There has been a bit of a lack of information .

My money is on Gilbert.

No Steve Tylecote to defend his crown?  Looks quite a strong lineup though. 

1Craig

2Gilbert

3Camm

4Burridge

5Sten

But John, didn't you sail a Byte? win the Worlds? Is it now in Omega's? though it was Zennon's?

Having been lucky enough to invited on four occasions I have to say it is a fantastic event, a lot of fun and the probably the most competitive sailing you are ever likly to do.

It may be a long way, from Weymouth, but it is a lot further from Newcastle!

I have only once not attended after being invited, I thought the birth of my daughter was a good enough excuse, I did send a mail to the organiser explaining this so the class would get invited again. 

I will try my best to get invited back next year!

no Steve TC.

Didn't you notice that he is crewing for Paul Kameen who did win the Firefly's this year.

If you get the chance to go grab it ... it is an excellent event.

Top quality competition and good social as well.

Of course the Xenon was quite different to a Musto Skiff but adaptation is all part of the challenge. There was some bloke up the front of the boat running around

The boats are more similar for some but then you'll never level off the playing field completly.

I have done it twice and viewed it as an honour. Miss it & miss out ...

I guess the results will be here in due course

http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0 - http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0

2 races done ...

http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0 - http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0

5 Races completed.

1. Craig (by miles)

2. Gilbert

3. Dobbo

Results so far (after 6 races, not sure how many races left)

Craig

Gilbert

Camm

Should of put some money on...

We've now a great photo gallery of the event online

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/photos/?s=65&boat=xenon&club=Royal+Corinthian&desc=Endeavour+Trophy&p=Samus&yr=2008 - Clicky

From the photographs Yes it must of had a few shots taken by helicopter, there are no bridges that high nearby

And No the sailing would of been out in the mouth of the river. The sailing in from of the clubhouse would be close nit as there isn't a lot of water to sail in.

Full gallery here

http://www.photoblink.com/sailing/endeavour08/ - http://www.photoblink.com/sailing/endeavour08/

With photos of the helicopter ...

Results ...

http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0 - http://royalcorinthian.co.uk/result.php?race=2008-12-1-0

As far as I recall they did 5 races on Saturday; I guess on Sunday they got just one race in with only a few finishers; anyone know what happened on Sunday?

Nick Craig is multiple national and world champion for multiple classes Graeme.

I think its fair to say he is currently the most succesfull amature sailor out there!

Nick has only been sailing a B14 for the last year, and i think he jumped straight in to it at the front of the fleet!

Yes. Very, very good.

In any conditions.

Wouldn't think the B14 class is more or less competitive than most of the other classes there.

'laser4000' - Sorry to let you down! We were =7th overnight but blew our series with 2xDNFs dropping us to 13th.

Saturday was fantastic racing with 5 races on 'the light side of medium' say 6-11knots. Plenty for good racing with some pretty hard hiking still required in the Xenons. Probably a perfect wind for the event with the heavy teams not being able to out grunt the lightweights.

Sunday had one race and the wind dropped right off as the 6th boat sniggled through the finish line against the increasing tied. Other boats (N12, Enty,49er,Cherub) who  left the bank for the finish line drifted helplessly backwards. Time limit was that anyone over 15 mins after the winner gets DNF. Perhaps not a great rule in light winds and a strong tide?

I think the Xenons were a great equaliser with a mix of heavy and light teams through the results. They also equalise the various skill sets of the competitors being reasonably basic to sail and rig. A real testament of the philosophy of 'its not what you sail but how you sail it'. You can either blame the boat and be miserable or embrace the challenge.

The event as always proved very interesting with Champions forced out of their own class comfort zone having to cope with new challenges - assy kites, having crews & jibs, having to hike etc, not to mention the venue.  A humbling experience for most at some point, where champions who are used to winning having to fight hard to maintain positions down the fleet. Competition was harsh; in addition to the 'moving carpet' effect of the tide there seemed to be another moving carpet effect - that of the fleet which from top to bottom kept moving around the course at pace and was often very tightly packed. Any error - a bad rounding, loosing 'the groove' or stepping to far into the tide - was normally punished by loosing not one but maybe a tranch of 4 boats at a time.

I thought all the yoof classes (Feva,Pico,Laser4.7, Mirror, Cadet) put in a creditable perforance with several top ten results and notably the 4.7s leading the last race before finishing 3rd.

Man of the match in my view; National 12 sailors Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne in 3rd overall who dont normally sail a spinnaker class and hiked their lightweight socks off.

Well done to Topper for doing a great job providing 30 identical brand new boats and other sponsors, Hyde, Musto, Selden and RCYC for running a great event again.

Interesting deep stuff. I guess pecking orders are related to attitudes. If people get regularly beaten by someone perhaps they get used to it and then comfortable with it. Then you have to dig your way out of that crazy mental hole!

No 'pecking order' can be very established as this fleet has not raced together before.

I dont see it existing by reputation either as you have 30 National Champions so there are plenty of people used to winning, winning the start and claiming a pin end for themselves if they want it. They should, at least initially, have good attitude

However, would maybe a less experienced team, almost subcontiously, cut Nick Craig some slack of a start line based on his past reputation as 3 times (now 4) winner? Hopefully not, if they are worth their salt. But then maybe it does happen subcontiuously? Need to raise attitude to over come that? Getting into deep psyco stuff now........

well i agree with pete in every aspect as i did the endeavour last year (winning the vareo nationals) i had not sailed a boat with spreaders or with a crew for a few years.i spent the first day nearly last every race as i could not get the thing to point up wind when you are five degress off everyone else you struggle.however in our once ashore i tried to find a setting for the boat so a quick chat to the greenhaulh brothers and the boat was set up next day for us much better in the teens only my poor choices on directions costing us places.

however i had to say that i learnt alot from the event which i would say everyone should try to get to .

andy

It does favour people from simular classes in that they know how to get the best out of the boat with rig set up and good team work, but with a little asking people and looking around you can soon pick up what makes them the best.... Ill have to practice a bit more if I get the chance to go again.

I dont think anyone sufferers from a pecking order, the main difference is Nick/Toby are better prepared having raced a variety of simular classes and are confident of there speed and boat handling enabling them to fully concentrate on good starts and tactics, if your head is in the boat your not going to win.

http://www.photoblink.com/sailing/endeavour08/pages/DSC_0336-copy-sm.htm - http://www.photoblink.com/sailing/endeavour08/pages/DSC_0336 -copy-sm.htm

Great event, well worth going if you get the chance, a big thank you to topper for providing new boats giving a level playing field, even though I didnt finish where I wanted too  I learnt alot from the event.

That's a really interesting photo. Now, I'm not trying to criticise so please take this in the way it's intended, but Nick and Toby are looking upwind at where they're going and you're looking at the rig! I know it's only a snapshot in time but could this tell a story?

Also, they've got their jib absolutely nailed in hard, which is different to your setup.

I think that's his point. Of course, Nick and Toby also sail together, rather than against each other...

kind of happened every time we where next to another boat, why are they pointing higher / going faster? whats there rig look like compaired to ours? aahh thats whats wrong!!! now we have lost our lane grrrr  We mostly had very good starts and gradually dropped back to places which I have forgotten. I should have done more home work before the event.

for me i learnt more about spreaders and the effect they have on the rig how it can make the boat point higher go faster being more powered up totally new to me.but you sit there thinking i cant be this bad can i ? even when we came last in couple of races we was only two boat lenghts behind the next boat i sure sten will tell you same any mistake in your own class you drop maybe a couple places not five or ten .i found that the setting for me my crew that worked for us was one and half pins out and the same forward.i could not belive it was the same boat.

andy  

I think the Xenons struggle to carry weight.

If I went again I'd get my wife to crew rather than a heavy Musto Skiffer.

i think you are right there rick it did seem to be favouring the lighter people even in that breeze from last years one they were still at the front on the windy races .

Originally posted by G.R.F. I notice the MPS crew Rick is smarting at using is obviously a lot less useful than his Mrs

A choice made on weight of course.

The event is open to current national chmpions who get invited to compete.

The Champion of Champions ...

Graham - Ian says to tell 'that Fuller bloke' he'd have kicked your 4rse - as usual!!

You say you didn't know it was on - see previous threads from earlier years (also some more excellent  photos). Or search on google. Its every year at the same venue and time of year.

I've done the event a once or twice now and always enjoyed it - whether doing well or not. The competition is top class, and since the Xenon was introduced its also very fair. Topper deserve full credit for that. Virtually anyone attending the training is able to get the fast settings from coach Adam Bowers, although last year I changed mine after an OCS gave me the opportunity and had a 1st 2nd and 3rd in the next 3 races.

Nick is obviously consistently the best, even last year when he struggled (by his standards) he still managed 3rd. It was windier last year so not as potentially flukey as this, which makes his consistency particularly impressive.

The effort The Royal Corinthian put in is awesome, - and they treat competitors fantastically well - They deserve a huge thanks from all who sail. If you get invited go.

BTW I shared accomodation with the Laser reps and Steve Tylecote / Toby last year. The Laser guys were peeved off that they were behind both of us - a case of old head and skill beating youth and fitness? Not really, my crew was hiking like a ninja! I think they just train so much on a Laser that they can't just jump in a different boat and do well straight away. At least they stuck it out -unlike the the Greenhalgh bros who packed up and went home after a couple of bad results and an OCS.

Cheers

Keith (the older good looking one)!

we had adam do the set up on ours last year and it was not good for us but ok for the others that used it.the bit i liked was when packing the boats away most of the masts had different setting.we came last last year but at least we sailed and finished each race.

andy