Endeavour Trophy sponsored By Allen

Overall winners Ben Saxton (left) and Toby Lewis with the solid silver Endeavour Trophy © Roger Mant

Allen Brothers, the UK performance sailing hardware manufacturer has announced its continued support for the annual Endeavour Trophy, held at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham on Crouch on October weekend of the 14th & 15th.

The modern Endeavour Trophy Championship is one of the most prestigious sailing events in the UK calendar and dates back to 1961. This invitation only event was created to pick out the "Champion of Champion's" by gathering the winners of various National classes and pitting them against each other in a predetermined boat over a weekend of racing in October.

The history of this event starts at the challenge for the America's Cup in 1934 by Tommy Sopwith's J Class "Endeavour". After a dispute found him crewless and needing to find a replacement crew at short notice Sopwith contacted 'Tiny' Mitchell, the Commodore of the RCYC at the time, he rounded up a bunch of eager members – all of them amateurs – and sent them off to battle the prestigious "Rainbow".

The series of races between the American defenders sailing "Rainbow" and the Amateur British challengers on "Endeavour" went on to be full of controversy. Endeavour won the first two races but lost the series, the closest the British have ever got to winning the coveted America's Cup.

Some years after the America's Cup Challenge Robin Judah, RCYC member and UK representative in Dragons at the Acapulco Olympics, had a conversation with Beecher Moore who was part of the Endeavour crew. Together they worked to establish a series of races for dinghy sailors so that a "Champion of Champions" could be crowned. They agreed that a suitable trophy would be required and after a visit to London Silver Vaults Beecher purchased a replica of the J class Endeavour in silver and donated it to the RCYC.

After several years of a victor claiming the trophy and a lack of appreciation from the value of the Silver J Class Replica it fell into a sorry state – sometimes going home rolling around the boot of a car under respective sailing equipment – Tony Allen, Co-founder of Allen Brothers, was tasked with the job to restore the desirable trophy and so he built the necessary tools to undertake the refit. The Endeavour Trophy now stays in its display cabinet at the entrance of the RCYC clubhouse and the winner takes home a half model instead.

Liz Adams, Managing director of Allen Brothers, Said "The Endeavour Trophy is such a special event, not only for the sailors good enough to be invited but also for the sailing community of the River Crouch. Having such a historical race taking part on local waters is great for aspiring future generations. Allen has been supporting the event for many years with Tony Allen repairing the trophy and Kim Allen being highly involved as PRO and we are proud to continue our support of this prestigious competition."

Allen Brothers, based in Essex, not far from the River Crouch, has evolved over the last 60 years into a modern hi-tech company. Since 2008 Allen Brothers has been marketing and distributing Allen dinghy hardware to customers all over the world. The highly technical sales team, who are skilled sailors with an in-depth knowledge of their product range, work closely with the design team and provide customers with friendly product advice and a fast and efficient processing service. Team Allen is the company's group of sponsored sailors, from a variety of classes, who provide feedback and help develop new and innovative products.

To find out more about the event and see previous years' winners you can visit royalcorinthian.co.uk/endeavour/past-winners