Champion of Champions

The Daily Sail gets the low down on this years Endeavour Trophy

The Endeavour Trophy, for 40 years known as the dinghy sailors’ Champion of Champions, nearly missed The Daily Sail’s radar when it took place in October. We did however manage to catch up with two helms that did rather well at this year’s event - Roger Gilbert and Nick Craig.

Steeped in history the event is run by the Burnham on Crouch wing of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club. Invitations are sent out through the year to the winners of National Championships. Sailors just need to find themselves an RS400 and turn up for what Nick Craig describes as “river sailing at it’s finest. It is one of the ones I enjoy the most, because it’s hard and the standard is very high.”

Originally sailed in Enterprises, the event has been sailed in RS400s for around the last eight years. The fact that the series is sailed on the Crouch and not on the open sea helps it avoid being a boat speed contest, which would obviously favour those sailors who have raced RS400s. “On the river it’s a bit of a leveller”, explains Craig, “as it’s all tactics and starts, boat speed doesn’t really matter that much - more of a stock car thing.”

This year’s event took place in blustery force four and five conditions, but with the added advantage of it blowing straight down the Crouch giving competitors a decent race track on the river. Racing was frenetic, with eight races making up the series, each half an hour long and sailed pretty much back to back, with five on the Saturday and three on the Sunday.

20 boats made up the fleet of National Champions from a range of classes including the Europe (Chris Gill and crew Geoff Carveth), Laser 4000 (Peter Barton and Robin Kenyon), Lark (Dougal Scott and Ruth Johnson), Miracle (Sam Mettam and Geoff Phillips), Firefly (Dominic Johnson and Jenny Heeley) and 49er (Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes).

All sailors agree that the start line is crucial for each race, even though it’s quite a small fleet. “It’s often dominated by the start line and tacking up the shore”, explains Gilbert, “with very few passing lanes. This year there was less tide than normal and with the wind blowing straight down the Crouch, you kind of had a reasonably open beat - you could go left or right or up the middle. So the start line became less dominant, but that said all the people there being national champions there’s no second row on the start line.”

Craig adds: “All the people there are a National Champion so they’re kind of used to getting their own way!”

With the standard of sailors being so high, the race committee were put under a little extra pressure, but for Roger Gilbert this has never been a problem: “the race management there is always excellent to be honest, the race officer Kim Allen is truly superb. He sets good courses and really turns the races round - no mercy for the competitors! It may be freezing cold and windy, but you’re going to do five races back to back with lots of laps.”

Nick Craig and crew Keith Bedborough started the series well with a third and and first place, but disaster struck on race three. “We had a very frustrating one,” says Craig, “the wing-wang [gybing line for the asymmetric pole that brings it up to windward] snapped on the second race, we were able to finish that race and we were leading in it and managed to still win. We missed the third race while we were fixing it because you can’t really sail without it. So we blew our discard on race three - only one discard in the eight races - so from there on it was a bit of an uphill struggle.

“So that was a turning point, it was pretty frustrating as we had actually changed it the previous day, because we saw it was wearing, we went and tested it and the bloody thing still snapped, so that’s about as frustrating as it gets.”

Nick was very complementary about his crew Keith Bedborough. Nick won his ticket by winning the OK Nationals, but he also has an RS 400 that he races with Keith. “Absolutely excellent crew, probably the best in the 400 fleet, especially when it’s windy. He’s incredibly fit and got perfect movement around the boat.” The pair went on to finish in second place after scoring another three firsts, a fourth and a second.

For Gilbert it was his fourth time attending the Endeavour Trophy and this experience helped the RS 400 National Champion seal his first victory. “This year we were very wise going into it I suppose. There’s a temptation, because it’s so hectic to throw caution to the wind and really push all the time, which you have to do but in some ways this year we sailed a little more within ourselves.”

"The aim," Gilbert continues "was to actually not make mistakes, because a mistake is very costly, you can’t just expect to go past people as they don’t give up easily. Every boat is a battle. This year we were just a bit more conservative, every spinnaker drop and hoist was - well just don’t make a mistake. Let's not capsize, let's not trawl the spinnaker.”


Roger Gilbert and James Stewart

The format of the racing is interesting, with races being timed and the sailors doing laps until the clock runs out. Gilbert says this was another aspect of the event that they concentrated on. “The other thing we did really well this year was watch the clock. It’s a timed race, not a number of laps. So it’s a 30 minute race and you go through the finish line every lap until the 30 minutes is up.

“This is the first time I have really kept my head cool and we have really watched the clock all the way around, and we would say 'OK we’re in a good solid third, there’s a reasonable gap behind, let's take a little gamble on the last run and go the other way.’ Because we’re unlikely to loose third, but we might get a win out of it. On the earlier laps you’re not doing that as your trying to consolidate your position. So that side of it is really interesting really and adds a new strategy to the racing.”

With four firsts and four second places Gilbert and Stewart won the event with a three point margin. “It’s a certain event that when you go a few times you learn how to win it,” says Gilbert, “The likes of Geoff Carveth and Jim Hunt and people have been there a lot and sussed the strategy. I think this is the first time I have sussed the strategy you need to win.”

Gilbert sums up just how it all clicked for them: “I was talking to James (his crew) afterwards and said - 'Well I don’t think we missed a passing opportunity all weekend.’ Every time there was an opportunity given we took it. You don’t get a huge number of them, so not missing them when they turn up was really key.”

Both Nick Craig and Roger Gilbert have been at the top of the RS 400 class for a number of years and this clearly presents them with an advantage when the Endeavour is sailed in RS 400s. The choice of boat is difficult however. It needs to be a close tactical and hiking class for river sailing. Gilbert gives his thoughts: “The obvious candidates other than a 400 is an Enterprise or a GP, but if you look down the list of people who have won the Endeavour, they’ve all sailed Enterprises and GPs for years anyhow.”

One particularly difficult aspect of the event is that you have to find an RS 400 to compete in. Nick Craig highlights the difficulties faced. “They don’t provide the boats - that would be a monumental task - and it doesn’t get any support from RS, so it’s up to the individual to get their hands on a boat, which isn’t very easy sometimes as it’s known as a full-on event so owners aren’t that keen to lend them out.”

In addition to this is timing. For example, Dave Hayes, who won the B14 Nationals in September, only had a couple of weeks to get himself organised.

In it’s favour, the RS 400 class is big, so it’s easier to find a boat. The Endeavour is also sailed under the competitor’s insurance, so the boat owner won’t have to worry about his premium - just his boat.

The other key factor with sticking with RS400s is that they are one design, so potentially much closer in speed than, say an Enterprise. When the racing used to be held in Enterprises, one of the quirks was that you couldn’t actually race your own Enterprise (if you had one) at the Endeavour. This rule carried over when the Royal Corinthian switched it to RS400s, but was finally dropped for this year.

What Roger did previously was swap boats with Nick. Explains Roger: “It was a bit silly, because it’s a one-design class and you would get yourself someone else’s boat. You would spend a weekend swapping everything over and setting up your borrowed boat the same as your own. Half the people there actually have their own 400, so does it really make a difference? I’m not fussed, I don’t think there’s any difference between 400s, so it’s more a personal set up thing: what length is the tiller extension and things like that.”

That said, both Nick and Roger were most impressed with Pete Barton, who had never sailed a 400 before. “He was pretty awesome from the start, he was the one who really impressed everyone,” says Nick.

This discussion of what boats to use adds some spice to the event and is probably equivalent to yachties having a go at each other’s IRC rating.

However, it seems that, although having a couple of quiet years, the Endeavour is still doing a good job of identifying the real cream of the crop. And providing the competitors with a nice, tough challenge to end their seasons with.

Tomorrow we will be talking some more with Nick Craig and Roger Gilbert, about the RS 400, the RS 400 scene and why they are both leaving it to pursue new goals in other classes next year.

Endeavour Trophy results:

	Class/Helm and Crew									Total
1	RS400	1	2	1	2	1	2	2	1	10
	Roger Gilbert & James Stewart
2	OK	3	1	21	1	4	1	1	2	13
	Nick Craig & Keith Bedborough
3	49er	4	3	3	4	2	3	5	6	24
	Stevie Morrison & Ben Rhodes
4	Laser 4000	5	4	2	5	3	4	6	3	26
	Peter Barton & Robin Kenyon
5	RS700	2	6	7	7	9	5	3	4	34
	Paul Bayliss & Nick Martin
6	Enterprise	7	5	4	21	5	7	4	7	39
	Richard Estaugh & Simon Potts
7	Hornet	10	8	5	6	10	9	7	9	54
	Rob Larke & Mark Greaves
8	B14	13	12	9	3	7	8	11	5	55
	Dave Hayes
9	Europe	6	9	21	21	6	6	10	8	66
	Chris Gill & Geoff Carveth
10	Fireball	11	11	6	10	8	13	8	21	67
	Kevin Hope & Rob Gardner
11	Firefly	8	10	21	9	11	10	18	11	77
	Dominic Johnson & Jenny Heeley
12	Laser 2000	14	13	11	11	21	12	9	12	82
	Mike Hart & Guy Draper
13	RS600	18	21	10	8	12	14	12	10	84
	Matthew Humphreys & Alex Powel
14	Miracle	19	15	13	15	13	16	14	13	99
	Sam Mettam & Geoff Phillips
15	Phantom	20	21	12	13	14	11	16	15	101
	Lawence Crispin & Zoe Atkins
16	Lark	16	16	21	12	21	15	15	16	111
	Dougal Scott & Ruth Johnson
17	ISO	12	14	21	14	21	18	17	17	113
	Ian & Katie Keam-George
18	Cadet	17	17	14	21	21	17	13	14	113
	Jodie Green & Pete Cummings
19	RS200	9	21	8	21	21	21	21	21	122
	David Giles & Fiona Clark
20	Laser	15	7	21	21	21	21	21	21	127
	Mark James Howard & Tim Hulse