Barts Bash – 15th September 2019

We joined clubs from all over the UK and other parts of the world to compete in the annual Bart’s Bash race, an event set up in memory of Andrew Simpson to raise money to enable disabled and disadvantaged children to go sailing.

It was a beautiful morning with light WSW wind about 2-5 mph for the Juniors race and picking up slightly to 3-8 mph for the adults. The sun shone and the temperature was in the mid- twenties.

Junior’s Race

James used the normal flagpole start with a first beat to A (past 5 on the buoy line) then 9, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start. There were 11 starters and Thomas M (Radial) was first back through the start line followed by Rhys (4.7) and Emily (Topper). Then there was quite a gap back to the rest of the fleet which was led by Phoebe (Oppie) in 4^th place and Lucy (Topper) in 5^th. The two Oppies of Rohan and Ben came through the line close together and they were followed by Evie in a Pico, Pippa in a Topper and then Izzy and another Oppie (who unfortunately had not signed in.

The first three were sent round for a second lap, which was bad luck for them as the wind died away and it took them considerably longer to complete the second lap than it had taken for the first lap.

The first six on the water were –

1^st Thomas; 2^nd Rhys; 3^rd Emily; 4^th Phoebe; 5^th Lucy; 6^th Rohan.

On corrected time this changes to 1^st Phoebe; 2^nd Rhys; 3^rd Emily; 4^th Lucy; 5^th Thomas

Well done to all of you for competing in difficult light wind conditions.

Adult’s Race

There was a bit of a delay before the adults could get away as James wrestled with the problem of a constantly shifting wind. In fact, he had two different courses on the race sheet before settling on a third option! He finally decided that he would change the course and change the start line. He then used a committee boat start parallel to the bank and going straight out to A then 9, 4, 2, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.

The wind was a bit better for the adults and Ralph (Laser) was first back across the line one minute ahead of Sam & Newton (RS 200) followed 30 seconds later by Jess in her Laser. After 2 minutes Mike A (Lightning) crossed in 4^th place not far ahead of Dean & Nick (Vago), Alistair S (Laser) and Thomas (Laser). Nev (Comet) and Joe (Laser) came through battling for 8^th place and they were about a minute ahead of Peter R (s/h Enterprise). Then along came the Mirrors of Ron on his own and Jewels with little Tahlia as crew, followed 30 seconds later by Simon B with son James in the RSC Sport 14 (considerably lower Tech than his usual Blaze). Rhys and Emily were next renewing their battle from the first race with Rick and Lottie in Lasers just behind them. Bringing up the rear of the fleet were Paul W (flying an enormous red pennant – perhaps that’s a keep clear signal!) and David Knight in his Laser 2000.

The second lap saw the first three away and clear, but Peter R had fired up his booster and gained six places to move up to 4^th.Thomasmoved up to 6^th by passing Alistair and Dean & Nick retired from 5^th position, Joe got past Nev to move up to 7^th place and Rick also fired up his engines and gained six places to move to 9^th . Emily passed Rhys, Simon and Jewels to move up to 12^th place and further back Lottie gained a place.

At the end of the third and last Ralph finished 1^st with Sam & Newton in 2^nd place and Peter just pipped Jess for 3^rd spot. Joe passed Thomas and Mike to take 5^th and lower down the order Simon gained four places, Rhys repassed Emily and Paul W got past Lottie. The final order on the water was –

1^st Ralph; 2^nd Sam & Newton; 3^rd Peter; 4^th Jess: 5^th Joe; 6^th Mike A

On corrected time the order is 1^st Ron; 2^nd Jewels; 3^rd Ralph; 4^th Peter; 5^th Jess; 6^th Sam & Newton

Thanks to James and the OOD Team of Aileen M, Bea P, Bill C, Brian M, Gordon C, Richard H and Richard M.

Following the racing Barbara cooked sausages and burgers and there were tables of cakes made by Ann Day, Suzi Primrose, Sam Shears and Nick Heaven (who had also brought down games  including tossing the horse shoes (thought  there would be a technical name for that but on looking on the web, it is called Tossing Horseshoes – makes sense)

After a bite to eat the boat building began in earnest. Brian had brought his usual kit for the younger sailors to build their own boat from plastic bottles, bits or wood and other things. Brian and Richard (of course) could not resist building their own craft to also compete. Brian and Richard then released the craft from the safety boats with James on the bank as adjudicator.

As far as we can remember (and not including parental assistance!), Molly Steele won the competition against boats built by Jemima Day, Joe Day, Izzy Heaven, Bea Primrose, Rhys Primrose, Emily Shears and Phoebe Shears. There was one other who left early, but their name escapes us along with a lot of other things these days!
However, not forgetting the adults who were disqualified (Richard and Brian Moore!) fun was had by all.

With the lovely weather and 30 boats racing (11 Juniors and 19 Adults) and burgers, cakes and messing about it was a really good day. Well done to everyone who took part and helped out to make it a special day for this year’s Barts Bash.