Tight racing made for a successful Keelboat Endeavour at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
by Petru Balau and Nick Milton 22 Apr 2024 23:23 NZST
20-21 April 2024
Ben McGrane, crewed by Russ Clark, Jamie Stewart and James Ross, representing the Flying Fifteen class, won the Keelboat Endeavour 2024, hosted by Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, after 30 races sailed in perfect conditions over the weekend of 20th & 21st April 2024.
The fleet of five 707, freshly refurbished by Allen Brothers, the global supplier of performance sailing hardware, based not far from the club, and with new running rigging supplied by Robline, proved the perfect tools for a weekend of tightly contested races for the ten teams competing for the newly created Robin Judah Trophy, commissioned in memory of Robin Judah who was one of the founders of the original Endeavour Trophy for dinghies, an Olympic sailor in the Dragon class in 1968, and stalwart of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.
The perfectly matched boats made for a very impressive weekend, with the local Dragon sailor Mark Wade, crewed by Chris Brittain, Heath Puxley and Rene Nel leading after the first 10 races, with the 707 team, Stuart Urquhart helming and Richard Urquhart, Martin Cruden and Thomas Goodman crewing following on equal points with the Flying Fifteen, Ben McGrane helm, Russ Clark, Jamie Stewart and James Ross crewing and the J24, helmed by David Hale and crewed by David Coward and Matt Hitt hot on their tails.
Yet, the end of the first day found the Flying Fifteen leading, after a very good second part of the day, with the J24 and the Dragons following and the rest of the teams not far behind.
The second day came with a wind increase and 10 more races scheduled, to bring the total number of races sailed for each team to 15.
The Flying Fifteen kept their lead, with the Sonata team, Joe Cross helming and Jack Sharland, Andy Pinkham and Will Smyth crewing, on second overall and the 707 crew on third.
Full results can be found here.