Fun and Tears at AGP

Last Friday DBSC held its 2018/19 Annual General Meeting… sounds like a stuffy yawn fest, but we all know that at our club the meeting is really just an excuse for a good party. The evening began in a refined manner with cocktails and entrées on the deck followed by the AGM.

A beautiful evening (and a Laser filled with beer and champaign) greeted guests. Photo by Peter Collie.

The “official” portion of the evening saw Pat Levy win Club Person of the Year for his never-ending contributions to the club. Whether it be coaching Learn to Race, fixing dollies, or installing an extra hot-water heater, Pat seems to always be around to help bring our club to the next level. Pat is certainly a positive force and is a very worthy recipient of DBSC’s most prestigious award. Congratulations Pat!  In addition to Pat’s award, all the 2018/19 sailing awards were presented by Shirley Roach in a very spirited fashion.

Luke Parker gets a hug with his trophy. Photo by Peter Collie.

The Management Committee’s reports were glowing — by all accounts the state of the club is excellent. Commodore Andrew Cox reported that 2018/19 has been a year of records for the club:

●          Record fleets on the water for all our racing

●          Record attendance at all our social functions (including close to 100 at the AGP!)

●          Record membership

●          Record financial contributions from several of our departments

●          Record number of financial transactions through our accounts

●          Record attendance at regattas, and record results

A full hose at the AGP. Photo by Kirk Marcolina.

Commodore Cox also farewelled three of DBSC’s Management Committee: Michael Osborne, who served for 8 years as Vice Commodore, and was instrumental in many facets of the club including the quality of our sailing, our regatta management and our Sailing Instruction; Geoff Kirk who served for many years as Rear Commodore and was an extraordinary contributor to the club, performing continuous repairs and maintenance, enormous renovations, and was instrumental to the culture of the club; and Clare Alexander who served for 7 years as Secretary who was always filled with tremendous energy and enthusiasm and was a significant contributor to membership, instigator of the Women’s Regatta and driver of social engagement. Thanks to these three for their many years of dedication on the Committee. 

Before the conclusion of the AGM, the tone of the meeting became a bit sombre as we bid goodbye to several Life Members. Julian van Aalst (a Life Member himself) spoke eloquently (and humourlessly) of his friends and departing members Jonathan Stone, who is retiring from competitive sailing (see story in last week’s newsletter), and Andrea and Dene Bergman. Andrea and Dene are retiring from the club after many decades of service and dedication to DBSC. (Watch for a more complete article on Andrea and Dene’s retirement in a future newsletter.) Jonathan, Andrea and Dene will all be greatly missed!

Andrea and Dene. Photo by Peter Collie.

After the formalities were out of the way, the evening took on a more festive tone. Delicious savoury pies and salads were enjoyed on deck. After dinner, the Double Bay Sailing Club Band was back by popular demand and everyone cut loose on the dance floor. The band was led by the very talented professional vocalist and keyboardist, Gerard Masters. And then there were our talented club members, James Tudball on drums, Andrew Cox on bass, Hadrien Bourely on rhythm and lead guitar, Marty Trembath on bagpipes, and Wade McDonough on keyboard. But the duo that stole the show was Dene and Andrea Bergman. During a very special edition of “Piano Man” Dene showed us that he can play the harmonica as well as he can fix a boat and Andrea joined him on stage, stepping in for a chorus on vocals. It was a very special moment for all.

Special thanks to John Vasey who used his music industry connections to secure donations of lighting and staging, and to everyone who made this memorable event a great success, especially Clare Alexander, Peter Collie, Diana Chen, Paul Adam, Shirley Roach, and Andrea Bergman. We’re already looking for next year’s edition!