Barts Bash

On May 9th, 2013, Andrew 'Bart' Simpson tragically died in a training accident in San Fransisco Bay while preparing for the America's Cup competition.   There was shock across the sailing world at the loss of this truly great and selfless man and there were clearly many, many people whose lives had been touched by him in some way. A charity in memory of Andrew, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, was set up by Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy OBE and Andrew's wife Leah to honour Andrew's life and legacy to inspire the next generation through the use of sailing to help young people to develop the personal skills to succeed in life and improve access to jobs and careers within the maritime sector.
The inaugural Bart’s Bash is a sailing race that will be run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. On Sunday 21 September 2014 each sailing club will sail an individual Bart’s Bash race at their location with certain set requirements to meet the criteria for a Guinness world record of the largest sailing race ever .  It is the major fundraising event for the Foundation which is asking people to raise money to support our charitable work.  It is for this cause that they are suggesting people should pay a £5 donation to take part.
In support of this, Clyde yacht clubs are combining to join up for one yachtie Barts Bash at Royal Gourock Yacht Club as their site combines a reasonably central venue with good shoreside exposure. Royal Northern, Cardwell Bay, Royal Gourock, Holy Loch, Fairlie, Largs and Serpent yacht clubs have all signed up to race at Gourock on the 21st September. The race promises to be a fairly straightforward tour of fixed marks in the Rosneath-Gourock-Holy Loch patch and it would be wonderful if a turnout coming close to Scottish Series Gourock starts of old could be achieved. Every yacht taking part in the race must have race insurance but it is possible that with sufficient interest it may be possible to run a Barts Bash Cruise around the course for non racers after the race proper has started. Cruise entries will not however be eligible for inclusion in the Guinness Record attempt. All participants must be a member of a yacht club but participating clubs will be able to offer temporary membership to non members who wish to take part and those clubs can be contacted through the BartsBash website. There is loads of further information on the BartsBash website and in something of the spirit of the Commonwealth Games it is a great opportunity to bring participation in a truly global event right down to the Gourock seafront.