Bart's Bash- Update and Video - Information overload!

by Bart's Bash on 28 Sep 2014 Just on a week ago, Bart's Bash was sailed in 60 countries around the world attracting an entry of 10,000 competitors.

As well as being a fundraiser, it was also hoped to rank each of the 10,000 competitors in a complete set of official results.

That has proved to be an ambitious task.

An email was sent out to all participants on Saturday. late last night. We're posting it here in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.

Dear Bart's Bash participant,

At the time that we are writing this, it is almost exactly a week since the first race took place at Wakatere Boating Club in New Zealand, followed by hundreds of races across the globe that we have been told attracted record numbers of sailors to your clubs, delivered atmospheres that have not been felt out on the water before, brought new sailors to the sport and awakened some who had been dormant for a time. What a day! We had such a blast and together we did something amazing that is still giving us goosebumps today.

So we should now probably talk to you about the one element of this event yet to be sorted out. And it's only the results, isn't it! We are so grateful for your patience and understanding as we know just how keen people are to see their position and explore how their friends did - did I beat an Olympian? Did I beat my mate in (insert name of club/country here)? etc. etc.

The bottom line is that essentially our system did not work as smoothly as planned and the volume of information coming in, combined with a lack of sleep that hindered our ability to read the situation accurately for a while meant that we were log jammed and learning some pretty big lessons on a daily basis as we tried to find the best resolution.

The positive news is that we believe we have now turned a corner. We have cleared out something in the region of 200,000 lines of empty or faulty code that were confusing the computer, and as of today the results are starting to be uploaded accurately and at an increasing speed. We are finally processing results as we envisaged doing a week ago - and that's the story. Today we have added 50% more results and a further 10,000,000 meters sailed in memory of Bart. Together, we've now sailed 3/4 of the way around the world!

We have, from the start of this magnificent and all consuming journey, always been completely honest with you about where we were and what was coming up. When we had BIG news, we teased you and then delivered. When we had potential timelines, we shared them with you. There is no question in our minds that this is one of the reasons that this event has felt so positive and inclusive. We're all in it together, and sometimes that means holding your hands up...

Thank you so much for your support and understanding, we believe that we have now found a solution to the problems we faced. We are in Year 1, and once we have delivered the results we will learn from this, grow and return stronger for Bart's Bash 2. September 20th, 2015, anyone? Make sure it's in your club's diary....!

While you wait for the results, there is still time to fundraise and win one of our fantastic prizes to fly to San Francisco and visit Team Artemis or travel for an America's Cup experience with Ben Ainslie at the BAR base in Portsmouth. The film today reminds us why we are fundraising and reminds us once again of why Bart was such a loved and amazing man.

Best wishes and thank you from Jez, Tony, Tim and the whole Bart's Bash team.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]