64th Endeavour Trophy Welcomes New Melges 15
by Sue Pelling 4 Oct 2025 09:01 NZDT
3-5 October 2025
64th Endeavour Trophy - The Melges 15 ready for launching in the building breeze © Roger Mant
New chapter for dinghy champion of champions event at Burnham-on-Crouch
Despite the threat of Storm Amy disrupting proceedings at the 64th Endeavour Trophy (3-5 October), a total of 30 national champions gathered at the Royal Corinthian YC, Burnham-on-Crouch this morning for the opening day's training session writes Sue Pelling.
In its debut year as the new Endeavour boat, the Melges 15 was the star attraction, with most of the 2025 Endeavour fleet competitors never having sailed the boat before. With that in mind, this morning's rigging, and setting up session with Liam Pardy (Sales and Events Manager Melges UK) was invaluable. For local tactical advice and on-the-water coaching, the training session, led by Steve Irish - one of the UK's leading dinghy racing coaches - was particularly useful for Endeavour first timers. This year also sees the introduction of the Vakros RaceSense Atlas 2 system - a startline technology device fitted on every boat that records and alerts OCS (On Course Side) situations.
With the ever threatening forecast of strong winds expected later in the day, the race team including Edwin Buckley (Race Director and Race Office), club support team, training coach Steve Irish, and those on the Melges support rib, managed to complete a successful, all-afternoon training session with a rolling stream of race starts and simple short windward/leeward courses.
Before he headed out on the water for the training session this afternoon, Irish commented: "Today's session is particularly important because competitors need to take a bit of time to get used to the new boat and, going by the current forecast, racing could be off the cards tomorrow. It's around 20kts now, so that's fine but it will start to increase soon. Once ashore later today, the plan is to run a video de-brief in the clubhouse."
The popularity of this event continues to attract a full-house of champions representing a huge array of national and international classes. By nature of the event, the fleet is jam-packed with the cream of the dinghy sailing world including many who have won the event in the past including the likes of 2024 winners Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst, as well as Nick Craig/ Toby Lewis (D1), and Matt Burge/Christian Birrell (Osprey).
This year's event with an 'unknown' class in the mix, certainly adds a new dimension and, going by comments of some of the previous winners, it really has opened up the playing field.
Commenting on the event, and the new class, Nick Craig, seven-time Endeavour champion said: "Plenty of wind, and a new Endeavour boat... what more could you ask for? I am really looking forward to trying out the Melges 15 because it looks as though it will be fun in a bit of breeze. And it's great to have Toby [Lewis] my faithful crewmate at the front once again. We can't wait to get out there.
"The new class really adds to the excitement and makes it difficult to predict who's going to do well this time. There are so many good sailors in the fleet including previous winners and those who are always up there at the top. There are also a lot of young sailors who are smart too. To be honest I am feeling a bit ancient standing here in the dinghy park among all these young, fit guys who'll definitely be in the mix/at the top, so predicting who'll do well this year is very hard to call."
With an all-up ideal weight of just under 150kg, defending champions Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst said they too feel the new Melges 15 will level out the playing field.
Groves commented: "It's interesting because everyone is going to have to learn how to sail them. It's also great that everyone is on the exact same platform, with no advantages."
Esther said she is looking forward to the racing but has a real mix of excitement and nerves this year: "We have a lot of unknowns; a boat we've not sailed, the Vakros startline technology fitted on all the boat, and also the fact there are a lot of new faces in the fleet this year, those who we've not sailed against before, so it will be interesting to get that first race under our belts to see how we all perform."
Local sailor Ben Harden who, having won the Blaze class national championship five times in a row, is back again this year and offers some local advice. "Like most of us here I know little about the boat but I can offer a bit of local knowledge. Basically, it's all about the tide, so it's important to pay attention to what the tide is doing. If you look closely there are some little back eddies near the shore that you can pick out and gain quite a lot of tidal relief from, so they are definitely worth keeping a note of."
With the wind forecast to reach the east coast this evening and develop in strength overnight with an average of 24kts from the west tomorrow, the prospect of the opening day of racing, the first start of which is scheduled for 1030 tomorrow, is looking unlikely to take place.
In his closing comment today, Edwin Buckley - event director and race officer - said it's all a bit of a waiting game right now to see how the conditions develop: "Naturally we are keen to get things under way because we have 30 of these great boats, all equipped with the Vakros RaceSense system but unfortunately the weather will dictate proceedings. If the worst comes to the worst it is possible to run the complete series on Sunday where the weather is looking more favourable."
Buckley says the sailing instructions have already been amended to allow for the possible change of schedule: "Instead of doing four races on Saturday and two on Sunday, I have altered the instructions to allow all six races to be held on Sunday, with four races to count. Although we only need three races to make up a series, I would like to complete as many as possible. If it comes to it, I plan to run a mix of 45 and 30-minute races on Sunday with the first race starting at 1030, but that is only if tomorrow's racing is called off."
In the meantime the fleet is back at the clubhouse after an exciting afternoon's training, and is now looking forward to an enjoyable evening of fine hospitality at the host club - The Royal Corinthian YC.
Endeavour Entrants 2025:
- 420 - Sabine Potter & Merle Nieuwland
- 505 - Michael Sims & Rob Gullan
- 4000 - Steve Tylecote & Ella Ashworth
- 29er - Jac Bailey & Ben Sinfield
- Aero 5 - Joseph Jones & David Bromilow
- Aero 6 - Jon Emmett & Lorna Glen
- B14 - Chris Bateman & Lucy Loughton
- Blaze - Ben & Lucy Harden
- Cadet - Alex & Howie Enkel
- D1 - Nick Craig & Toby Lewis
- Firefly - Oliver Meadowcroft & Sam Webb
- GP14 - Jasper Barham & Graham Sexton
- Graduate - Fresh Abendstem & Ross Southwell
- Hadron H2 - Richard Leftley & Ian Aplin
- Hornet - Sam & Benjamin Pascoe
- ILCA 4 - Tom Semmens & Steve Hall
- ILCA 7 - Alfie Noel & Hamish Collingridge
- International Canoe - Sam Barker & Josh O'Brien
- K1 - Ben Hawkes & Jonny McVey
- National 12 - Graham & Blue Camm
- Osprey - Matt Burge & Christian Birrell
- Returning Champions - Oliver Groves & Esther Parkhurst
- RS 100 - Ian Gregory & Nigel Wakefield
- RS Feva - Ben Greenhalgh & Tom Sinfield
- RS Tera Pro - Cassius Day & Dylan Collingbourne
- Supernova - Alex & Iain Horlock
- Tasar - Jeremy & Suzanne Hawkins
- Topper 4.2 - Thomas Murphy & Sam Spencer
- Topper 5.3 - Harry Dence & Piotr Tokajuk
- Wayfarer - Paul Cullen & Adam Whitehouse
Brief history of the Endeavour Trophy
The Endeavour Trophy is a solid silver scale model of the J Class yacht Endeavour presented annually to the Champion of Champions at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch.
The origin of the trophy stems from Tom Sopwith's J Class yacht Endeavour, America's Cup Challenge in 1934. Following a pay dispute and dismissal of his east coast-based professional crew, Sopwith teamed up with 'Tiny' Mitchell, the Commodore of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at the time, to recruit amateur members of the club to form a crew.
Although Endeavour won the first two races against Rainbow, and lost the series, this was one of the the closest occasions England has ever come to winning the coveted America's Cup.
In recognition of this achievement, the late Robin Judah - respected member of the RCYC - established a series of races for dinghy sailors to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK's most popular dinghy racing classes. Beecher Moore, former Endeavour crew, and marketing man behind the successful dinghy designer Jack Holt, joined Judah in his quest to run this event and presented for the overall winner, his solid silver scale model of the yacht.
The first invitation-only race took place in 1961 and the winners were Peter Bateman and Keith Musto, representing the International Cadet class. The event is now recognised as one of the ultimate achievements in British dinghy racing.
The competition is exceptionally challenging and those who qualify through winning their own class championship, are given the opportunity to race equally talented sailors in this unique, highly demanding two-day event on the River Crouch.
Given the diverse entry, which includes singlehanded, doublehanded, heavy and lightweight crews, and to ensure the racing is as fair as possible, carefully selected, strict one-designs are chosen for the event. The original idea back in 1961 was to use the club's own fleet of 15 Royal Corinthian One-Designs but they were considered too specialist and would have placed a perpetual limit on the number of entries. The first event was, therefore, sailed in Enterprises.
Since then, numerous one-design classes have been used for the event including the GP14, Laser 2, Lark, Enterprise, RS400, Topper Xenon, and the Topper Argo. From 2015-2024 it was the 13ft (4m) Phil Morrison-designed RS200, while 2025 marks the Melges 15 Endeavour Trophy debut.
Supporting partners
Melges
Produce a wide range of award-winning sailboats including the Melges 15 used for the Endeavour Championship in 2025. - melges.com
Xeinadin
Leading provider of accountancy services and business advice for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals across the UK and Ireland. - xeinadin.com
Vakaros
RaceSense by Vakaros is redefining how events are run on the water, from club racing to world championships. RaceSense software allows the race committee to input courses and commands, synchronizing timing, live mark locations, and more across the fleet. All devices, competitor and RC, communicate on a proprietary mesh network with no reliance on cellular connectivity. RaceSense makes instant OCS determinations, eliminates a need to ping, and offers teams certainty in their timing. - vakaros.com
Allen Brothers
Allen Sailboat Performance Hardware - designers, manufacturers and distributors of performance dinghy and keelboat fittings. - www.allenbrothers.co.uk
Stitch Print
Stitchprint is an embroidery and printing specialist, and producer of recycled sail bags. - www.stitchprint.co.uk
Barbuck
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PB Sports Photography
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