Final results show that 30,717 participants took to the water, many for their first time, around the world, for the first ‘Bart’s Bash‘ on 21 September 2014.
 
The sailing race was a fundraising event in memory of Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, the Olympic sailor who died in a training accident in May 2013.

So far £290,621.40 has been raised for the youth sailing charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation (ASSF).

Since race day the Bart’s Bash results team has been busy compiling and processing thousands of results and now, five weeks later, can confirm that 16,870 boats collectively sailed 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 ASSF. 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.

Overall winners were; Hans Wallen sailing at Cape Crow Yacht Club in Sweden in a M32 Catamaran, Riccardo Macchiavello sailing at Circolo Nautico Rapallo in Italy in an Altura 1101 and Grant Piggott sailing at Weston Sailing Club in Great Britain in a Nacra 17.

Find the final results table at: http://www.bartsbash.co.uk/results/table
 
Initially organisers had hoped for 50 clubs to sign up with 2,000 participants in the UK. As the day drew closer it became apparent that clubs all over the world were using the opportunity to get as many people sailing as possible on the day.
 
Delta Lloyd open Dutch Championships recorded the highest numbers of boats sailing from the club at 233. In the UK Parkstone Yacht Club recorded 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.
 
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 seven thousand of them, who made it possible.’

A video showing the highlights of the day:

Pictures: Action from Bart’s Bash; the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: Credit Jak Bennett; The event race venue map; Andrew Simpson