Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy at Ullswater Yacht Club

210 boats enter the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswater © Sailracer

Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman win the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswater © Mark Littlejohn

An RS400 wins for the second year in a row, but a different team at the front

With a record 174 boats entering via SailRacer and a final entry of 210 boats, the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy was set for a bumper year on 5th & 6th July. Ullswater Yacht Club was packed inside and out, with many camping and enjoying the festival atmosphere of the traditional first weekend of July to celebrate Lord Birkett's efforts to save Ullswater Lake being turned into a reservoir.

After a wet and windy Friday, the weather Gods smiled on this iconic event (and the campers) over the weekend, with sunshine and good breezes. 14 knots of breeze on Saturday saw the faster skiffs stretch their legs, with the local 49ers of Matty & James Lyons and Lester Noble & John McAfee completing the 12 mile course, down and up the lake, in around 90 minutes - some 15 minutes ahead of third finisher Richard Stenhouse in his Musto Skiff. Not surprisingly, once corrected times had been crunched, the overnight leaders were a horde of trapezing skiffs, with Ann Noble in her VX-One sports boat sneaking in at 9th to make the top 10 a clean sweep of Ovington Boats, including 6 Musto Skiffs. Putting in a solid but unnoticed 11th place score was the RS400 of Chris Pickles and Matthew Sharman.

It was the turn of the slower boats to dominate Day 2, consistency, as ever in the tricky Ullswater conditions, was key across the weekend.

An earlier start on Sunday and around 8 knots of breeze in the bright sunshine again saw three attempts to get around 200 boats away on the club line stretching the width of the lake. The slower boats seemed to get away quicker, with the Lasers and RS200s leading the charge down the Lake. On the SailRacer live tracking it was the X1 of Martin Dixon that was pushing for the lead for the first part of the beat towards the island at Glenridding. Overnight leaders in their 49er, the Lyons brothers, managed to break clear of the pack after 10 minutes but took an extra hour to complete the course compared to their domination of Saturday's race.

With skies darkening, the slower boats gained a boost in the breeze, with the added bonus for some of a shift that saw a group reaching to the finish instead of beating with the rest. The Wayfarer of Charles & David Chandler took a surprise win on corrected time from the Firefly of Steve & Ben Tylecote, together with a couple of Enterprises, but some boats took over 5 hours to complete the race. The RS400 of Chris Pickles & Matthew Sharman sneaked into fifth, bettering their 3rd of 2013 to take the overall event win - and the top prize of a Garmin VIRB Elite action camera.

Overjoyed local Dylan Noble collected the other Garmin VIRB Elite at the briefing on arrival at the event. Dylan got some great footage on Saturday on-board his Musto Skiff as he sailed to a 5th place on the first day, but for once wasn't too disappointed when he dropped lower down the standings on Sunday. "So made up with the camera and my fiancée is too as we will be off on honeymoon soon. Awesome prize and all I had to do was enter!"

210 boats enter the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswater - photo © Sailracer

Eight different classes of boats were represented in the overall top 10, with the RS400s taking 3 of those places - seemingly capitalising on being a day for the asymmetric classes on Saturday and the hiking classes on Sunday, fitting neatly into both categories. Within the top 10 were symmetrical, asymmetrical, one- two- and three-handed boats, keelboats and even in 7th Jonathon Modral-Gibbons & Colin Meadows's Tempest representing the trapeezing keelboats. With many of the big handicap events often attracting more singlehanders than doublehanders, the entry/results list for the Lord Birkett shows it to be a very much more of a family affair, with siblings, couples and family members in two-handed boats all the way through the fleet. Richard Stenhouse may have been second in his singlehander, but even he was on the water with his wife, Kit, in her own Musto Skiff. The next singlehanders were Graham Priestley and Ben Pickering in 13th and 14th respectively and previous Garmin VIRB winner Tim Keen in 18th.

Rewarded for that early break from the pack on Sunday was the 49er of Matty & James Lyons who did enough to finish 3rd overall. Last years winners, Dave Exley & Nigel Hall were ahead of fellow RS400 sailors Hamish & Rachel Gledhill in 4th and 5th. Despite a strong entry from the home club, visitors finished high in the ranking, including 2 visiting Ospreys - Kielder's Rob Shaw & Ian Little in 6th and West Riding's Mark Weston & Tim Keighley in 11th. Lucy Boreham and Richard Anderton made the journey from Chichester to again post a top 10 result in their Fireball.

The Lord Birkett was the penultimate round of the fantastic new Garmin Summer Series, a series of 5 handicap events around the country from May to August. The final round is a three-day regatta at Calshot Activities Centre on the Southern shore of the New Forest, GJW Direct SailFest on 23/24/25 August (bank holiday weekend). Racing, socials, sports activities (velodrome, climbing, remote control yachting, and much more), accommodation and, of course, further chances to win Garmin VIRB Elite action cameras. Enter by midnight on Sunday 10th August for the next chance to win! Enter here now: garmin.sailracer.org

210 boats enter the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswater - photo © Sailracer

Report from Sue Giles, Ullswater Yacht Club

Consistency was the key to success at the Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy at Ullswater Yacht Club on July 5 and 6, which was won by Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman of Delph SC in an RS400.

It was truly a race of two halves with high performance skiffs dominating the results on the Saturday and the traditional boats having their day in the sun on the Sunday when first place went to a Wayfarer sailed by Charles and David Chandler of Olton Mere S C.

With an eleventh on Saturday and a fifth on Sunday, Chris Pickles took the trophy, just one point ahead of Richard Stenhouse of Rutland SC in a Musto Skiff. Local boys Matty and James Lyons in a 49er, the overnight leaders, were third.

After a wet and wild Friday, the sun came out on Saturday bringing 14 knots of breeze from the South-west turning the iconic long distance race into an ideal windward/leeward course. The celebration event was first raced in 1963 in honour of Lord Norman Birkett who died two days after making a successful speech in the House of Lords which prevented Ullswater from becoming a reservoir.

Every year since then, the club has held the prestigious two-day long distance race in which boats sail the full length of the lake round an island, and back, in memory of the 'Saviour of Ullswater'.

The event regularly attracts an entry of more than 200 and this year was no exception with 210 boats on the start line which stretched right across the width of the lake.

Ninety passengers on board the Ullswater 'Steamer' the Raven's Birkett Special got a superb view of the racing at close quarters as it took up position next to the start line and then followed the fleet.

Rounding Wall Holm island during the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswate - photo © Sue Giles

Two 49ers soon took the lead with Birkett veteran and record six-times winner Lester Noble, of UYC, crewed by John McAfee, first to Wall Holm island, followed by the Lyons brothers. They stormed back down the lake with their spinnakers up, the 'young pretenders' eventually taking the lead. The two 49ers finished in just 1hour 26 minutes, a full 15 minutes ahead of the next boat.

The ideal skiff conditions were reflected in the corrected results with nine out of the top ten boats trapezing skiffs – all from Ovington Boats. The non-trapeze boat in the top ten was Ovington's new racing machine the VX One sports boat helmed by Anne Noble of UYC.

But everyone who has been to the Birkett knows that it's never over until the last boat has crossed the Sunday finishing line. This year it was an Open Canoe with a handicap of 1260 sailed by Graham Dibsdall who stuck it out to complete the course just seconds before the six hour time limit, to rousing applause from spectators on the shore. He had missed the Slee's of Winskill ice cream van by about three hours, but he had done it and came 167th overall.

Open Canoe sailed by Graham Dibsdall crossing the finishing line after six hours during the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswate - photo © Sue Giles

Sunday brought lighter and more fickle winds, but still from the same general South-westerly direction. The two 49ers were again first to the island, this time Matty and James Lyons were in the lead and maintained the gap to be back to the club in good time for the ice cream van.

But behind them the shifting winds and patches of flat calm created frustrating conditions and by the time the fleet reached the island, fast and slow, traditional, skiffs, trapeze boats and cruisers were all in the mix. Just to add another 'Birkett touch', as the slower boats were on the run back to a buoy at the Northern end of the lake, a Northerly breeze kicked in turning it into a beat.

This created a dilemma for the back markers who were stuck in no wind in the middle reach. Would the Northerly get to them in time to complete the course in six hours? Graham Dibsdall in his Open Canoe was determined to give it a go, as were Robert Richardson and Abi Thornley of Royal Windermere Yacht Club in a Mirror. They kept calm until the wind reached them and completed in course in good time – and in true Birkett spirit with smiles on their faces.

Still a long way to go, but they did it, Mirror sailed by Robert Richardson and Abi Thornley of Royal Windermere Yacht Club heading back to the finishing line during the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswate - photo © Sue Giles

On corrected time the traditional boats did well with the top four on Sunday a Wayfarer, a Firefly, then two Enterprises. But a fifth by Chris Pickles was enough for him to win the coveted Birkett Trophy and a Garmin VRIB GPS Elite action camera. The event was part of the Garmin Summer Series.

210 boats enter the 2014 Lord Birkett Trophy race at Ullswater - photo © Vian Dixon / www.mdcaptures.com

Class Prizes:

Musto Skiff: Richard Stenhouse, Rutland SC, 2nd
RS400: Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman, Delph SC, 1st
Osprey: Rob Shaw and Ian Little, Kielder Water SC, 6th
F15: Mike Moore and Kayla Sheard, Bassenthwaite SC, 10th
Albacore: Judy and Paul Armstrong, Scaling Dam SC, 12th
GP14: Andy Smith and Phil Hodgkins, Bassenthwaite SC, 45th
Streaker: Ben Ratcliffe, Scammonden Water SC, 67th
RS200: Alistair and Thomas Coates, Leigh & Lowton SC, 42nd
Laser: Anthony Dawson, UYC, 32nd
Cruiser: Dave Atkinson and Team, J70, Sunderland YC, 69th
Fireball: Lucy Boreham and Richard Anderton, Chichester YC, 8th

Ullswater 'Steamers' Trophy (52nd boat past Birkett plaque on Saturday):
Edmund Clarke, RS800, UYC

Dalemain Trophy (Visiting club with most entries):
Scaling Dam SC

Under-18 Trophy (Best UYC Under 18):
Jayne Golden, RS200

Mike Barnard Trophy (Best UYC Under 21):
Tom Neilson, Laser

Barclays Bank Trophy (Best place UYC):
Matty and James Lyons, 49er

Tortoise Trophy (Lowest placed boat sailing both races):
Simon and Lorraine Nichol, RS400, Chester SC

Lord Birkett Results: