The new committee boat is to be named......

With the purchase of the new committee boat, an Arvor 215AS, we needed a name for it.  To this end, the management committee formed a sub-committee, comprising: the current Commodore, Luke Parker; Patron and current Big Boat Representative, Jonathon Stone; and, Commodore Emeritus, Mark Bethwaite AM.

While the current fleet, comprising the “Dene Bergman” and “Paul Adam”, follow the tradition of naming club boats after distinguished life members of the club, there was a slight change to the naming tradition with the new boat, as explained by our sub-committee of eminent persons:

The name Jazzman is a salute to DBSC's last President, Don Roach.  Don was many things - an All-Australian left-foot flanker with over 200 matches played for West Adelaide and Hawthorn, a gifted football administrator, and a major leader in the growth and success of this Club, in the years from 1984 to his death in 2011.  He was also a gifted amateur musician.  He raced Lasers with the Club for over 20 years, and always called his Laser Jazzman.

Our Jazzman will be arriving at DBSC in about a week or two.  The formal christening of Jazzman is scheduled for 6 September, the Season opening when we will hold the first heats of the ClubChampionship. 

People's Prince Perorates ("PPP")

Thanks to those that showed up for our working bee last Saturday.  Many hands made light (and fun) work.  

Pre-season racing commences 1pm this Saturday (2 August).

August is a month of non Pointscore racing.  Sailors can reacquaint themselves with the harbour, the club, their boat, see how much their hiking pants shrunk over winter.  We will hold briefing at noon, start racing at 1pm and be in at a reasonable time. Likely courses will be announced by email in the days leading to the event, but check with other sailors on the water.  We will windward/leewards initially, but hope to swing to the normal club course in a couple of weeks. 

The new website is up.  We would welcome any constructive feedback.  www.DBSC.com.au

A reminder for twilight sailors...we've moved to Thursdays in Daylight Saving, to avoid the CYCA booze cruisers. (Ed. boat handling skills are inversely proportional to size of the boat owned, with R2H the exception)

Thanks to those that showed up for our working bee last Saturday.  Many hands made light (and fun) work.  We'd appreciate any spare spars for the club boats. 

Finally, radial sailors be warned.  Based on recent results, Finn Alexander is going to be hard to beat.   Finn finished 12th in the open worlds (first youth) and is now doing well ( including a 1st and 2nd) in the youth worlds. Well done Finn and the rest of can be thankful it's 30 seasons before he qualifies as a master!  Results at:  http://dziwnowlaserworlds2014.sailingnet.pl/results.php?kl=Laser%20Radial%20Boys

Finn update

Find the current results from Poland here.

Finn does club and country proud!

CLICK ON HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS

Following is the report from our correspondent on the ground at the 2014 World Radial Championship......

Regatta Update: 

The Open Mens Radial has drawn to a close.  75 competitors, 2 races each day, over 5 days.  Held in the Baltic Sea.  Air temp is 28C but water is chilly.

Day 1:  25K knts 3-4m waves.  Very hard going for Finn as the youngest and one of the lightest in the fleet.  Battling to keep it together, deep on the start line for these two races.  

Downwind leg, Finn is lip-launched and the boat is completely out of the water, including foils… capsize.   34th, 33rd.  A tough day…

Interestingly the Polish Standard team have jumped into Radials for this regatta…they start to dominate.

Day 2.  Slightly better conditions 20knts but still big seas.  Finn getting to understand start line tactics and negotiations on the world stage.  He has good boat speed, and starting to race, rather than survive!  Still deep in one of the starts, he shows good down wind speed and makes up 20 places.   26th, 24th.  

Day 3.  Wind 18 Knts, Seas 1-2 meters. Finn nails both starts.  Game on, its time to race.  Holding 4th for most of the race, he picks the wrong side of the last work and lets in a few of the seasoned campaigners.   A 12th,  a 10th.

Day 4.   Similar Conditions as previous day.  Finn is learning more about the starts but still finding in tough to get on the front line, let alone a clear lane.  First race a 12th, next race, deep in the start, but fights back to a credible 18th.

Day 5.  After a night of reviewing the days racing and writing down some notes, Finn takes to the water with fierce determination to nail the starts.  He does exactly this and wins the Pin on race 1 and blasts off the line on race 2.   Finn takes his first podium finish, a 2nd, then a 4th in the next and final race of the regatta.

12th Overall

3rd Aussie

1st youth.

Post racing, Finn humbly accepts the growing interest and admiration in his speed on the race track, particularly from the seasoned world campaigners.

The Youth worlds commences in 2 days time, so it’s time for Finn and Clare to rest up and prep for the 6 day youth regatta, with over 200 competitors due to arrive.

Link to results:

http://dziwnowlaserworlds2014.sailingnet.pl/results.php?kl=Laser%20Radial

The regatta website has live twitter feeds, (typically around 8pm AEST) and I believe some GPS tracking may be happening.

http://www.dziwnowlaserworlds2014.com/laser-radial-youth/

Team Alexander send greetings to everyone in Australia!

Commenting on the result from a garden party at Martha's Vineyard, Dear Leader said:

"An outstanding result on Finn's first overseas campaign.  I have now decided that the day Finn starts to sail a full rig, I will be retiring to a Radial.  The new Grasshopper would have snatched the pebble from me!  Best of luck in the Youth's".

Working Bee

Working Bee (Saturday, 26 July 2014, 10.07am)

 Following the last winter sail, there is working bee to spruce up the club prior to the recommencement of Saturday afternoon sailing.  Please Captain Kirk know on rear.commodore@dbsc.com.au if you are available to help.

Getting a boat licence

The Wise Master, Emeritus Director of the Centre of Engineering Excellence at DBSC, has kindly agreed to run the power boat licence training on the 23rd August starting 9.00am, running for about 3 hours.

We need licenced boat drivers, and this offer by Dene will save you money and time in getting a licence.

If you want attend, email rear.commodore@dbsc.com.au. 

For information about boat licences:

http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/rec_boating/boatingsafety.html

To obtain an initial general or Personal Watercraft (PWC) licence applicants must:

1. Complete the compulsory General Licence Boating Safety Course and for PWC applicants the PWC Licence Boating Safety Course. Courses may be completed online, by purchasing a DVD for viewing at home, or by attending a course in person. See How to comply with the Boating Safety Course requirements for more information.

2. Provide evidence of practical boating experience - this is what Dene is offering on 23rd August at DBSC, and

3.  Successfully undertake the general licence knowledge test and for PWC applicants the PWC licence knowledge test at a Maritime Service Centre, Motor Registry or recognised training provider (RTP). Bookings for tests are required, please contact your local Maritime Service Centre or Motor Registry to book for your test prior to attending the office.

The Boating Safety Course(s) must be undertaken before the licence test(s) can be attempted however, practical boating experience can be completed at any stage although a boat licence will not be issued until all 3 components have been successfully completed.

I.E. You have to complete 1 before you do 3,  but you can do 2 any time.

Ideally the candidates should do 1 and 3 before the 23 August (our on-water day) but it isn't a precondition to entry on the 23 August.

Applicants wishing to upgrade their existing general licence to a PWC licence are not required to provide evidence of practical boating experience and need only comply with PWC Licence Boating Safety Course and PWC licence test requirements.

The general licence knowledge test comprises 40 questions of which the first 15 must all be answered correctly and the PWC licence knowledge test contains 15 questions of which a minimum of 12 must be answered correctly.

The PWC licence knowledge test cannot be attempted until the general licence knowledge test has been successfully completed.

The Maritime Boating Handbook provides essential boating information for operating a vessel for recreational purposes on NSW waters. It is strongly advised that licence applicants study the handbook prior to completing the boating safety course and practical experience requirements and undertaking the knowledge test(s).

Dollies

With our clubhouse almost full, could everyone consider before moving any dollie, please?

Dollies should never be left on the vinyl flooring, or be re-hung in front of vacant rack spaces.  Leave the dollies outside, and they can all be brought in at the same time at the end of the sailing session.

Cheers

Peter Dobrijevic, Secretary.

DBSC Review of federal budget

We have now reviewed the Coalition government’s budget plans and the ALP’s alternative budget focus, and have come to the conclusion that although both plans are marginally better than Clive Palmer could produce, the spending plans are wrong, and the funding plans are even worse.

We provide an alternative, exclusively for DBSC members.

Spending Plans

Apart from the usual expenditure, we have ordered a new committee boat: Arvor 215AS.  It is currently in the French factory, and will be delivered to DBSC in early August.

This will provide our volunteers, COTD/CoCOTD/PRO, a proper platform to run races.  The powered windlass will allow for easy starting line adjustments (and no back-breaking heaving).  Taking accurate results should also be possible as we can comfortably have more than 2 people on board on the bigger races.

It doesn’t come cheap, but it is an asset we should be able to get 20 years from, and improve the sailing experience for our members.

Funding Plans

We are going to be able to squeeze this purchase by: prompt payment of membership fees (this everyone can do); careful club and personal budgeting; and, donations from those blessed enough with a taxation problem.

As previously foreshadowed, we would like all membership fees paid by 1 July 2014.  Our financial year starts on 1 May 2014, and we just can’t afford to get the bulk of the money in October.  To help this occur, we will be invoicing in the next two weeks.  To start budgeting assume if you are racing a Laser, the fees will be the same as last year.  Most other fees will go up modestly: fees will be finalized prior to the AGM next week.

Careful club and personal budgeting will contribute to funding sources.  Examples include:

•    Dear Leader has offered to fly economy class from Sydney to Melbourne (but not the return leg because that is just too much to bear) and donate the cost savings to the club.

•    Paul will be buying Woolies’ home brand cheese for the toasties instead of Kraft.

•    Troublemaker will be getting his investment banking associates to do a global review on insurance over the next four weeks (three weekends for the research, and one weekend for the pitch book), to attempt to lower the club’s insurance costs.

•    The A18 sailors have undertaken to get to the club an hour earlier so they can eat an extra toastie.

Finally, for those blessed AND cursed, earning lots of money AND paying lots of tax that will not be spent wisely by our pollies, they can make a tax-effective donation to the club (see attached form – they will also be available at the AGM on 7pm, 23 December).  Forms received by 10 June 2014 will be processed so you can get your tax-deduction this tax year.

Conclusion

We don’t do “compulsory voluntary" donations.  If you feel really lucky being able to sail from our great little club, and  you can comfortably afford to make a donation, that is terrific.  If you can’t, then we just ask everyone to plan to pay their regular fees by 1 July and we can comfortably afford the new committee boat for the start of the 2014/15 season.