by Pam
One
club race held simultaneously across the whole world on a Sunday with the race
results mashed together to create one big world race. Oh, and set a world
record and get every participating sailor's name in the Guinness Book of World
Records.
Bart's Bash is scheduled
for September 21, 2014. Are you participating? Has your club signed up?
"Bart"
is America’s Cup sailor Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, Olympic gold and silver
medalist, who died in an America's Cup training accident last year. This event is in his
honor.
I
had read about Bart's Bash a few months ago and recently started looking to see
which clubs in my area are participating. Only one club in all of Texas is
signed up? WHAT! So, I started sending out inquiries and the overwhelming
response was … 'Huh? Never heard of it.'
Look,
I'm never going to win a world sailing event but becoming a world record holder
is as easy as participating in one single local sailboat race and I even get to
see how I scored against the likes of Robert Scheidt and Ben Ainsle. I say as
easy as but since no club in my area has signed up, it might not be so simple. Even
the UAE has three clubs signed up. The UK has over 400 clubs whereas the US has only
about 30. Where is the disconnect here?
I'm
like the least educated person I know when it comes to all things sailing. Doug
remembered hearing the name of the event but didn't realize it was being held simultaneously
at local clubs all over the world. There are, of course, a few simple
requirements but nothing too difficult to implement.
The event is open to every class. So
far, the Laser class has the largest number of sailors signed up to
participate. Sort of fitting since Bart began his competitive sailing career in
a Laser before moving on to the Finn and then the Star.
If
you're planning to sail somewhere on September 21, 2014, please ask your club
to sign up and make the few tweaks necessary to one race to qualify for the
Bart's Bash event.
More info: http://www.bartsbash.co.uk/
Please note that, according to the event website, this is one of the requirements of all participants...
ReplyDelete"Each craft is required to hold adequate insurance and, in particular, to hold insurance against third party claims in the sum of at least £2 million."
A bit too rich for me, I'm afraid.
I might be missing something but when I looked at the Event Guide it says:
Delete"This is a fun fundraising event to promote sailing. It should be your sailing club’s event with all the safety cover and everything else that you normally use. The decision to sail, the safety cover required, the insurance and liability and all responsibility lies with the individual clubs and participants. We have produced a Bart’s Bash Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions to support you, however you/your club are fully responsible for all race activity and organisation at your venue."
Just sent off an email asking for clarification. Will let you know what I hear.
DeleteThis is a great event to be associated with, so I've asked my Club (Belmont 16s) to become involved. I'm sure they will. Here in Aus, our standard boat insurance comes with $10m 3rd party cover as standard, so Aussies will be OK.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if any of your blog followers are sailing in the Laser Masters Worlds, they need to have 3rd party insurance cover. In my case it was as simple as calling my insurer to have my cover extended to include the Hyeres regattas.They also extended my Laser insurance to include the charter boat, for a fee of course! And just in case you get asked, it's best to take a copy of the policy with you. :)
Great to hear that you've asked your club to get involved.
DeleteYes, I think Doug has gotten insurance coverage for the previous Master Worlds but I think there is some inconsistency in compliance and enforcement.
/Pam - the website is indeed a bit confusing and inconsistent. I suspect what happened is that this started as a simple "let's all sail on that day" event to a much more bureaucratic thing when they decided to get the Guinness World Record people involved. Did you see that each club has to have two independent witnesses to verify what happened and you have to measure the course length with GPS and submit a photo off all the boats at the start and all sorts of other stuff.
ReplyDeleteBruce - yes, I know I can buy the liability insurance that Aussies and Euros seem to like and I have done so in order to attend at least one Masters Worlds. But how many people are going to do that for a one day charity event?
Just heard back from the the Bart's Bash organizers:
ReplyDelete"We are going to be adding the wording
this minimum may be amended as appropriate, in the sailing instructions of the host club.
This will give clubs the right to change the SI and NOR to comply with their local regulations. It will be the responsibility of each club to do this."
Thanks. Good move.
DeleteDoes anyone else find it strange that the US is supposedly the most litigious society in the world but it's the Aussies and European Laser sailors that are forced to get millions and millions of dollars of liability insurance? At most US regattas you have to sign a waiver but I don't ever recall seeing a requirement in a NOR for a US Laser event about having to have liability insurance.
I think it means no one has yet sued a yacht club for not requiring participant insurance. First time that happens, it will probably become a requirement. I wonder what has prompted other countries to require it? Thinking ahead, being cautious and responsible or some incident?
DeleteThey made the mistake of asking the lawyers for their opinion.
DeleteThis level of insurance (£2 million) is standard at any club in the UK. For my Enterprise I pay about £60 a year in insurance, and that is mostly determined by the value of the boat, not by the liability.
DeleteHmmm. Wikipedia said he started his "competitive" sailing career in Lasers.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Simpson_(sailor)
Wonder who wrote it and why the choice of words that seemed to indicate to me that he sailed other boats but became competitive in the Laser. I'll have to investigate further.
Well I guess it all depends on your definition of "career" and your definition of "competitive." Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson actually met at an Optimist Nationals in the UK at which they were apparently the youngest competitors there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10050260/Andrew-Simpson.html