Bart's Bash at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club
by Robert Edwards 22 Sep 2014 22:26 NZST
21 September 2014
A bright sunny day with a 10mph North Easterly wind welcomed the crews of 122 boats at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club to celebrate Bart's Bash. Former club member and Laser sailer Duncan Whitrow flew back from his new home in Canada especially for the occasion. All participants gathered for a briefing in front of the club house which was recorded by a flying drone cam. A big cheer was raised when it was announced that amongst the 700 sailing clubs worldwide, Chew Valley Sailing Club was number 19 in the fund raising league.
Despite fears that race officer Andy Bassett and his team would be over whelmed by the size of the fleet, they managed admirably. They set a triangle course of the prescribed size and got a everybody off to a clean start. The flying drone cam buzzed over and around the fleet giving perception of some interesting wind shifts or were they down drafts ? ! Rescue boats did a great job keeping things safe afloat and managing to keep clear of dinghies in the unusually congested race area. Even the press boat which was also the base of flying drone cam pilot Paul Croote managed not to cause too much interference to the racing dinghies.
The Flying Fifteen fleet sailed well in light and shifting winds, but all competitors completed the race without incident.
The provisional results showed close racing. On corrected time, five minutes was all that separated the top 32 boats. All competitors are now eagerly awaiting the official results from all over the world to see how Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club have compared.
There are too many volunteers to mention, but special thanks must go to Rob Mitchell, Andy Bassett, Errol Edwards and to all those who took photos and videos. Many thanks also to Bristol Water for allowing the use of the done cam and keeping the fishing boats a safe distance from the racing area.
Overall Results:
1st Flying 15, Bill and Amy Chard
2nd Scorpion, Pete and John Rose
3rd RS100, David Smart
1st Laser, Pete Sherwin
1st Solo, Andy Hewitt
1st Topper, Ted Lane
www.bartsbash.co.uk