Please select your home edition
Edition

Keelboat Endeavour 2025 at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club

by Petru Balau 25 Mar 04:59 PDT 22-23 March 2025
Keelboat Endeavour 2025 © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

Joe Cross, Russell Wheeler, Matt Hitt and Tim Lees, representing the Sonata class, won the 2025 edition of the Keelboat Endeavour, hosted by Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, in Burnham on Crouch, Essex, over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd of March.

Six teams lined up to the start of the 2025 edition of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club Keelboat Endeavour, to compete for the Robin Judah Trophy, commissioned in memory of Robin Judah, one of the founders of the original Endeavour Trophy for dinghies, an Olympic sailor in the Dragon class in 1968, and stalwart of the club.

The wind proved to be a tricky customer on Saturday, making the choice of side instrumental, with the slightest change in wind direction making or breaking a race, while the clubs fleet of five 707s, recently refurbished by Allen Brothers, the global supplier of performance sailing hardware, based not far from the club and with new running rigging supplied by Robline evened the playing field.

Despite the light conditions, with race 8 being very close to being cancelled due to time limits, Edwin Buckley, the Race Officer, squeezed twelve races in the first day, with each team competing in ten.

The Sandhopper sailors, Peter Thompson, Howard Warrington, Alex Warrington and Clara Hunter, back after missing the 2024 edition, narrowly missed beating the sister class, the Squib, by only 3 points and finished the day in sixth place.

The day started perfectly for the Squib champions, Micky Wright and Alex Porteous, with help from Chris Agar and Dave Hyde, with a win in the first race, yet the wind conditions proved to be a bit trickier to handle and they had to wait until the last race for another win, finishing the day in fifth place.

Quentin Strauss, Sarah Burgess, Philip Catmur and Richard Tucker, the Dragon class representatives, needed a few races to get a handle on the 707 spinnaker system, but after the issue was solved, they finished just outside top three, by only 3 points, with a win in the sixth race.

The day didn't start well for the Flying Fifteen class, represented by multiple world champions Graham Vials and Chris Turner and complemented by Andrew Lawson and Chris Waples, which suffered a few breakages, swiftly remedied by the race bosun Nick Milton, had to pick up the pace and finish the day in third place, with wins in races 3, 5 and 11.

The K6 crew, Laurence Crispin, James Bennett, Bertie Barker and Harry Barker, showed enough consistency to finish the day above the Flying Fifteens, by only 1 point, a huge improvement from the last edition and with great hopes for the next year.

Yet, the clear winners of the day were the Sonata sailors, Joe Cross, Russell Wheeler, Matt Hitt and Tim Lees, runners up of the 2024 edition, which not only scored an impressive 6 out of 10 wins, but also never dropped below second place in the overall results table throughout the day.

The day ended with the customary delicious curry prepared by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club chefs and a few drinks in the club's bar area.

Sunday morning brought dead calm, with the wind almost filling, but not quite and the race officer had to cancel the day of racing at noon.

The Sonata representatives were awarded the Endeavour Keelboat Trophy, a half hull model presented by Robin's daughter, Catherine.

This year's Endeavour Keelboat Trophy was sponsored by Allen Brothers and Robline, while Ksail provided the live results platform.

While many of the competitors travelled from all over the country to attend the event, special mention needs to go to the competitor who was stuck in Spain on Friday afternoon, with no plane to Heathrow and had to take a flight to Paris, an Eurostar train to London, for a quick late night turnaround to collect his kit, before a dash up to Essex, with the Club's breakfast saving the day.

Overall Results:

Rank Team Name Num RacesTotal PointsAvg Points
1Sonata10414.1
2K610333.3
3Flying Fifteen10323.2
4Dragon10292.9
5Squibs10242.4
6Sandhopper10212.1

Related Articles

Marine Auctions: June online auctions
Bidding to open on Friday 20th June The Bidding for the June Online Auction will commence on Thursday 20th June and will end on Thursday 26th June at 2pm AEST. Posted on 7 Jun
Bulwarks and Bulldust – watch Episode Five
Episode Five - Shane Subichin, The Boat Works - is now up and running Watch along as we speak with Shane Subichin, GM at The Boat Works about his life from tinnies on Sydney Harbour to leading the team at the premier refit and maintenance yard on the Gold Coast. Posted on 6 Jun
New Formula 360 Crossover Bowrider
An exciting new generation of Formula dayboats has arrived An exciting new generation of Formula dayboats has arrived with the upcoming debut of the all-new Formula 360 Crossover Bowrider. Posted on 5 Jun
2025 Flotilla to Alaska Day 7
Small Inlet to Mound Island We had an elaborate plan all worked out for today, with several backup plans built in, and we scrapped all of it as soon as we got up to Chatham Point light, where the promised 25kt winds and 3ft moderate wind waves did not materialize at all. Posted on 5 Jun
Spirit Yachts Reveals New P50 Motor Yacht
The P50 Coupé and the P50 Sport offer options for warmer and cooler climates An exclusive new project from Spirit Yachts' award-winning in-house design team led by Tom Smith, the Spirit P50 marries the style and sophistication of Spirit's sailing yachts with statement power boat characteristics to offer a luxury proposition. Posted on 4 Jun
Valhalla 55 Sport Yacht - Ready to ride
Making her highly anticipated debut in Atlantic City The Valhalla 55 Sport Yacht makes her highly anticipated debut in Atlantic City, New Jersey – and it's more than a new model. Posted on 4 Jun
2025 Flotilla to Alaska Day 3
Clam Bay to Comox: A gorgeous, calm morning so far! Our alarm went off just before 4:30am this morning...enough time to check the weather, get a few sips of coffee, and figure out if we were going to need to change the plan. Again. Posted on 1 Jun
30th anniversary celebrated at Sanctuary Cove
A meaningful tribute to the people who have shaped Palm Beach Motor Yachts The show welcomed four days of ideal weather and high-quality visitors, including owners and VIP guests who traveled to the Gold Coast for the milestone event. Posted on 31 May
2025 Flotilla to Alaska Day 2
We've already resorted to a Plan B. Day 2 and we've already resorted to a Plan B. Originally our plan this morning was to leave Ganges around 7:30am to make Dodd Narrows by noon, just prior to slack, and then continue on up to Tribune Bay on Hornby Island — a long day (67nm). Posted on 31 May
Bulwarks and Bulldust – watch Episode Four
Episode Four - Mark Elkington, The Yacht Sales Co. - is now up and running Watch along as we speak with Mark Elkington from The Yacht Sales Co. about his transition from a West Australian crayfisherman to a global sales and support organisation par excellence. Posted on 30 May