Topper Topaz Argo replaces Xenon for 2013 Endeavour Trophy

The announcement of the Argo as the new Topper Endeavour boat at the RYA Dinghy Show (l to r) Kim Allen (Allen Brothers/hardware suppliers), Rick Reading (Topper), Edwin Buckley (Royal Corinthian Yacht Club) © Graeme Sweeney / www.marineimages.co.uk

Topper's new Topaz Argo was officially announced as the 2013 Topper Endeavour Championship boat, at the RYA Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday.

The new Rob White-designed Topaz Argo replaces the Topaz Xenon, the chosen class for the annual Topper Endeavour champion of champions event at Burnham-on-Crouch for the last eight years. The new Argo will make its Endeavour Championship debut at this year's event on 11-13 October 2013.

Topper has agreed to supply 25 new Argos dinghies for the invitation-only event to be used to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK's most popular dinghy racing classes.

This latest addition to the Topper range of boats is similar in looks to the Xenon with its high freeboard and racy asymmetric spinnaker, but at 40kg lighter and carrying less total sail area, the new Argo should increase the overall crew-weight range and appeal to lighter crews who struggle in windy conditions.

Given the diverse entry of the Topper Endeavour Championship, which includes singlehanded, doublehanded, heavy and lightweight crews from a range of different dinghy classes, finding a suitable strict one-design to ensure the racing is as fair as possible, is always a challenge for the event organiers. Thankfully the Argo seems to fit the criteria and, like the previous Xenon, the Argo has no class championship, which means there is no class national champion to gain an unfair advantage.

Rob White – the designer – commenting on the choice of the new Argo, and why it should provide a wider appeal to Endeavour competitors: " This new design should hopefully give more of an equal playing field by opening up the competition to a wider range of sailors. Comparing it to the Xenon, the Argo is lighter, stiffer, has slightly less sail area, and is generally more stable, which is exactly what is needed for an event like the Topper Endeavour Championship."

Simon Potts – former Endeavour Champion crew – added: "This boat will provide level, competitive sailing, and should be extremely reliable, which is important for this event. The fact that this new design is 40kg lighter than the Xenon, should make a difference and give some of the lighter crews a bit more a chance in the winder conditions."

To find out what competitors are likely to expect from the new Topaz Argo at this year's Topper Endeavour Championship in the Autumn, watch out for the forthcoming Argo test report with comment from previous Endeavour Championship crews including Ben Saxton, the current Endeavour Champion, and Simon Potts.

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 enlisted the help of '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.

Years later, Robin Judah – respected member of the RCYC – was anxious to establish a series of races for dinghy sailors in order to discover the 'Champion of Champions'. 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 winner was Peter Bateman, representing the International Cadet Class, crewed by Keith Musto. The original idea 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. Since then the event has been sailed numerous classes including GP14s, Laser 2s, Larks, Enterprises, RS400s, and Topper Xenons (for a total of eight years).

For details visit royalcorinthian.co.uk/endeavour-trophy/