More than 100 make a splash at Queen Mary's Bart's Bash

Bart's Bash at Queen Mary © Tony Bishop

The fourth global festival of sailing Bart's Bash took place over the weekend 16th and 17th September, allowing clubs to take advantage of a two day event, and Queen Mary Sailing Club certainly did just that.

At the time of writing QM tops the participation leader board with 118 sailors taking to the water in a wide range of the Club's activities. This included Saturday Club, Sailability, Club Race and Youth Group, Boat Hire and RYA courses, uniting the club in a celebration of sailing with people around the world.

Saturday Club

Kicking off the weekend was our Saturday Club, a group that is usually focused on social and fun sailing with a touch of informal racing for good measure. Today was serious racing. Race officials Andrew Craig and Ray Meerabeau donned their 'Simpson' Sunglasses, and a wide mix of boats including Sailability entries did their Bash in some tricky light wind conditions. If Saturday Club's social sailing sounds good to you, their next meeting is 30th September and all members are welcome.

Bart's Bash at Queen Mary - photo © Tony Bishop

Bart's Sunday Club Race

With the Laser fleet and Youth fleet targeting this race as part of their annual series, we saw a strong turnout. It took three attempts to get the Lasers away but this gave time for some of the late arrivals to make the start, everything happens for a reason. St Paul's School entered five RS Fevas. Teacher Mr Thomas commented 'it's the one event we focused on this year to get the students sailing and it's had a real buzz in the school'.

Intro to Racing (youth)

The Club runs 'Intro to Race' sessions, which take place on Sunday mornings (but not as part of Club Racing), and are designed to help young sailors learn the basics and gain confidence, before getting on the start line and enjoying club racing. This week saw a full house with great feedback from sailors and parents. It was a privilege to hear instructors talking to the sailors about the global event and about Andrew 'Bart' Simpson's legacy.

Bart's Bash at Queen Mary - photo © Tony Bishop

Youth Group

The wind kindly built up on Sunday afternoon for the Youth Group race, with the group deciding to hold two races and their best time to count. There were some great questions at their briefing, including 'Isn't it unfair if some people have more wind?" This is something they were able to take full advantage of in the race. Most had sailed previously in this annual event, with retro hoodies to prove it.

Bart's Buoy Race

On Sunday the Bart's Buoy race (from the shore to the buoy and back) was in full flow with members coming out to play together with six adults on day 2 of their RYA Learn to sail weekend. Their instructor, supplementing the five essentials of sailing with a 'Come on guys you're in an international race!', inspired them to produce some really focused sailing and very good times, a great way to start their sailing journey.

For results, news and to make a donation follow the link to www.bartsbash.com. There are more pictures on our Club Facebook page. Thank you to everyone who took part at Queen Mary: we have raised over £376.08 for the event's Hurricane Irma fund. We are proud of our members, instructors, and sailors who made the event happen this year, showing, once again, that Bart's Bash is a great energiser for club sailing.

www.bartsbash.com