30 classes were represented by their National Champions at this years Endeavour Trophy. Racing took place in the tidal estury of the River Crouch and comprised 8 races in winds ranging from 6-16 knots.
As expected, racing was incredibly tight with mistakes being heavily punished and requiring intense work & concentration to maintain position. The best opportunity for passing came downwind and it was not uncommon to see boats rounding the windward in the bottom 5 to be in the top 5 by the leeward (and vice versa!!), especially with a few asymmetric experts from other classes around!
The fireball fleet, represented by this years champions Matt Burge & Richard Wagstaff, was noted for its depth of talent as current and past fireball sailors were also found representing many other classes; Matt Findlay crewing! (Firefly), Ross Kearney & Mark Hogan (Mirror), Tom Jeffcoate (Scorpion), Matt Mee (GP14) & Sam Mettam (Miracle).
The event is raced in Topper Xenons, a one-design two-man hiking asymmetric dinghy, to provide a fair platform from which the best-of-the-best can be found. Indeed this was the case as Geoff Carveth & Emma Clarke (RS200) found themselves crowned champions for the fifth time, levelling a record set previously by Mike Holmes. Our champions did the class very proud achieving 3rd place overall and a win in race 6, the best Fireball result at the Endevour for many years. They managed to beat the defending & four-times Endevour champion Nick Craig into 4th overall, and were also the best placed trapezing boat with the next being the Musto Skiff in 8th.
Hiking came as a shock to our champions, with both Matt & Richard getting through a whole box of ibuprofen during the weekend! Richard would often reach for his trapeze handle out of tacks and during gusts, only to find it not there. If any evidence is need ed as to why you should never move from planing & trapezing upwind to hiking & displacing, then the expression on Wagger's face in the photo opposite should answer that!
