It seemed as if the whole of the Cayman Islands Sailing Club was out on North Sound on Sunday for the Bart’s Bash sailing race run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation charity.
Andrew “Bart” Simpson, a British Olympic Sailor, died in a tragic accident whilst training for the America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay last year.
Bart’s Bash was set up as the major fundraising event for the foundation, to inspire young people worldwide through sailing.
Bart’s Bash is a Guinness World Record Attempt for the Largest Sailing Race in the World and more than 15,000 sailors around the world participated, raising over $300,000 for the foundation. The record has yet to be ratified.
Cayman’s own records were broken as a total of 39 boats and 109 sailors were out on the waters of North Sound for a single race which started at 2 p.m.
Governor Helen Kilpatrick was part of the Cayman Race Committee, along with race officer Mark Macfee and assistants Denise Couch and Jock Fleming.
Two independent witnesses verified the number of boats, participants and course length to ensure that Cayman would be part of the world record attempt.
The fleet included boats of all sizes from the tiny optimist dinghy up to the largest boats from the cruiser class at up to 45 feet long.
Sailors of all ages and abilities were able to participate with the weather conditions being particularly kind with flat seas and a gentle breeze of 8 knots.
Hamish Carmichael, aged 6, invited eight of his friends to join him aboard Java Knight and the youngsters chatted happily and sung their way around the race course.
Olympians, youth Olympians, children from the after-school sailing program and their parents, regular club racers and cruisers – all were out on the water for a fun afternoon of sailing which is likely to become an annual fixture on the club’s calendar, according to local event organizer Jane Moon.
Overall results are available on the event website www.bartsbash.co.uk. More information on sailing events and programs at Cayman Islands Sailing Club is available from club manager Nancy Boulmay [email protected].
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