‘Simply incredible’ is how Iain Percy described the news that the Bart’s Bash world record attempt has been signing up sailing clubs at a rate of more than eight a day.

There have been more than 250 early sign ups for the Andrew
Simpson Sailing Foundation event, which aims to get thousands of sailors in dinghies and yachts racing simultaneously across the world on 21 September 2014 at 11am (BST).

The 200th club to sign up was Saundersfoot, a small seaside village sailing club in West
Wales.

Established in 1949, Saundersfoot has a deep history of
hosting regattas, members’ sailing and a strong youth sailing scene.

Sailing secretary Mick Lightwood
said: ‘The membership have taken to Bart’s Bash with great enthusiasm,
SSC is a small club but with a lot of history and some very keen sailors who
turn out each week in a wide variety of dinghies.

‘We are hopefully going to turn
the event into an all day social based around the sailing, and from initial
suggestions and ideas it will be a big success.’

International clubs have so far signed up from Kenya, Australia,
Canada, America, Australia, Germany, Singapore and Bulgaria with many more
expressions of interest.

As
of last night, the total number of clubs committed to
participate was 257.

For a full list of participating clubs visit www.bartsbash.co.uk

The official
launch day of the event is 1 February, when greater details about the event will be revealed.

What is Bart’s Bash?

Bart’s Bash was initially intended to be ‘the largest dinghy sailing race in the world ever’ but has rapidly evolved and now includes yachts, dinghies and windsurfers, all
competing within a 24 hour event window making the mass participation potential
of this event truly staggering.

Event spokesman Jez Payne said: ‘Just imagine – if we sailed the race today, with our existing 251 clubs, averaging forty boats,
with half of them double handers…. That would equate to more than 15,000 people taking part on the water!

‘But we’re not sailing today… We have another nine months to build what could be the largest participation event
across all sports in the UK and one of the largest participation sporting
events on Earth. We’re only just getting started…’

He added: ‘We salute those clubs who have signed up
so far and implore everyone to keep spreading the word.

‘We’re half way to signing up 500
clubs!! It is simply incredible
and a true honour and testament to the legacy of the man who was a friend to us
all, Andrew Simpson.

‘Thank you so,
so much everyone.’

Deadline looming for logo designers

This Sunday, 19 January, marks the extended date for the Bart’s Bash logo competition.