Important - Competency Training Signups

Please read this — it is important. We will be scheduling our first ever competency training seminar at 9am on Saturday, 2 February. We are asking ALL members to attend, no matter how competent you think you are.

This is a new initiative to ensure continuous improvement in the skills of all members in relation to race management and safety. 

The training will ensure we offer the high standards of racing and safety that a club of our stature and fleet size demands. This has not been the case every week, which is unsurprising given that we have many new members and that each member, whether old or new, is only rostered once a year.

To put this in perspective, in preparing the PRO / COTD roster, we are constantly short of people who we know are competent in setting courses, running races, recording results, launching and driving the Jazzman and the RIBs, rescuing lasers, using the radios and dealing with a life-threatening emergency. This needs to be addressed and this is one of the ways we are hoping to do so.

It is billed as a voluntary event, but it really is not. Think of it like our PRO / COTD roster. We are asking all members to attend this seminar (unless you have another unavoidable commitment). It is a contribution we are asking you to give back to the club and to your regular volunteers and fellow-members, as a reflection of our volunteer culture and community spirit.

The topics covered will be: 

• course setting, mark laying and mark moving

• race management and weather monitoring

• RIB launch and operation

• Jazzman launch and operation

• radio usage

• incident management plan and emergency response

• defibrillator usage and CPR

• off-water COTD responsibilities

You might think you have been around for a while and you know how to do most of these things. You might think you can drive a RIB and run an acceptable race. And maybe you can. 

But you will still learn something important from this seminar. Do you know exactly how to move a mark mid-race or shorten a course the correct way?  Do you know how to read a wind doppler chart?  Do you know how to flush the Bergman engine correctly?  Do you know how to start, drive, anchor and re-moor the Jazzman?  Do you know which radio channel to use for what purpose?  Do you know what we do if there is a serious injury?  Do you know how to use the defibrillator and how many pumps to breaths  are required for CPR?  Do you know how to do that for a patient in the water?

We believe there is no one at the club that knows all this. And these are basic topics that everyone at the club needs to know. 

We have only had 19 people sign up for this seminar so far. It needs to be 80.  Please commit to this event and sign up today here or email commodore@dbsc.com.au if you genuinely cannot attend.