Endeavour Trophy Training Day 7 Oct 2016

The Endeavour Trophy started today with competitors attending the on-shore training briefing followed by multiple short training races throughout the afternoon. The Calltracks-sponsored training session at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club was followed by a video debriefing to further prepare the competitors for their racing over the weekend.

This year sailing is once again in the RS200 and the organisers retained Steve Irish to lead the training. Commenting on the competitors and their ability to adapt to a new boat, Irish said: “Clearly these sailors have skills that are very transferable. The range of experience is vast and I believe we will have some very interesting and close racing over the weekend. It is excellent to see such a range of sailors and the younger sailors have an opportunity to compete against some of the most experienced dinghy sailors in the world. There is also a healthy spirit of competitiveness amongst all the champions.”

The weather prediction for the two days is primarily a northerly wind but on Saturday, during the racing period, the wind will be lighter with an easterly wind of about 8 knots, accompanied by some rain in the afternoon. On Sunday, depending on which weather model is used, it is predicted there may be stronger winds gusting around 15 knots and some sunny skies. Many competitors relish the stronger winds but they know that the unpredictability of the weather will once again make this an interesting championship.

Prior to the practice session Ben Saxton, last year’s Endeavour Trophy winner and the Nacra 17 Olympic entry for Team GB, said: “This will be my first racing back in a dinghy since Rio and I am looking forward to getting to grips with the boat and fine tuning my skills with Toby so we can hit the ground running tomorrow. There are some competitors who are currently very on-form in the RS200 and we really want to beat them using our combined racing skills.”

Toby Lewis, Ben’s crew explained: “Time in the boat and practice will be very useful – we have both been sailing different boats this last year so we need to get back in tune with each other, something that is crucial if we want to retain the title.”

The 26 entries this year has competitors aged between 13 and 59 years old and subsequently their varying skills and approaches will ensure some interesting results. Edwin Buckley, race organiser, said: “The championship this year sees some favourites returning but there are many new faces with diverse skills that may very well change the outcome of the racing. We are looking forward to varied racing conditions which will make it possible for anyone to win.”

The racing starts at 10:30 on Saturday and will be completed after a total of eight races over the two days. Tradition has it that the race officer tries to get in five or six races on the Saturday so that the Sunday racing is more flexible and not so rushed.

Entrants