2000 sailors win 2024 Endeavour Trophy

63rd Endeavour Trophy Day 2: Finley Dickinson and Elysia O'Leary (ILCA) win the first race of the day by 2.5 minutes © Sue Pelling

63rd Endeavour Trophy: Joseph Warwicker and Matthew Wolstenholme winners of today's final race © Sue Pelling

Oliver Groves & Esther Parkhurst claim dinghy champion of champions title

Oliver Groves (27) and Esther Parkhurst (25) representing the 2000 class have won the Endeavour Trophy after a close final day battle that went right down to the wire writes Sue Pelling.

This super-tuned team continued to sail impressively in today's tricky, light and shifty conditions on the River Crouch and managed to do enough to keep their nearest rivals, Sam Whaley and Jess Hammett (WASZP) behind to secure the overall win by a clear 4 points.

As they stepped ashore this afternoon, a totally shocked and extremely happy Groves and Parkhurst said they can't believe they will be driving home back to North Yorkshire this evening with the Endeavour Trophy: "We had a feeling we'd won but until we actually saw the result we tried not to get too excited. We are absolutely delighted and a bit lost for words."

Chatting about the all-important tactics today given the fact Whaley and Hammett were close on points overnight, Groves said it was all about protecting our position today: "We kind of switched the tactics because we had to ensure we were always very close to them rather than worrying about winning the races or doing really well. In the first race they had an 8th and we had a 4th, which gave us a few points to play with, so we knew as long as we stayed close to them and didn't have a shocker, we were alright."

This pair of rookie Endeavour sailors explained how they won their ticket to the Endeavour: "We actually only did the 2000 nationals because it was at the same venue as the RS200 champs, so we thought we'd give it a go and get some practice in. Amazingly, the boat we did the 2000 nationals in and won, we borrowed from the same person who lent us the 200 for this event, which we've now won too. Something tells me we'll need to keep borrowing more boats from him in the future!"

Whaley, who's sailed at the Endeavour four times before (once as crew) said it was very tricky this year in the light, tidal conditions and praised Groves and Parkhurst for their skilled performance. "They were one step ahead and sailed consistently well.

"It was a really difficult day with the overall trend quite light and shifty, and worst of all, freezing cold. Also, the wind was from the west, straight down the river, so working out which side would pay was crucial. It was good racing however, and we had fun, so we are happy with our second overall."

Had there been a prize for the 'Wow of the Weekend' it undoubtedly would have gone to third place overall Finley Dickinson and Elysia O'Leary (ILCA 7) for their skill and impeccable judgment in today's first race [race 5].

63rd Endeavour Trophy: - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

As the rest of the fleet headed off on the first beat on what looked to be the favourable north shore out of the tide, Dickinson and O'Leary went left on the south shore. In total surprise they led round the windward mark by a huge margin and won the race from Matt Rainback and Faye Chatterton (Osprey) by two and a half minutes. A modest Dickinson recalling his nifty tactics said: "It was a classic case of making a decision and sticking to it. It was tricky because it was a typical tide on a river situation, so it was a matter of choosing which side. Always a bit concerning when the entire fleet does the opposite, but as it turned out, it was our day today and we're really happy with our overall result."

In what turned out to be the final race of the day (race 7) all eyes were on Sam and Ben Pascoe (Musto Skiff) who, in the light airs, led the race from the outset. This father and son team, with Ben just eight years old, sailed a dream race until what turned out to be a bittersweet end, when they were pipped at the post by Joseph Warwicker Matthew Wolstenholme (Snipe). A great bit of racing from the Snipe boys and, as it turned out, a fun race for young Ben who commented: "This is my second year racing at the Endeavour and I was so excited to see so many boats behind us. I am very happy with second and my aim now is to win one day!"

63rd Endeavour Trophy Day 2: Light airs downwind battle - photo © Sue Pelling

Back in the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club this afternoon, competitors and guests attended the Endeavour prize-giving, where Groves and Parkhurst were crowned 2024 Endeavour champions and presented with the spectacular solid silver model, and the half model of the America's Cup J-Class yacht Endeavour.

Overall Results: (seven races, 1 discard)

Overall Results:

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 the closest England ever came 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. The 13ft (4m) Phil Morrison-designed RS200 - a smaller version of the RS400 - has been the chosen class for the Endeavour Championship since 2015. It weighs in at 78kg and is an ideal choice to suit a wide crew-weight range.

Supporting partners

• RS Sailing

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• Hyde Sails

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