#endeavourtrophy – The strong winds battering the east coast threatened to disrupt the opening day of the Topper Sailboats-supported-Endeavour Championship at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch. Thankfully however, the consistently strong north-easterly breeze held off just long enough to allow the 25-strong fleet to complete the Calltracks-sponsored pre-event training, run by ABC for Winning coach Adam Bowers.
A mid morning briefing was followed by a lively session on the water for those keen to familiarise themselves with Topper Xenons, the class of dinghies used for the event. Most of the competitors, particularly first timers to the event, said the training day was invaluable.
Endeavour Championship first timer, Charlie Chandler (D One), commenting on the importance of the training day, said: "Today was critical particularly because neither me nor my crew had ever sailed a Xenon before. Going out there in such strong winds today was a baptism of fire but we survived and learnt a great deal. It was also great fun. I think one of the biggest things I will have to get used to is having a crew in the boat; I'm not used to that."
Charlie Cumbley (Solo) who last sailed the event in 2008, added: "That was the last time I sailed a two-man dinghy, so this weekend is going to be fairly entertaining. The training day proved to be invaluable and a bit of a shock to the system because it was exceptionally windy today with some vicious gusts up to 20 kts plus. It was great to go out there though because we now realise we need to change a few things on the boat before the racing starts in the morning."
The eight-race, seven to count Topper Endeavour Trophy series starts at 1030 tomorrow (Saturday, 12 October) with the plan to run up to five, 45-minute races back-to-back on windward/leeward courses. The remaining races are scheduled to take place on Sunday morning (13 October). This is however, subject to change depending on the weather situation.
Although the wind is forecast to abate overnight, competitors are bracing themselves for a weekend of tough racing in the first spell of cold, damp, autumnal weather.
Edwin Buckley – event organiser and joint race officer – chatting about tomorrow's plans commented: "It is not going to be the breezy weekend we anticipated. In fact I think it's going to be a difficult one because the forecast is for not much wind tomorrow. The chances of fitting in five races therefore, are looking slim, but obviously we'll do what we can, to make it as fair as possible. The forecast is showing a bit more of a breeze on Sunday."
