Swedish sailor Hans Wallen sailing at Cape Crow Yacht Club in an M32 Catamaran has been named as the overall winner of Bart’s Bash 2014, the record-breaking race held to remember Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson. Italy's Riccardo Macchiavello sailing at Circolo Nautico Rapallo in Italy in an Altura 1101 was second.

Bart's Bash

The results of the inaugural Bart's Bash, a global sailing race to raise funds for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation and remember British Olympic medallist, Andrew Simpson, have been announced.



 

The top British sailor was cat legend and sailmaker Grant Piggot in a Nacra 17. Grant raced at Weston Sailing Club and said it was, “Probably the quickest race I’ve ever done.” Grant’s race was finished in just over 15 minutes. He described the Bart's Bash atmosphere at Weston as “amazing.”

Final results show an amazing 30,717 participants took to the water on 21 September 2014, many for their first time. The race was a fund raising event in memory of Andrew Simpson, the Olympic sailor who died in a training accident in May 2013 (see Bart Simpson: Special Memorial to a Special Man).

Sailors from across the UK turned out in force, with plenty of newbies trying racing for the first time. There were plenty of stars on the water too, including multiple Olympic gold medalist Ben Ainslie, who took his girlfriend Georgie dinghy sailing for the first time in an RS400 at Queen Mary SC. America’s Cup legend Jimmy Spithill was racing an Optimist in the Great Lakes, USA. Meanwhile Iain Percy raced the Star he previously sailed with Bart, this time with Bart’s eldest son Freddy among the crew.

Event Manager for Bart’s Bash, Tim Anderton said “At no point could we ever have expected over 500 clubs in over 60 countries to embrace the idea of getting on the water, racing, having fun and celebrating everything Bart stood for. This has to be one of the largest sailing participation events in the world. We would like to thank all those who took part in the event and a special thank to the volunteers, over 7,000 of them, who made it possible.”

Since race day the Bart’s Bash results team has been busy compiling and processing thousands of results and can now confirm that an incredible 16,870 boats collectively sailed a staggering 87,072,769 metres, roughly the equivalent of sailing twice around the world.

 


 

The inaugural Bart’s Bash was a race run by sailing clubs around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. Each sailing club sailed an individual Bart’s Bash race at their location. Race details were set locally by each club, but the course needed to be over 1km and sailed for more than 15 minutes.

For the final results table see Bart's Bash.

 

Bart's Bash by numbers


The Delta Lloyd open Dutch Championships recorded the highest numbers of boats sailing from the club at 233. In the UK Parkstone Yacht Club recorded a whopping 194 boats on the water.

The Laser Standard dominated the dinghy class leader board, taking the top spot with 1,677 entries, Optimists were in second place with 1,178 boats on the water and the Laser Radial took third with 953 boats.

Next year's event will take place on September 20, 2015. Look out for an announcement on December 17!

 

Written by: Gael Pawson
Gael Pawson is the editor of Yachts & Yachting Magazine and the founder of Creating Waves. A keen racer, she has sailed all her life, and started writing about the subject whilst studying journalism at university. Dinghies and small keelboats are her first loves, but she has cruised and raced a huge variety of boats in locations across the world.