Meeting the new champ

We speak to new Endeavour Champion, Steve Tylecote

Last weekend the Endeavour Trophy, the UK’s effective champion of champion’s regatta, took place from its home of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham. This year Nick Craig was attempting to win the event for the fourth time in a row, however, it was not to be as Steve Tylecote and Toby Lewis clinched victory following a spectacular and consistent performance throughout the course of the weekend.

One of 28 national champions competiting in the Endeavour, Typecoat was attending as representative for the Firefly fleet, after winning the class’ National Championship this year for the second consecutive time. Tylecote’s victory in the Firefly should come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the class - he has been sailing the boat since he graduated from Southampton University in 1988. By his own admission, though he has not been only sailing the Firefly throughout that time. In fact he might be considered by some as a bit of a jack of all trades, having sailed numerous classes over the years.

Originally Tylecote got into sailing Fireflys after sailing them at university on the Team Racing circuit. “The Firefly is the definitive class for that discipline, so team racing was something that introduced me to the boat,” he states. “It is great to sail in a class that has such a good mix of fleet racing of a reasonably high standard and then have them used in something I am particularly keen on which is team racing.”

In the UK team racing tends to be viewed as something done when at university and dropped upon graduation. Tylecote does not feel this is a fair view, however. “I guess I would challenge the idea,”he counters. “There is a reasonably robust circuit involving the UK National Team Racing Championships, run by UKTRA [the UK Team Racing Association] there is the Wilson Trophy which is a premiere international event. The majority of the teams taking part in those events are open; there are a fair few that are student-based, but certainly there is life after BUSA [the British University Sailing Association] in a team racing circuit. There are a lot of good sailors taking part in that circuit.” Tylecote has proved his credentials as a top team racer internationally, having won the World Championships previously and regularly attending the event, most recently in 2005 where he and his team were third.



Clearly, as evidenced by his Firefly sailing as well as this performance this weekend with crew Toby Lewis, Tylecote is not just a ‘one trick pony’ and enjoys fleet racing as well. Not only does he sail the Firefly at the moment but he also sails a Laser, crews for his wife in an RS400 and sails a Musto Skiff, all from Rutland Water, his home club. “I like variety in all my sailing,” Tylecote explains. “I love my team racing and I particularly like the passion of working with a team and think that that is great. On the flipside though there are also days where going out and having a blast in a Laser, even not racing and having a good sail is equally valid.” This does seem to be a particularly large number of boats for one person to sail, but Tylecoat explains that he loves many different forms of the sport and if he tries to sail any one boat on its own for too long he will usually get a bit bored with it.

Newest boat in Tylecote’s extensive collection is the Musto Skiff, his latest challenge to master. For a team racer who spends much of his time racing Fireflys this may seem like a slightly alien route, but here again there is clear evidence of Tylecote’s varied past in sailing. Six or seven years ago when the class was just getting started he sailed an RS700 for a while and before that he was an active Laser 5000 sailor. Back in the days when the Laser 5000 the class was ‘the boat’ to sail and had a heavily sponsored Eurocup Circuit,he says he enjoyed immensely sailing with his wife.

With this history in high performance boats too, Tylecote explains his decision to buy a Musto Skiff was a fairly easy one to make. “The Musto Skiff is the class of choice for me at Rutland. Sten [Richard Stenhouse] races there so I have world class skiff racing literally on the doorstep. He and Kit [Stenhouse] are a powerhouse in our local fleet and it is a real privilege to race with them from time to time.”



This year’s Endeavour Trophy was Tylecote’s first. Last year he attended the event, also sailing for the Firefly’s, and finished a respectable fifth and he has competed at the event on many occasions throughout the Endeavour’s long history. His first time was back when the regatta was sailed in Enterprises and subsequently he attended when the RS400 was being used. On average he says he tended to be around seventh, so the last couple of years have seen him improve dramatically. Having attended the event through a number of different eras, as it were, Tylecoat is in a good position to evaluate the current format. “It is very impressive,” he says. “Taking part in the old version of the Endeavour where I borrowed Enterprises and 400s and things to come to the event was always hard. Where it is now, it is now such a level playing field. The boats are very suitable for this event in that they are robust and nobody is familiar with them. It makes the whole thing really great and very special.”

Tylecote is a very modest man and though not obviously awkward talking about this weekend’s victory, it is equally not arrogant about it. “I think this year it just worked out for me and Toby. At this high level it is really just tiny marginal changes that can make all the difference. I think Toby and I were able to bring a few specific things to the party and were lucky enough to walk away with the win.” One of the major factors Tylecote credits to his victory is his diverse background in a wide variety of classes and race formats. He says this means it is easier for him to jump into boats and quickly get a feel for what is needed to make them go fast - team racing and the variety of classes he has sailed all help greatly.

Another reason he gives for success is his crew, Toby Lewis. Lewis seems to be a rather similar character to Tylecote and calls himself a ‘sailing tart’ due to his habit of getting afloat in any boat with anyone that comes along with an offer. It is perhaps fitting then that Lewis is not Tylecote’s regular crew for the Firefly and sailed with him only at the Endeavour. “Toby was actually sailing at the Firefly Nationals with a good friend of mine, someone I was sailing with when I won the Team Racing Worlds,” says Tylecote “I first met him in a service station on the edge of a motorway. We ended up racing together in the Team Racing Worlds in 2005 in Rhode Island. That was a great campaign, we got the silver medal and we really enjoyed sailing together. It was only shortly after I won the Firefly Nationals that I asked Toby to come and sail the Endeavour. Understandably he was pretty keen to do that”.

It is interesting, though perhaps not so surprising that the winner of the Endeavour Trophy each year is, more often than not, someone who sails multiple classes. Both Nick Craig and Roger Gilbert are strong examples of this. Perhaps, then, this is the secret to victory. Of course it could equally be that these people all happen to be great sailors who enjoy spending as much time out on the water as they can, irrespective of what they are sailing. One thing is for certain, Tylecote and Lewis fully deserved their victory at the Endeavour and, for most of us at least, it is nice to see a new name picking up the trophy.