Rooster RS200 Summer Championship at the 2026 Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy

64th Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The RS200 Summer Championships, which forms part of the Rooster sponsored Championship Tour, took place at Ullswater Yacht Club as part of the 2026 Lord Birkett Trophy event over the weekend of 4th & 5th July.

24 RS200s sailed the event as part of a combined entry of over 220 boats and were the single biggest fleet, beating the RS400s by juts 1 boat!.

The event takes the form of two races, one on each day with two marks to round: Norfolk Island which is three quarters of the way down Ullswater and a buoy at the Pooley Bridge end of the lake.

Saturday - Race 1

The forecast for Saturday was a challenging F5-6, but fortunately the wind didn't quite live up to the forecast predictions and was sailed in a F3-5.

With a single mass start for all 220 competitors, a decision had to be made about whether to start at the favoured club house end or take a more conservative start further up the line where there was greater chance of sailing in clear air.

Thise those that could spot the shifts and find the areas of most pressure came out on top.

Matt & Ollie Sharman reached the island 1st with a strong lead of a few minutes from the chasing group of Gareth / Jen Williams, Chris / Jack Pickles and Ava Harris Scott / Fred Buckley.

A breeze building from behind on the downwind leg to Pooley Bridge, allowed the chasing group to catch Matt & Ollie. The lead changed multiple times between the leading boats including Huw Hopkins / Holly Alf catching up from 4th.

The positions seemed well established, with some small separation by the end of the epic 6 mile run at Pooley bridge. However, Gareth & Jen had an impressive final beat closing in & pushing Chris & Jack very hard all the way to the line with only 2 seconds separating the two boats after 2 hours 19 minutes of racing! In 3rd were Huw Hopkins / Holly Alf, followed closely by Matt & Oliver Sharman not much further behind.

In the overall results Chris & Jack Pickles were 17th, Gareth & Jen Williams 18th, Huw Hopkins / Holly Alf 21st and Matt & Oliver Sharman 27th - all very respectable results!

Sunday - Race 2

The Sunday race took place in less wind in a F2-3, however the wind wasn't very consistent across the lake and there were areas of much lighter wind to contend with.

After more difficult black flag starts the racing resumed with Chris & Jack leading at the island from Matt & Ollie by a few boat lengths, chased bv Ava & Fred in 3rd only a short distance back. On the run back down Matt & Ollie quickly passed Chris & Jack then skilfully maintained their lead for the return journey to Pooley bridge & short beat back to the finish. Ava & Fred finished an impressive 3rd, a greatly improved performance than their Saturday result

The best sailors always manage these conditions better than the rest of us, with these results giving first 200s Matt & Oli Sharman 34th place overall, closely followed less than a minute later by Chris & Jack Pickles in 37th.

Many thanks to Rooster Sailing for their continued sponsorship of the RS200 Championship Tour. As part of their sponsorship Rooster prizes were presented to Chris & Jack Pickles and to Matt & Oli Sharman as the first two 200s overall and to Emma Robertson & Ben Gregory who were randomly selected from the list of entrants.

Top 6 200s:

1st: Chris & Jack Pickles (18th overall)
2nd: Matt & Oli Sharman (22nd overall)
3rd: Gareth & Jen Williams (38th overall)
4th: Huw Hopkins & Holly Alfs (44th overall)
5th: Emma Robertson & Ben Gregory (58th overall)
6th: Bryn Abendstern & Beth Tate (64th overall)

Full results

The Rooster Championship Tour continues at the Noble Marine Nationals (good to see the late entries rolling in!), but in the meantime there are options to get on the water for 200 sailors at all levels across the regions in the next few weeks:

West Country Boat Repairs SWUT and Sailing Chandlery EaSEA Tour, Parkstone, 18/19 July
Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour, Red Wharf Bay, 18 July
Stewart Brewing Scottish Tour, Loch Tummel, 25/26 July
And of course, not forgetting the 600 boat RS Games