This years Endeavour Trophy pitches a host of Fireball regulars in to the mix. With the class approaching 50 years old its clear that the strength in depth and quality of racing is as good as ever. A quick bit of research revealed that Laurie Smith & Andy Barker were the last Fireball representatives to win outright with the 2nd of their 2 victories in 1979. Thats a stat that need rectifying, so who's lining up to improve things this year?
The 2011 Fireball class representatives for the weekend are Chips Howarth (Last years Endeavour Masters race winner) and Richard Anderton, who claimed the title at Pentewan Sands this August. 2nd at that event and at the 2011 Worlds in Sligo, Ireland was reigning Fireball European Champion Tom Gillard, this years Albacore Rep. Tom will be competing in this event against regular crew Sam Brearey, who represents the Enterprise Class. 3rd at this years Fireball nationals was the 2011 World Champion Matt Burge who competes with former Fireballer Tim Needham following their comprehensive victory at the Osprey Nationals.
3rd Place in the Worlds in Ireland went to Fireball regular Dave Wade this year representing the Wayfarer class, 5th at that event was RS500 Champ Alex Taylor (who had national champion Richard Anderton crewing for him). 7th in Ireland was the now 3 times Lark National Champion Alan Krailing.
Other notables taking part in this years event include the 2007 Fireball Nationals winners, Scorpion representatives, Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan. Sam Mettam, again represents the Miracle class before starting his Fireball campaign for the 50th National championships at Penzance next summer.
Endeavour Trophy countdown
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex (Friday 30 September, 2011): A total of 25 champion sailors including last year’s winning crew – Christian Birrell – have signed up for this year’s Endeavour Trophy, which is taking place at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on- Crouch in a week’s time (7-9 October).
This invitation-only event, to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK’s most popular dinghy racing classes, goes from strength to strength, with last year’s 50th anniversary event attracting a record number of 30 champions.
Because winning the Endeavour Trophy is, and has always been, recognised as an ultimate achievement in British dinghy racing, the competition is exceptionally challenging. Those who qualify for the event through winning their own class championship are given the opportunity to race equally talented sailors in a unique, highly demanding two-day event on the River Crouch, and win not only the Endeavour title, but also an entry to the British Virgin Islands’ Pro-Am Regatta at Bitter End Yacht Club (29 October–5 November). The Endeavour Trophy winner will join the Pro line-up, which this year includes Ed Baird (6-time Pro-Am winner and current skipper for Quantum Racing), Peter Holmberg, Anna Tunnicliffe, Paul Cayard, Dave Ullman, Russell Coutts and Zack Railey.
To ensure the Endeavour Trophy event is made as fair as possible – taking into account the diverse entry, which includes singlehanded, doublehanded, heavy and lightweight crews – racing takes place in carefully selected, strict one-designs. Owing to the success of the last six years, the Ian Howlett-designed Topper Xenon is the chosen class once again. Not only does this particular design offer an ideal all-up crew weight range of between 18-24 stone (114-152 kilos), but also because it has no class championship, there is no class champion to gain an unfair advantage.
Topper, who have specifically built and kindly loaned the fleet of 25 brand-new Xenons for the event, have been working closely with Hyde who are supplying sails, Selden the masts, English Braids the ropes, and Allen Brothers the fittings. Together they have been able to produce an ‘Endeavour boat’ that is arguably the most fair choice of class in the history of the event.
The Calltracks-sponsored pre-event training session on the Friday, run by ABC for Winning coach Adam Bowers, will be followed by a pasta meal in the evening. The eight-race, seven to count Endeavour Trophy series gets underway at 1030 on the Saturday morning (8 October) with the plan to run five, 45-minute races back-to-back on windward/leeward courses. The remaining three races will take place on Sunday morning.
The annual, grand Endeavour dinner will be held on the Saturday night at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, and a limited number of tickets are still available at £21 from Kate Boothy at the RCYC office. Telephone: +44 (0)1621 782105, or e-mail: [email protected].
Class Helm Crew
