Andrew Simpson Foundation : The Sailing Charity

The Andrew Simpson Foundation (ASF) was founded in memory of, and inspired by, Olympic Gold medallist sailor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson. The Founding trustees are Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy OBE and Andrew's wife Leah. Our fundamental ethos is to facilitate a wider participation in sailing, and to optimise the benefits that the sport can deliver to young people and ultimately to society at large. Importantly, we seek to be as inclusive as possible by encouraging participation to children and young people from all backgrounds, and catering for a range of physical and educational abilities. The ASF is providing the challenges of a sailing environment to promote health and wellbeing, and to develop personal skills that will improve a young person's ability to succeed in life and work. It recognises sailing as a sport and as a recreation that is not always accessible to all owing to lack of finance, a physical or learning disability, mental health or social barriers. The Foundation helps to break down those barriers by working with sailing providers to offer financial and practical support. Bart's Bash is an annual fundraising and mass participation campaign in aid of and organised by the Andrew Simpson Foundation. Bart's Bash unites sailors from across the globe to participate in one colossal global sailing event in memory of the Olympic sailor, Andrew 'Bart' Simpson. The event was founded in 2014 and was verified by Guinness World Records as 'The Largest Sailing Race in the World (multiple venues)'. Bart's Bash is open to all sailing clubs, yacht clubs, scout groups, sea cadets, windsurfing clubs, individuals and any venue globally that can host a race and is inspired to take part. The race details can be set locally by each venue, and are not onerous - many of the club venues use one of their normal morning races as their annual Bart's Bash race.