3rd Annual Bart's Bash in Belize announced

Bart's Bash 2014 in Belize © Forrest Jones

Bart's Bash 2016 will take place worldwide on Saturday, September 17, and Sunday, September 18. The organizers in San Pedro have decided to make the most of the weekend by holding an open regatta on Saturday and sailing Bart's Bash on Sunday.

Bart's Bash has been a highly entertaining, one-of-a-kind sailing race, in which sailors all over the world and in every kind of sailboat imaginable have taken to their home waters on the same day and sailed courses that have been designated as comparable by a computer program in the hands of the Bart's Bash Committee. Another computer program handicaps all the various boat classes involved. It has been a fully legitimate regatta. Guinness Book of World Records formally recognized the inaugural Bart's Bash (2014) as the largest boat race in history. Having secured that record on the first try, the Committee has loosened the all-on-the-same-day rule, and made the world-wide Bart's Bash an all-on-the-same-weekend sailboat race. Bart's Bash should attract even more boats than it did its first 2 years; they averaged in excess of 16,000 boats.

Local participants are encouraged to sign up with Bart's Bash now by logging on to: Bartsbash.com, go to Sign up here and fill in the form. Don't forget to complete your application by clicking on the Register button. The San Pedro venue is identified on Bart's Bash web site as the 'San Pedro Sailing Club'.

Preceding Bart's Bash San Pedro, Belize 4 classes of small craft will take part in Saturday's racing: - Hobie catamarans, Laser Radials, Optimist dinghies, and windsurfers. The venue for this regatta and for Bart's Bash the next day is the waters off Caribbean Villas Hotel, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. Sailors of the small craft will compete in both events.

The Belize Sailing Center, located right on the beach at the venue, has a limited number of these small craft available to be signed up for now, on a first-come-first served basis, by any sailor who cannot bring a boat of his or her own. Contact Andrew Milner at tel 632-4101 to reserve a craft. Race Officer. Andrew Milner also encourages all Belizean sailors and sailing clubs who cannot come to San Pedro to enter Bart's Bash on their own home waters. Go to www.bartsbash.com to find out how.

On Saturday, the first races of the day will begin at 11:00. Race briefing will be at 10:00. Race briefing for Sunday's Bart's Bash Sailing Event will be at Caribbean Villas early Saturday evening at a time to be determined by the availability of boat captains who work. The event itself will commence on Sunday at12 noon. Belize launched 28 boats for the 2014 Bart's Bash and entered 30, last year.

Bart's Bash was created in 2014 to commemorate a beloved champion sailor and philanthropist, Andrew 'Bart' Simpson and to support The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The main aims of the event are to increase international awareness of participation in sailing, and to raise funds for the Foundation to help support a range of sustainable projects, using sailing to improve the lives of children and young people globally. The Foundation's motto is a Bart Simpson quote: "Everything we do is driven by our belief that all young people have the ability to excel." Bart lost his life at age 37, practicing aboard Sweden's 72-foot America's Cup catamaran that cartwheeled in preliminaries on San Francisco Bay on May 8, 2013. In life he too was an award-winner and was as engaging, offbeat, and full of fun as this tribute to him is. Come and join in.