Big Boats to race this Sunday (26th)

Dear fellow Big Boat sailors

There will be an additional Big Boat race on Sunday next.  The last one - scheduled for October 11 - did not take place. Sickness and misadventure left us with just one starter (T&T)

We have at least 3 starters for Sunday, and John Vasey has kindly agreed to give us a regular start line. 2.00pm start. (Thank you John!)

Anyone else?

SeaBreeze promises a 15knot sou-easter - should be ideal.

Let me know!

Jonathan

Volunteers needed for the 18s

Please consider making yourself available and UPDATE the interactive roster which can be found by clicking here..

Cheers

Mark B retains his World Masters Championship

Congratulations to Mark Bethwaite for retaining his world crown in the full rig, great grand masters division (aka the oldest blokes with the big rigs). Mark won comfortably with a day to spare, so very well done.

Other notable results:

• Brett Beyer won his 9th title, this time with nine bullets
• Martin White finished 7th in the grand master radials
• Keith Wilkins (dad of our new member Jason) won his 13th world title (itself a record), this time as a radial great grand master.  Rob Lowndes was second in this division. 
• Andrew Simpson finished strongly after breaking a mast
• Pat Levy and David Huber had solid regattas and no doubt will be faster for the experience

Dear Leader penned the following summary.....

DBSC has had a great regatta - GGM Standard cube is in my luggage, Martin White, Pat Levy and David Huber had good regattas and Andrew Simpson was about to make a strong run home when he broke his (brother’s!) mast.  Australia in the person of Brett Beyer won the Masters Standard and he generously agreed with me that all he knows he learned as a member of DBSC some years back!  Rob Lowndes came a strong second in the GGM Radial and for time to time he has been known to add lustre to the DBSC fleet.  So in football parlance, DBSC scored once and had several goal assists!

Hyeres was tres agreable - nous avons bon régate, mange et buve avec nos amis Laser de tout le monde.

Learn to Race - 18th October

Hi All,
 
Next Saturday, Oct 18th, we have Learn To Race (LTR).   It’s held on the first and third Saturday of the month. 
  
If you wish to attend next Saturday would you kindly click here to access the appropriate forms. 
•    Martin is returning from the World Masters in Hyeres, and will run the LTR.  
•    Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this Saturday but will coordinate who’s attending while Martin is in transit.

If you wish to hire a boat, please click here to access the form on the DBSC website.
 
The usual plan will be in place, i.e. arrive at DBSC at 9am, aim to be on the water by 10am, on-water coaching until about 12 noon.  If the weather is poor, assume it’s still on as we can provide under cover discussions about racing a Laser.
 
Keep in mind there is afternoon club racing at 2pm, if you’d like to race.  
 
 
Look forward to seeing you all soon.
 
Cheers,
Martin White
& 
Ashley Deacon

Club Championship heats 3 and 4

Heats 3 and 4 of the Club Championship were contested in a strangely fickle NorEaster last Saturday.  A good fleet of about 50 boats enjoyed tight racing under sunny skies.

Proceedings were delayed while the course was adjusted.  Then a strong runout tide made for interesting starts, 3 general recalls and about 6 boats were OCSed. 

In the Radials, Finn and Blake split the honours, while Marcus collected the full rig chocolates twice (one courtesy of the first boat being OCS).

Thanks to Jonathon and Clare on Jazzman, Bruce W as PRO and Paul and co for a fine feed after the sailing

Reminders:

• If you are over the start line, you will be OCSed.
• Respect the rules, especially at marks.  At the top mark, a port tacker inside the 3 boat zone doesn't have any rights, and must not tack and obstruct a starboard tack boat.  If you come in on the port layline, you're likely to be in trouble.  You may be spoken to.  You should budget to do penalty turns.
• The finish line is not to be crossed other than when finishing (but you are OK prior to the start gun). This includes after you finish if other boats are still racing.  The Start boat has been asked to record transgressors. 
• On water course setting suggestions are best conveyed via the commodore or vice commodore. We'll consolidate the suggestions and liaise with the PRO of the day.

This week is non point score racing while the NSWLA Coast Championships are on at Gosford.  The breeze is forecast to be similar to last week.

Thursday twilights: Sailing on an empty harbour!

First twilight sail was held off this week. 8 sailors enjoyed at 15 knot NorEaster on a harbour devoid of any traffic other than one moth and two yachts having a cruise. 

Several windward-leeward races and one with a couple of great reaches. A great way to end the day, stress free training on our beautiful harbour.  It doesn't get any better.

We'll be there from 5pm every Thursday during daylight sailing.  Everyone is welcome

Is this the world's worst Laser website?

Click here for the Laser Masters' World Championships 2014 event website.

We know the French like to thumb there nose at the US, despite having more McDonalds Restaurant than any country outside North America, but ignoring the power of the internet by creating the worst Laser event website ever is over the top.

Clear failings, and this is a non-exclusive list, include:

• Dear Leader has assured me he has won a few races, but he is down with 2nds on the website.
• No social media snaps of the sartorial excellence of David H and Pat L.
• Despite it being a Pavlovian response, there is no acknowledgement that Blackie has been running a Learn to Race session for locals prior to each day's racing.
• Denis is MIA on the website.
• Tony is down representing Australia and not our local French enclave.
• etc, etc.....

Let's do a bit of a whip around to fund the train fare for someone to come down from CERN to explain la Internet to the locals......

STOP PRESS 1

Reporting from the front (Great Grand Master Standards), our special correspondent on sabbatical from MainSail, Shirley Robertson reports.....

"All good in Hyeres.

Dear Leader Sailed races 2 and 3 today - won both.  Race 2 was 7-10kt E and very lumpy seas, tricky and only took lead half way through.  Race 3 was fresher 14-18kt and steep seas - zoomed off the line and was never headed although winning margin was not big.

The good news is that three boats have shared the three second places on offer so .. tres bonne!"

STOP PRESS 2

Improper Course by Doug Peckover is a great laser blog. Doug racing in France and writes a great story on the sailing conditions.  Click here for one of the best Laser sites in the world!

STOP PRESS 3

 Facebook for updates and photos.  

Finn wins NSW Youth Title

Over the long weekend, Finn dished out a DBSC sailing lesson at the 2014 NSW Youth Titles on Botany Bay. 8 races, 7 counted, 9 points. Thanks for coming.  

Well done young man!

Even better, Finn put together this report on the regatta (note to all....you write it, we'll publish it):

 The Yachting NSW Youth Championships was held on the waters of Botany Bay, hosted by Georges River sailing club. The regatta featured a tough lineup with the best sailors from the east coast of Australia ready to do battle on the racecourse. With heavy winds forecasted for the first day of racing, I knew I needed to make the most of the breeze before the wind was expected to die out. 

Day one was fruitful with four wins from starts. I was in my element in the 20 knot choppy conditions and even found myself winning races by a good minute. I was really happy with the way I was sailing however, I have identified some areas where I can make adjustments to make me go faster.

The rest of the regatta was forecasted to be very light and fickle which would cause for some for some interesting racing. On Saturday, after many hours sitting on shore, the radial fleet managed one race in less that 5 knots starting at 5pm. With somewhat shaky start due to some start line mayhem, I managed to get back to a 2nd place finish. I had to rely on my light wind skills and finesse in the boat to keep the boat moving faster at all times.

The final day was Sunday and I knew that even though I had a big lead, the regatta was not over yet and I still needed to sail smart to secure the regatta win. The last day of racing saw an unexpectedly strong sea breeze that came across the bay which made for some great rides downwind. The first race of the day I was over on the start line but didn’t see the individual recal flag until 30 seconds post the start.  However, I went back which caused me to be behind the entire fleet by 1 minute. I had to work hard the entire race but secured a 7th.  The final races of the day were lots of fun with NE wind blowing 15-20knots and I was able to take out the regatta with another win and a 2nd. 

It was a great regatta, overall, a good opening stanza to the upcoming regatta season.

Finn

Saturday, 4 October 2014

In a new tradition, the PRO started the race briefing with an Acknowledgement of Country:

I would like to Acknowledge Woollahra  Municipal Council and the Roads and Maritime Services who are the current custodians of this land.  I  would also like to pay respect to councillors and ministers, both past and present, of the 2nd and 3rd tiers of Australian government, together with their counterparts in the executive branches of government, and extend that respect to other Australians present. 

After a short delay, sprint racing started at 2.10pm and continued with five (5) separate races for a small (for DBSC) but quality fleet of 15 boats on the long-weekend.  All the sailors were on their best behaviour until the last race when only Dave Newman and Mike Dunne were on the correct side of the start line.  At that point, Pirate and I decided to pack up our Arvor and go home.

The day benefited from these particular contributors:

• The Black Pope and Craig doing Learn to Race
• Wise Master doing prep work on Jazzman during the morning.
• Paul victualling to the members
• The Pirate  COTD
• Dave (aka The Signwriter) Co-COTD
• Jack Co-COTD

Cheers

Your humble correspondent and PRO for the day.

A moral imperative....action needed

DBSC have a moral imperative to ensure the safety and victualing of our 18s cousins!

We do this by providing a canteen and having the "Paul Adam" rescue boat manned during their regular races and the JJ Giltinan (World Championship).  Additionally, the 18s use our clubhouse and the "Dene Bergman."

Why do we do this?

1. the 18s community just cannot supply the same level of culinary skills to produce toasties as our master chefs;
2. the substantial health risks for the 18s in spending 5-6 hours rigging in the sun without Gatorades and toasties (an issue that Laser sailors who take 10 minutes to rig up, don't quite get); and,
3. provide fashion role models (let's face it, some 18s spectators of the soapie starlet variety wouldn't make it past the fashion police at the SCG with their shorts.)   

Please consider making yourself available and UPDATE the interactive roster can be found by clicking here..

Cheers