Race Report - Saturday 15 February 2025

All sailing photos by Kerryn Smith

Club Championships R11 &12 / Autumn Point Score R5 & 6

PRO Peter Collie reports:

A challenging day for all. The wind was indecisive and did not follow the forecast; there was a strong outgoing tide, and fast traffic in the Dardanelles with the WASZP state champs. Also, not an easy place to accommodate a southerly shift which is what was predicted.

Many thanks to Yves Stening and Ben Byford for their assistance on the Jazzman and Kerryn Smith and Alban Delpey in the Bergman for valiantly moving marks as things changed.

That said, we set a course for the average breeze and got everyone off. Each fleet earned one black flag start aided and abetted no doubt by the outgoing tide. Nonetheless, many figured out the changing conditions and finished well.

Winners in the Club Championships Races 11+12:

In the ILCA 7:
Race 11 - Quentin Burns
Race 12 - Healy Ryan

In the ILCA 6
Race 11 - Sara Bruce
Race 12 - Sara Bruce

In the ILCA 4
Race 11 - Charlotte Jenkins
Race 12 - Patrick McLachlan

And in the Point Score Races 5+6

In the ILCA 7
Race 5 - Chris Berg
Race 6 - Nick Pellow

In the ILCA 6
Race 5 - James Gosling
Race 6 - Martin White

In the ILCA 4
Race 5 - Charlotte Jenkins
Race 6 - Charlotte Jenkins

After racing …BBQ on the deck - Many thanks to Paul and Shirley for assembling the feast, and to Kate McHugh for working the grill.

2025 Metros - 8-9 March - Hunters Hill Sailing Club

The Metropolitan Championships hosted by Hunters Hill Sailing Club are coming up: 8-9 March 2025. This event is for all ILCA classes and has prizes for Open, Youth and Masters age categories. HHSC is a great venue with copious rigging area, good sailing water right in front of the club and terrific viewing from Clarkes Point park.

The Notice of Race is HERE. You can Enter online HERE any time up to 11.30 on 8 March at the club. (Entry fee applies)

A group of members from DBSC will be making our way up the river to compete. Please contact David Newman HERE if you are planning to attend, and let him know your intentions regarding transport logistics:

• Trailering your Laser (and/or others) to the event

• Sailing (or being towed by a RIB) to the regatta and back each day

• Taking a dolly up ahead of time so you can leave your boat at HHSC overnight.

WHAT'S GOING ON

93rd Vaucluse Regatta, Vaucluse Yacht Club

• Saturday March 1st, 2025 at Watsons Bay, 13:30 start

• Website

• Notice of Race

• Sailing Instructions

• Entry is Required (it's free)

CLub Weekly Look-ahead Schedule

• Wednesday 19 February: Twilight Sailing (5pm splash, sailing ‘til 7:00pm)

• Thursday 20 February: Twilight Racing (5pm splash, Racing 5:30pm to 7:30pm)

• 21–24 February - 2025 Oceania & Australian Masters Championships at Westernport Yacht Club Balnarring Beach, Victoria.

• Saturday 22 February: Sprint Racing (2 pm warning)

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Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.

View all racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

Race Report - Saturday 8 February

Club Sprint Racing

Report by Miles Greenwood and James Tudball

Last Saturday we had another instalment of our Youth Volunteering Program, where a team of our youth sailors manage the onshore and on-water duties. Miles Greenwood (PRO), Elouise Morgan (co-PRO), Healy Ryan and Felix Feng (COTD) and Hamish Crabb (canteen) comprised our dedicated team for the day, along with some minor assistance from James Tudball and Healy's dad, Craig Ryan.

The biggest challenge the team experienced on the day was dealing with the Sail GP exclusion zone, which was active from 2pm and encroached on our patch of the harbour! Sail GP is a great spectacle and fantastic for the sport of sailing, so our ever-positive management team happily settled on a short and sharp course, set within Double Bay, with the top mark carefully placed 50 metres south of the exclusion zone.

The second biggest challenge was Hamish's arm, which is currently in a sling.  His dislocated shoulder meant he had a tricky time chopping the mushrooms, capsicums and onions.  But with Healy's support (and of course Paul and Shirley assistance) they managed to get the job done, just.  Hamish's emotional support was appreciated and we wish him well in his recovery.

Miles delivered a well-executed briefing at 12pm and the team proceeded to kick off Race 1 at 1pm on the dot.  This was important as we knew we would only have 1.5 hrs of racing before the harbour turned into a washing machine with Sail GP racing and the spectator boats.

Our fleet of 35 Lasers enjoyed 5 x races in a lovely little 8 - 12 knot breeze.  We had close racing and great representation out there from all 3 ILCA rigs. In the ILCA 4, race wins went to Charlotte Jenkins, Raph McLachlan and Patrick McLachlan on his first day racing with us - welcome to the club, Patrick!

In the ILCA 6, wins were notched up by the in-form Scott Hunter, Martin White (who is always in contention) and also our special guest, Jon Emmett.  Jon is a World Masters Champion and a fantastic coach.  There are whispers that Jon and his partner, Lijia Xu (who is an Olympic gold and bronze medalist in the ILCA 6), may skip the UK winter and live in Sydney during our next summer - and sail with us at DBSC.  This sounds like an excellent plan and I know many DBSC members are hoping this comes to fruition!

In the ILCA 7, race wins went to John Sweeney, Conor Kellett and Quentin Burns.

After the "main event" (= DBSC Laser Sprint Racing), a number of members went out on the water to watch the Sail GP action.  This was a brilliant spectacle and incredible to think that a modern sailing event has the power to shut down Sydney Harbour for 3 hours.

Given the young demographic of our on-water team, most of the content gathered from the day's action was on video...and in portrait mode.  The older 2ICs (Craig and Tuddy) were busy keeping an eye on proceedings and failed to capture still photos from the day.  However, we created a couple of Instagram Reels from the day's action which were posted to DBSC's instagram account.  

You can CLICK HERE for Insta Reel #1

And you can CLICK HERE for Insta Reel #2

Photo by James Tudball

The 93rd Vaucluse Regatta - 1 March 2025

DBSC often has a strong contingent at this local regatta which is held in the vicinity of the VYC.
This historic one-day regatta is open to all yachts, Lasers, Finns, OK Dinghies, Cherubs, VJ’s, VS’s and historic dinghies. Handicapping is using the yardstick system. Presentation and refreshments back at the VYC after racing.

Here are links to the latest information, we have (no SI’s yet).
- Briefing is 12:00 live-streamed to VYC instagram page
- Approximate warning signal time is from 13:30, with 3 races planned

Notice of Race HERE

Free Entry is Required HERE

WHAT'S GOING ON

2025 ILCA Oceania & Australian Masters Championships, Westernport Yacht Club in Victoria

• 21 – 24 February 2025 at Balnarring Beach, Victoria

• Website

• Notice of Race

• Entry

• If you are thinking of attending, please contact Dave Newman

CLub Look-ahead Schedule

• Wednesday 12 February: Twilight Sailing (5:00pm-ish splash, sailing ‘til 7:00pm)

• Thursday 13 February: Twilight Racing (5pm splash, Racing 5:30pm to 7:30pm)

• Saturday 15 February:

  • Learn-to-Race: 9am sharp

  • Autumn Point Score 5 & 6/Club Championship 11 & 12 combined: 2pm warning

  • BBQ after racing: ~5pm

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Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.

View all racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

Race Report - Saturday 1 February

18-Footers 90th Anniversary Harbour Marathon

A handful of DBSC Lasers joined a range of skiff classes for this epic race. It was a gorgeous day with a 10 kt easterly. The start was just off Clark Island with the first mark (the only weather mark, it turned out) immediately SE of Shark Island. Lasers started with Cherubs and a few miscellaneous small skiffs, keeping pace with them until the first mark, when they took off and gradually disappeared into the distance. As yours truly had adopted the strategy of following the rest of the mob, not knowing the upper reaches of Sydney Harbour very well, this didn’t work out well for me. I lost the fleet somewhere in Middle Harbour and elected to cruise back.

Daryl Lawrence, who clearly knows his way around the place, stuck it out to the end against an ebbing tide and dying breeze, winning the cash prize for the Last Boat to finish.

Other Lasers elected to stick closer to the club with a series of pick-up races:

All photos by John Vasey

I would like to give a special shout out to Isabelle Wilkins and Ryan Aldrich for assisting Paul and Shirley in the canteen on a very demanding day. Apparently, skiffies eat a lot as they exhausted Paul’s supply of bread.

-Chris Tattersall, Editor

DBSC Strongly Represented at the 2025 ILCA NSW & ACT Masters

Ian Tudball reports from Lake Macquarie:

29 DBSC members competed at the NSW & ACT Masters on 1st & 2nd February, held at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club.  Our contingent ensured that DBSC was the best represented club at the regatta by far.  The turnout reinforces what a diverse club we are for male and female members aged 13 years to 78 years! It was particularly exciting to have four of our female masters members at the regatta: Katie McHugh, Diana Chen, Pia Hattersley and Tory Epworth.  It was Pia and Tory’s first “away from home” regatta, and we hear it will be the first of many! 

The strong representation created some significant logistics to accommodate and transport all DBSC sailors and boats. Take a bow David Newman for organising these logistics.  In a stroke of genius, Dave collared his Melbourne sailing dad, Peter, to combine a Sydney holiday with driving boats from Sydney to the regatta site for our members!  Many thanks, Peter, for helping us with these logistics. 

Photos from Steve London:

South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club is a super friendly club set in a stunning location.  They effortlessly ran a highly professional regatta with 6 races in generally moderate 12 knot breezes.  There were a few squirts up to 15 knots that did see our heavy weather ace, Pat Levy, floating upside down when he was highly placed in Race 1.

A big contingent also drove up from Victoria to enjoy the lake sailing and strong competition in NSW.  The fleets included the current female Olympian from Samoa, Vai Ripley, and a number of past World and Olympic Champions.  To name just a few: Brett Beyer, Stuart Wallace, Col Beashel, Bruce Savage, Tim Alexander, Steve Gunther…and our own Martin White. 

Our sailors had spent months practising for the event, and many had enjoyed a Santa present of a new sail and then raided their piggy bank for some coaching by Zander Bijkerk and Campbell Patton in the lead up to the regatta.  Zander also provided on-water support and briefings during the regatta for members who subscribed to the coaching program.  The feedback from all sailors in the group was that Zander’s tips and general coaching demeanour were AAA grade.  Scott Hunter (one of Zander’s pupils) achieved a highly impressive scorecard on Day 2 in his fleet with a 1st, 1st and 3rd.  He acknowledged Zander’s tip of starting with a clean lane and patiently extending on starboard and waiting for the right shift before tacking, as a key ingredient to his success that day.

The social aspect is also half the fun of a Masters Regatta, and the photos below can do the talking on this point.

Next on the campaign agenda for Masters sailors is the Masters Nationals at Westernport Yacht Club in Victoria.  A number of our members will be heading down south for this regatta, ready to do themselves and DBSC proud once again!

Some noteworthy performances at the NSW Masters as follows:

ILCA 6
Masters (Over 45): Scott Hunter 1st, Alistair Sutherland 2nd, Kate McHugh 3rd
Female Masters: Katie McHugh 2nd
Legends (Over 75): Peter Heywood 1st

ILCA 7
Apprentice (over 30): James Tudball 1st, David Newman 2nd
Overall: James Tudball 3rd

Other special mentions:
Hadrien Bourley sailed a “personal best” regatta, finishing 8th overall in the ILCA 7. 

Katie McHugh won a cube for 2nd Masters female, which marks 26 years since her last cube, when she sailed Lasers in a previous stage of life.

A special encouragement award was given to Tory Epworth (showing a great effort finishing every race).

A thank you again to David Newman for all of his work, Zander Bijkerk for expertly coaching a number of our sailors… and Martin White for chartering his RIB. Also a thank you to our commodore, Steve London, who is always there to give assistance with various regatta activities, including tracking down a lost centreboard for the author of this article… whose memory ain’t what it used to be.   

All DBSC members results:
ILCA6 Blue: Masters & Grand Masters
Scott Hunter - 1st Master / 4th overall
Alistair Sutherland - 2nd Master / 12th overall
Kate McHugh - 4th Master / 1st Female Master / 2nd Female / 15th overall
Brad Cox - 5th Master / 16th overall
Scott Finlayson - 14th Grand Master / 21st overall
Roberto Blum - 2nd Apprentice / 26th overall
Kerryn Smith - 18th Grand Master / 27th overall
Diana Chen - 8th Master / 3rd Female Master / 29th overall
Pia Hattersley - 13th Master / 6th Female Master / 37th overall
David Murphy - 14th Master / 38th overall
Victoria Epworth - 17th Master / 7th Female Master / 43rd overall

ILCA 6 Yellow: Great Grand Masters & Legends
Martin White - 8th GGM / 8th overall
Pat Levy - 10th GGM / 10th overall
Peter Heywood - 1st Legend / 11th overall
Ian Tudball - 13th GGM / 18th overall
Mike Morris - 24th GGM / 24th overall

ILCA 7
James Tudball - 1st Apprentice / 3rd overall
David Newman - 2nd Apprentice / 6th overall
Hadrien Bourely - 4th Apprentice / 8th overall
Rod Barnes - 4th GM / 9th overall
Mike Dunne - 5th GM / 13th overall
Murray Stone - 2nd Master / 16th overall
Steven London - 3rd Master / 17th overall
Nick Pellow - 4th Master / 18th overall
Jason Wilkins - 8th GM / 19th overall
Stephen Reid - 9th GM / 20th overall
Tim Heath - 11th GM / 23rd overall
Maxim Djura - 7th Apprentice / 25th overall
Geoff Boscoe - 14th GM / 28th overall

FULL RESULTS FOR THE REGATTA CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://laser.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NSW_ACT-Masters-2025-Final-Results_V2.pdf

Photos from Ian Tudball:

WHAT'S GOING ON

2025 Austrlian ILCA Masters Championships, Westernport Yacht Club in Victoria

• 21 – 24 February 2025 at Balnarring Beach, Victoria

• Notice of Race

• Entry

CLub Look-ahead Schedule

• Wednesday 5 February: Twilight Sailing (5:00pm-ish splash, sailing ‘til 7:00pm)

• Thursday 6 February: Twilight Racing (5pm splash, Racing 5:30pm to 7:30pm)

• Saturday 8 February: Sprint Racing (Sail GP Weekend, so 1pm start)

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Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.

View all racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

Race Report - Saturday 25 January 2025

Sprint Racing

All photos by David Da Costa Enes

PRO Alistair Sutherland reports:

The Australia Day long weekend saw sprint races scheduled for DBSC with Alistair, John, David and Andrew on race management duties. We found lots of sun and a fickle 10 knot breeze that couldn't quite decide if it wanted to settle in the east or flick northeast. We hedged our bets and laid a windward leeward east-northeast course with enough length to target 20 minutes for the two laps. After a motivational chat with an ILCA gold medalist, the fleet emerged to find a very short line for the 36 plus boats, even with the ILCA7s giving the ILCA6s and ILCA4s a sporting one-minute head start. And that often proved to be nothing more than a token gift as the full rigs used all their brute power to swat through the chop and mercilessly mow down the under-canvassed targets in front of them. Managing congestion became the name of the game which should prove handy practice for the 30-odd club members heading to the NSW State Masters this weekend, where fleets of 60+ boats should result in plenty of boat-on-boat action.

We managed to get through 5 races in ideal conditions. Getting to the right-hand side of the course at the correct time was a winning strategy in the early rounds, but as the breeze increased to the 12 to 14 knot range, we saw large left shifts beginning to pay. Sylvie was as usual regularly to be found at the front of the Radial fleet, but she didn't have it all her own way. Roberto took out two excellent victories by some margin, and Kate found herself leading after the first lap on several occasions. Despite having the smallest rig of the day, Isabella hung in to finish all the races on her 4.7. Julian, Campbell and Zander had a three-way tussle at the front of the full rigs, with Luke pushing them all the way in a few races.