NATIONAL SAILING ACADEMY

The National Sailing Academy will be hosting the 2021 Bart’s Bash which for this year will also form the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) Caribbean Dinghy Championship (CDC) on Sunday, 12 September.

With the ongoing challenges that COVID-19 is presenting to the world, the CSA Board agreed that it would be impossible both logistically and financially to host a CDC this year, and approached the Bart’s Bash Event who has agreed to create a Caribbean division from which the winners of the CDC will be determined.

President  of the CSA Alison Sly-Adams said, “We don’t want to let another year pass without regional competition.  Although it is not the same as coming together in person, we are immensely grateful to the Andrew Simpson Foundation and the Bart’s Bash team for providing us with the opportunity to connect with sailing communities across the world in this way. We hope that sailors in the region will be inspired to take part in their island’s event with the added incentive that there will be class winners decided across the region who will be named the Caribbean Dinghy Champions for 2021.”

The Bart’s Bash is the flagship annual event of the Andrew Simpson Foundation (ASF), inspired by Olympic Gold and Silver medalist Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson MBE who passionately believed that everyone should have the chance to try sailing and enjoy the many benefits that it brings. Bart’s Bash is a global sailing race taking place at hundreds of venues, with thousands of sailors in hundreds of different classes of boats around the world. Founded in 2014, the event was verified by Guinness World Records as ‘The Largest Sailing Race in the World’.

The CSA Board are encouraging all clubs around the region to take part this year in the Bart’s Bash. Each club or Member National Authority can opt to raise funds for the ASF or for another cause. The NSA will be raising funds to go towards the running of this autumns free sailing lessons for school children in Antigua.

For sailors who want to take part, they need to register with the NSA in the first instance, who will then register all sailors with Bart’s Bash and ensure they are then also entered for the CDC.

Classes will be: Optimist, Laser, Laser Radial, RS Zest, RS Feva, RS Venture and Hansa 303.

To register visit: www.nationalsailingacademy.org/bartsbash

Entry is EC$25 per sailor. Donations welcome towards the programmes.