Clipper Race YC has the most members signed up for Bart's Bash
by Jez Payne, Event Director 18 Jul 2014 11:08 BST
21 September 2014
The Clipper Race Yacht Club (CRYC) has taken the top spot for the current number of participants signed to participate in Bart's Bash - who can catch them up?
The CRYC is a yacht club built of members that have at some point taken part in the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race or Fastnet or RBI with Clipper Ventures. The club has over 600 members and put together a number of annual events to keep people on the water.
Clipper Ventures themselves are highly supportive of the club and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is the President so there is a solid foundation. Sadly the founding Commodore, Colin De Mowbray MBE, passed away shortly after he realised his dream of creating the CRYC four years ago.
In light of Colin's sad passing, every year the club hold a memorial regatta in his honour and memory called the 'red socks regatta' which is held in the autumn. Everyone that attends wears red socks (Colin's favourite footwear) and the fancy dress outfits come out of the closet. General shenanigans ensue on the Solent and a fab time is had by all whilst raising funds for a chosen annual charity.
So far the biggest uptake has been in 2012 when there were just under 100 members on the water. This year they hope to make this an even bigger event and tie it in with Bart's Bash. Everyone participating will also be raising funds for Bart's Bash. At the time of writing, the Clippers had 62 members already signed up with more than 2 months to go and were topping the leaderboard of participating clubs.
William Ward, the CEO of Clipper Ventures, has agreed to charter them the new Clipper 70s so there are 7 x 70ft match fleet yachts provisionally set aside with the possibility of adding in some of the 68s later.
Ever fancied going up against a Clipper Yacht? Well now you can take on a fleet of them!
Sign yourself and your boat up to Bart's Bash now: www.bartsbash.co.uk