Musto Skiffs in the 63rd Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy at Ullswater Yacht Club
by Jamie Hilton 10 Jul 2025 15:34 BST
4-5 July 2025
63rd Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy - Start line © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
The Birkett has been a long-term favourite with the Musto Skiff fleet, where, given the right conditions, it suits the skiff rather nicely—enough so that we've seen two winners over the years with Ian Turnbull in 2017 and Dylan Noble in 2022. And then there's the social. That suits everyone.
It's one of those events where you see people you've not seen in years, and with a two-night social programme, plenty of opportunities for beers, live music, and a proper catch-up.
This year, we saw 16 Musto Skiffs line up in amongst the 230 odd boats of so many different classes. With the start line spanning the entire lake, it made for quite the spectacle and quite the headache for the race officer, where it took nine attempts to get the fleet away for the two races sailed.
Saturday saw a forecast that on paper suited the skiff, with around 10-20 knots expected down the axis of the lake. After all the kerfuffle of the six starts, the wind, however, had abated to soft trapezing conditions with big holes at various sections of the lake.
Rob Richardson got away nicely with a B14, National 18, 49er, and a handful of VX Ones, taking some good pressure up the southern shore. With his nose out in front and the benefit of clean air, Rob pushed on to secure an overnight 2nd place. Amongst the chasers were Brennan Robinson in 21st and Jamie Hilton in 41st, buried sufficiently deep to not unshackle themselves from the pack until the downwind leg after rounding the Norfolk Island.
Sunday saw a soft 5 knots of breeze coming out of the Northwest, meaning a somewhat tricky reaching start before heading first up to the northern end of the lake before navigating again to the far southwestern end and around Norfolk Island. The fleet got away this time at the third time of asking, with Dylan Noble popping his kite early from the front row and getting his nose out in front and around the "windward" and spacer marks in great shape and away from the chaos behind.
Dylan knows the lake well and picked himself some great lanes down to Norfolk Island and back to the clubhouse to secure a brilliant 4th place on corrected time. Not enough this time to challenge the overall top spots, but enough to end up 2nd Musto Skiff (and 35th) overall, where Rob earned himself a plucky 12th on the day to see him finish top skiff and a really well-deserved 5th place overall in testing conditions for the skiff.
Thanks again to all the volunteers at Ullswater Yacht Club for hosting another great event for all. Great to see so many skiffs entered, and a proper laugh off the water. Definitely one for the calendar again next year. The Birkett is iconic for so many reasons.
Musto Skiff Class Results (and overall places):
1 - Rob Richardson - Musto Skiff 2 (5th overall)
2 - Dylan Noble - Musto Skiff 608 (35th overall)
3 - Jamie Hilton - Musto Skiff 651 (49th overall)
4 - Ben Schooling - Musto Skiff 633 (66th overall)
5 - Brennan Robinson - Musto Skiff 561 (85th overall)
6 - Josh Moran - Musto Skiff 481 (126th overall)
7 - Richard Smith - Musto Skiff 9 (133rd overall)
8 - Andy Rice - Musto Skiff 534 (156th overall)
9 - David Annan - Musto Skiff 627 (167th overall)
10 - Stewart Walker - Musto Skiff 545 (180th overall)
11 - Graeme Oliver - Musto Skiff 638 (183rd overall)
12 - Bill Maughan (Dan Trotter) - Musto Skiff 649 (193rd overall)
13 - Mark Cooper - Musto Skiff 631 (201st overall)
14 - Robert Yeamans - Musto Skiff 332 (202 overall)
15 - Ben Yeats - Musto Skiff 552 (207th overall)
16 - Steve Robson - Musto Skiff 620 (207th overall)