Barts Bash: Biggest Little Boat Bash

Now including The Biggest Little Boat Bash

Bart’s Bash: Biggest Little Boat Bash

Bart’s Bash is a global sailing regatta, run annually in the name of Olympic and Americas cup sailor Andrew Simpson, who died tragically when training for the San Francisco Americas cup in 2014. The regatta raises funds for the Andrew Simpson Foundation which is a charity dedicated to helping people improve their lives through the sport of sailing and to help increase participation in the sport.

Bart’s Bash is entering a new category into the regatta for RC boats and will be welcoming RC sailors around the globe to take part in the Biggest Little Boat Bash. The Andrew Simpson Foundation will be promoting RC sailing within the global sailing community on the build-up and during Bart’s Bash.

Any RC sailors competing can make a donation to the ASF at any time and all funds raised will go towards the ASF SailFit program, an initiative created to help tackle inactivity through the sport of sailing.

The aim is to get 3 races completed (more details below) and each sailor counts their fastest race. All the data is then collected by the clubs and sent to the Andrew Simpson Foundation who will calculate an overall result sheet for every RC sailor who has entered. From this there will be an overall winner for each IRSA, MYA and MYA affiliated class, and although this event is about charity and participation the winning skipper from each category will have their name published on the Bart’s Bash and MYA website

BLBB at MYA Clubs (see note below if at a non-MYA club)

Clubs can host the BLBB and sailors of any RC class are welcome. It’s important that clubs who are wishing to run BLBB for their sailors, communicate their plans to the potential competitors with regards to exact date, start times and any other specific details of how they would like to run the day.

As the three races will not take too much time, clubs may wish to use this opportunity for an open day, organise a full days racing specific to any of the classes or combine these 3 races in an existing event.

All MYA clubs are already registered on the Bart’s Bash website so it is only competitors who are aiming to take part who need to enter.

Each sailor can make an online donation when they enter online or the club may wish to make a single donation via one competitor. If for any reason sailors did not enter or make a donation online, the ASF would be very grateful is clubs could use a bucket with ASF stickers (supplied by ASF) to take any donations. The ASF will do their best to manually register any sailor who did not enter online, after the regatta, when the results are received.

Note: For overseas participants/non MYA clubs the procedure is the same, however they will need to register their venue on the Bart’s Bash website.

RC sailors wishing to compete

Check where you wish to sail and which class you wish to enter. Go to the Bart’s Bash website. www.bartsbash.com

Click sign up
Click sign up as an individual, Enter your details
Enter your sailing venue, choose other if not listed, but should be there. Enter your class, choose other if not listed, but should be there
Enter all other details and Click Register

If sailors are happy to make a donation, click donate at the top of the screen and follow the instructions.

How to set the BLBB race course

Set a windward/leeward course so that the total race is approx 600 metres (this can be via a physical measure if you are at a traditional lake, or via google maps etc if you sail at a lake with a restricted control area)
Time all the yachts around the course (most phones nowadays have a timer function) by recording the start time of the race and then the individual finishing times
Record the wind speed.
Repeat the process for each race so that each sailor has a time for each race.
Make a separate sheet of each competitor’s fastest time. (the fastest out of the three attempts)
Send the fastest time to bartsbash@andrewsimpsonfoundation.org explaining what club you are from with details of the race including sailor’s names, their class of boat, their fastest time and the wind speed.

What will your event be?

The Biggest Little Boat Bash is more than just the 3 races and we hope that it will be part of a bigger day, we leave the day’s format up to you but the list below may help you decide.

Some examples:

Club Open Day – Your club may wish to advertise this day to your neighbours and potential new members
District Open Day – Your district may put on an event(s)
All Comers Race Day – Sail what you like, as long as its radio controlled and wind powered
Individual Class Racing
Family Race Day – encourage your members to let husbands, wives, kids and grandkids to come along and have a sail.
Junior Race Day
Vintage Radio Day – You decide the age, get some of the older boats of a fleet out on the water, encourage members who haven’t sailed for a while to get their boats out.

Fundraising ideas:

Entry Fee Sponsorship Donations
Cake Sale Refreshments Raffle
Sailing Jumble

The list is endless, but the message is the same, participate, have some fun and generate funds for a great cause.

https://www.bartsbash.com/