This is the event to do...  Three Merlins last year. A couple more and we have our own fleet prizes.

The Birkett is open to all monohulls with a recognised handicap rating and organisers expect the entries to be over 200 this year. 

All boats, from the smallest dinghies to high performance racing machines and cruisers, race from one mass start with the line stretching across the full width of the lake. 

You race down the lake, a distance of about seven miles, past Birkett Crag and the plaque to the memory of Lord Birkett who made the decision to stop the lake becoming a reservoir, round an island at the southern end, and back. Then they do it all again on Sunday – with both races to count. 

So who's going I am.. 3709

And for the benefit of those who havn't got a clue, like I was until I did some research, its at Ullswater, Cumbria.

As the entry fee is £40 I won't be going :-)
Only joking, I won't be going as I'm going to watch Mark & Chris crash their 49er round Draycote