Champion of champions

Toby Lewis talks about his second consecutive Endeavour win

The UK Champion of Champions regatta, the Endeavour Trophy came to a close this weekend, with a very unsurprising result: Nick Craig won his fourth Endeavour Trophy, an impressive score for one of Britain’s top amateur sailors. However, in the front of his boat, Toby Lewis was winning his second consecutive Endeavour having taken the trophy the previous year crewing for Steve Tylecote.

It is a sad fact of the sailboat racing world that helms tend to achieve more fame than crews and as such it is rare to get a crew, other than in the Olympic or professional scene, who is known outside of their own class. It would seem though, that Lewis is slowly starting to make a name for himself with his two high profile wins at the Endeavour making people sit up and take notice of him.

27 year old Lewis started out in sailing very early and began, as most do, by sailing an Optimist. However, he was not the most committed Optimist competitor, admitting he rarely got out on the water. “I started sailing an Oppie, but that was only about one week a year at Spinnaker SC, during the summer regatta,” he admits.

Following his intermittent stint in the Optimist, Lewis and his family moved to Poole, where sailing became a more regular activity, out of Parkstone Yacht Club. “When I went to Poole, I started sailing a Mirror and then switched into a Topper and finally I got a 420,” He states. Although changing classes fairly regularly is common in youth sailing, having competed in so many different boats is fairly rare. This seemingly unsettled attitude to classes is something Lewis has kept and even now he sails several different types of boat.

Even in the early stages of his sailing Lewis might not be said to have been truly serious about the sport and it was arguably not until he started competing with John Gorringe that things really started to take off. “While at Parkstone, I started sailing for John Gorringe who had an RS400 and he got me into the 400 circuit,” Lewis comments. “Through him I met another guy, Robert Kenyon and then I did loads of sailing with him in the 400.”

It was from this start in the RS400 that Lewis met Nick Craig, regularly competing against him in the boat. It was not long before the two sailors were together in a boat, though nothing serious came about for a number of years. Mostly they raced together at a few open meetings and other not too serious events when it suited each of them.

Still not being the sort of person to stick to one class, Lewis tried an Enterprise, on and off, also with Craig. It was in this class, back in 2006 that Craig and Lewis saw their first real title together. The pair won the Enterprise World Championships, held in Looe, the win was all the more prestigious as it was the class’ 50th anniversary regatta. Due to the special nature of the regatta, the team were up against, 111 other Enterprises, many of whom were top sailors returning for the event. Craig and Lewis have continued returning to the Enterprise every so often, mostly for the bigger championships. This year, they went to the Enterprise Nationals, finishing a fairly respectable fourth.



In addition to the Enterprise sailing together this year, Lewis and Craig have been campaigning a B14. The high performance two man skiff, represents a new challenge for both sailors, having only just started sailing the boat together in the last year. As such this season was the first time they had attended a championship in the B14. Craig and Lewis managed to win the event, held in Essex, an impressive performance in a boat that is considered hard to sail. Modest as ever, Lewis says he would like to go back next year and try to repeat their performance as this season the event was cut short. “The thing about this year’s [B14 Nationals] is, it was only a one day event really,” he comments. “It was meant to be held over three days but it ended up they had four races one day and only one on another in quite a lot of wind. It would be nice to do it in the light winds and see if we can retain the title.”

Although it might seem extremely impressive that Craig and Lewis can jump into almost any class and achieve victory, Lewis is careful to point out most of the classes they sail together are similar to one another. “I got to know Nick through sailing in the 400 while crewing for other people really. Nick had been talking to me for a few years about sailing a B14 when we were sailing 400s. When you look at it, the B14 is really just an RS400 on steroids in many respects, so it made sense,” he comments.

Of course Lewis’ time sailing with Nick Craig is just one half of his Endeavour story. As we have seen, his first Endeavour win came in 2007 with seasoned Firefly sailor and Team Racer, Steve Tylecote. True to form, the story of Lewis meeting Tylecote comes from a different area of racing altogether. “I was crewing for a guy called Roddy Bridge in the International 14 and through him I met Archie Massey, who asked if I was interested in doing the Wilson Trophy,” explains Lewis. It was during this event that Lewis met Tylecote who was helming as a part of the same team. The pair went on to sail together in a number of events, such as the 2005 ISAF Team Racing World Championship. When Tylecote won the Firefly Nationals last year, Lewis was the first person on his list to ask to sail with him at the event and the rest, as they say, is history.

Something that quickly becomes apparent when talking to those who have sailed with Lewis is the deep respect they carry for this talented small boat crew. When asked what he thought was the most important aspect of winning the Endeavour Trophy, Tylecote instantly replied ‘Toby.’ Craig is equally as complementary on the subject of his crew, so what makes Lewis so good? When asked this question directly, Lewis is modestly flummoxed, but when pushed does have a couple of ideas. “I think it is very important to practice a lot. To me that can be just as much fun as racing sometimes, so it is not a dull thing. I also think work rate is very important.After sail and boat set-up that is the biggest difference you can make to boat speed so I would say that is key.”

At the Endeavour specifically Lewis believes the boats he has sailed and is sailing, stand him in good stead for the event raced in Topper Xenons. Of late he has been crewing for James Stewart in the RS200 – Stewart has variously sailed Endeavour events and RS400 events with Craig as well as crewing for Roger Gilbert in the 400 and the Merlin Rocket. It is the combination of RS400 and RS200 sailing that Lewis feels has led to him being successful at the Endeavour. “The most sailing I have done is in the RS400, which is pretty similar to the Topper Xenon. The boat is a bit smaller though and does not plane quite as easily, meaning you have to soak quite low. In that way it can be fairly similar to the RS200,” he comments.

It would seem Lewis mixes with a fairly elite crowd on the sailing circuit, incorporating Nick Craig, Roger Gilbert and James Stewart to name but a few. Between them, this bunch have a number of championship titles to their names and it is clear this friendship group is inspiration to Lewis. “We all kind of jump into different boats quite a lot. I suppose we follow each other around to events too. Half the fun is going for a few drinks when we are at regattas,” he confirms.

At present Lewis is slightly unsure exactly what the future holds for his sailing. He is keen to give the B14 Nationals another shot with Craig to prove they have what it takes through a full event. However, a move out of the front of the boat could be upcoming. “I did my first national championships helming this year in my dad’s Osprey. It was really good and I am definitely going to try and do it next year,” he comments. In addition to this he seems very keen to have a go at foiling and even bought a lowrider Moth on ebay a while ago. Poole Moth sailor, Rod Harris, briefly tried to convince him to convert it into a foiler, but it did not seem like a great idea at the time to Lewis.

It is hard to pin down exactly where Lewis’ future lies in sailing as he is clearly so keen to try anything and everything going. He says he would not be adverse to trying an Olympic class if he was given a chance but at 60kg does not really know what. One gets the impression that at this moment in time, he is more than happy sailing with friends when he can in any boat that comes his way and enjoying the socials at events too.