues, Portland has been mentioned a few times because Burnham is a long way to travel. We travelled for 5 hours to get to Burnham but would have to travel 7 hours to Portland, sailing doesn't only exist on the South coast! A central location has to be the way ahead.

Also the RS400 is a killer, after race 3 I thought I was going to die, surely the challenge of the Endeavour is to sail against the best guys in the country not see who has the strongest legs.

I agree the class associations have to get behind this event. They need to ensure their class representative turns out each year to fly their flag, this was definantley the case with the Musto Skiff Class Association who would have carried us there if they had to.

Tom Halhead writes:

I can't comment on the event having never done it, but looking at some of the views expressed it strikes me that there's a real misconception about the competitive weight range a 400 can be raced with. Most of the front of the fleet are sailing with 23 to 24 stone - this is easily achievable by most dinghy classes (note the Lark class "heavyweight" prize at the nationals kicks in at 24 stone!). The debate so far seems to have focused on including lightweight crews - the 200 is a fantastic boat but people have to be aware that teams from most of the wiring boats (Fireball, 14, 4000, 505, 800, 49er, Javelin, Osprey, FD), almost all non youth / ladies singlehanders (Laser, OK, Solo, Phantom, 600, 700, 300 - a laser sailor sailing with another laser sailor = 24+ stone), hiking doublehanders (400, GP, Ent) etc. would be overweight in the 200 and couldn't sail with their normal crew.

I suspect that the 400 is the right boat for the event (its one of the few boats with an attribute close to some aspect of most of the classes sailed) - whether you'd get me to take mine to Burnham for an open event is another question....

Paul Reeve (who 'would have loved to won something so that I could have gone to the Endeavour') writes:

I have been an avid dinghy sailor for the past 30 years, and I have probably read the Endeavour Trophy reports for nearly the same length of time.

The list of winners on it does read like a roll call of top dinghy talent,(Smith, Warden Owen, Estaugh, Pinnell, Southworth to name but a few) and Nick Craig winning this year certainly does not diminish it in any way. Winning the RS400's, Enterprises and 3rd at OK Worlds is a pretty good indication that you are a top dinghy sailor.

But only beating 12 other boats doesn't put a gloss on the event, although in a breeze, nobody in the UK was going to touch Nick in a breeze in a 400, just like Jim Hunt 6 years ago.

No Olympic sailors at this years or recent years events is not healthy either. (Didn't Ainsile & Goodison sail in it in the late 1990's?) However this situation is similar to what has happened before.

30 years ago it was held in GP14's, then Larks, then Ents, then RS400's. In each case the numbers declined because people could not borrow boats, and the trophy was becoming dominated by that particular class experts. In the last year of the Ents, it was not only borrowing the boat, but also borrowing a top Ent crew.

Up until the RS400, there was never any spinnaker skill required, but the RS400 is very much a grunt boat especially in a breeze, and the combined crew weight required is 23 stone, which is up the heavy end for most other classes. I'm sure most National Champions want to sail with their National winning crew, so the 29ers 420's etc are at a disadvantage from the word go.

Only once from memory has it been held in a strict one design, where nobody had any experience. In 1984? it was held in Zoom's which were similar to Laser 2's and died a death shortly after 1984. Since then it has always been held in a numerous class. To attract the top boys it has to be sailed in boats that are half decent.

As your reporter says, the event is held at a windy time of year. Again, it plays into the hands of the big boys.

Burnham on Crouch is not a popular dinghy sailing venue. In the 50's and 60's it was, but not now. Most of today's sailors have never been there and do not know the history. The event is sailed, I understand, at the junction of the Crouch and the Roach, which is not exactly an easy place to get to for spectators. Its a brown mucky river on a cold windy day.

What's to be done? Sail it in RS200's (lighter crew weight) or let the champion's sail it in their own boats as a handicap event. (Certain Handicaps would need to be looked at:- Fireball...) Move the event to a large reservoir (Graham, Draycote) where they might inject some Pizzazz into the events.