Bart’s Bash 2014 19 Sep 2014
Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping to engage members and visitors in supporting Bart’s Bash on the river on Sunday – you only had to be in the Club at 09:00 to know it was all worthwhile, a great buzz, a real sense of occasion and fun.
Burnham Sailing Club was also supporting the event with a constant echoing of tooting horns from one end of the river to the other! BSC sent their fleet up river so we didn’t get in each other’s way.
The Race Officer was relieved to see that two brave and sporting entries from an Oppie and a Topper finished with a tow home as the course was the same for everybody and a sail down the Roach to Jubilee would have been a long distance race for them!
The One-Design Classes, battling for the Season’s Points, were generous in their support for this event and counted the result towards their totals.
Finally, thanks to Derek Corless and his Race Box team, especially Coral Tranter who had the problem of sorting out unfamiliar boats into their various groups.
Justin Waples
RACING REPORT
Sunday morning brought sunshine and a perfect 15 knot breeze from the North for the Bart’s Bash World Wide Race; there was a great atmosphere in the club along with a fantastic turnout, a mixture of keel boats and dinghies and sailors of all ages and talents. The start was off the club line with the dinghies starting inshore and the keelboats further out.
It must have been a fantastic sight for spectators with an array of sails on show, from the North to the South shore.
The Fireball, sailed by Malcolm Hutchings and Ian Simons soon got into her stride and planed into an early lead, heading the fleet round the course. Red Rooster, a 707, helmed by Micky Wright, had a cheeky fishing trawl with his kite on the first leg!
Many of the keelboats struggled with keeping clear air on the first leg with so many boats on the start line. One of the lasers showed early promise being the second boat around Greenward only to capsize on a tricky gybe before Jubilee.
A great race was had by all, in the true spirit of a charity sailing event. As it was Woody’s Birthday, he was declared the winner sailing his ‘E’ boat.