61st Birkett Memorial Trophy Event
Report by Paul Cox
Solution dinghy no. 426
The weekend of 1st and 2nd July 2023 saw the illustrious Ullswater Yacht Club hosting the ever popular Birkett regatta, with 208 boats on the entry sheet. The regatta is truly a festival of small boat sailing at its best and is listed by Yachts and Yachting as one of the top ‘must do’ sailing events.
Typically the fleet comprises the widest imaginable range of monohull craft with only the minimum yardstick value of 1340 limiting the slowest boats to those just a little faster than the venerable Mirror. At the other end of the scale, a handful of 49er and Musto Skiffs were sure to impress on the water even if their handicaps make winning overall a big challenge for the crews. Equally impressive speed machines, the VX One fleet dominated the line-up amongst the 3 person keel boats mainly made up of local entries. RS400 and RS200 fleets put up by far the biggest numbers and past performance of these classes ensured a highly competitive event. Most travelled entries included boats from northern Scotland, the south coast of England and even a few from the Isle of Mann.
Early in the week ahead of the regatta, race communications excitedly declared a forecast anticipating plenty of wind for racing on each of the two scheduled races, Saturday and Sunday. The event has a somewhat chequered history of unpredictable weather with events spoiled by both calms and more commonly by gale force winds, rarely with two days the same. The scene was set for a boisterous weekend.
Saturday morning got off to a blustery start and by late morning the gusts were already making their presence felt. The 11:30am Race Officer briefing declared the event well and truly on and warnings were issued about safety with wind strength considerably higher in the notorious narrows known as Howtown Gap. Nevertheless, the Race Officer set the usual course to Norfolk Island and back to Pooley Bridge before returning to the finish line opposite the Clubhouse – some 13-15 miles before allowing for the beat. Not for the faint-hearted.
As boats started to launch at about 12:15 for the 1pm scheduled start, conditions ramped up considerably and the noise of rigging and thrashing sails was deafening. Within moments of launching, significant numbers of boats capsized with some incurring breakages or sail damage. It was not easy decision for those boats still preparing to launch. Not surprisingly, many remembered that ‘discretion be the better part of valour’ and remained on shore. I was one of them.
Saturday’s race featured just 105 finishers of the 208 boats entered, 50 boats retired from the race and the balance were DNS. Local sailors Matty and James Lyons gave a very impressive performance in their 49er, finishing in a remarkably quick 1 hour and 9 minutes (surely a record for the event?). Next boat home finished some 18 minutes later; the 505 of Nathan Batchelor narrowly beating the Lyons boys into second place. Third overall was a timeless classic, the Fireball of Grahame Newton. Beaver’s James Penty and crew Eddi Grayson achieved a creditable 51st place overall in the RS800. Special mention must go to Filey SC juniors Tom and Daniel Whitehead in their RS Feva XL finishing in 18th place overall aged just 14 and 11 respectively. Definitely a case of watch this space.
Speculation was rife for Sunday’s changing weather conditions. The closer we got to the 11:00 start the more likely it seemed that we were not in for the pummelling experienced by so many valiant competitors the day before. However, this being Ullswater, conditions were capable of rapid change and with very different conditions around the vast area of the lake. Sure enough, Sunday’s start did offer the opportunity for many who opted out of Saturday to give it a go. Unfortunately a sizeable contingent didn’t take up the baton, either due to breakages in race one or due to the much anticipated deterioration in wind conditions expected as the fleet progress westwards towards Norfolk Island for the second time.
After the usual two failed starts for general recall followed by a third start under black flag rules, the fleet made a very presentable sight in what appeared to be relatively benign sailing conditions. Conditions were even good enough to tempt me to join the start in my Solution dinghy and I enjoyed a very pleasant sail as one of a contingent of smaller single-handers, mainly Laser Radials, with the occasional Streaker, and Lightning 368 for good measure. The favourable conditions lasted only as long as it took to make the approach to the narrows at Howtown by which point the wind speed increased dramatically with punishing gusts and surprisingly large waves through the gap. I fought hard to make it through but on seeing the conditions further down the lake and the vast majority of the fleet ahead clearly struggling, I started to consider abandoning. The decision was made for me when after a capsize I found that my top two batons refused to play and nothing I could do would stop them inverting. Forward progress into the strong westerly was no longer possible so I did the most spectacular bear away and headed back at full speed, barely able to keep the bow from submerging.
The downwind return was almost enjoyable in the end and I was soon joined by a good number of other boats who had made it further west but were also retiring from race two. The attrition in Sunday’s race ended up being similar to Saturday with just 90 boats achieving a finishing place and 36 retiring. So that leaves a whopping 82 DNS from the original 208 boat entry list.
Matty and James Lyons gave another masterclass in their 49er winning both on the water and on handicap only 3 minutes behind their Saturday elapsed time. On corrected time the next boats were Musto Skiff, RS400 and Fireball and a brace of VX Ones. A notable retirement came from Saturdays first place overall helm, Nathan Batchelor in the 505 following a mast breakage. This left him a disappointing 75th place overall. The Whitehead juniors achieved a very impressive 25th overall. After retiring in Sunday’s race, James Penty’s RS800 achieved 90th overall out of 121 boats who sailed and achieved a finish in either or both races. That just leaves me in 122nd place, sharing equal last place with 87 other disappointed entrants.
Winners Matty & James Lyons
