Club Championship Racing this Saturday 2 September

The Skippers briefing will be at 13:00, with first warning signal at 14:00, and as usual we will run two Summer Championship races.

Note to all our new members: we will be using the regular DBSC “triangle, sausage, sausage” course, with the finish to windward after the last bottom mark rounding, and the Finish Mark is set to starboard of the committee boat.

Separate 5-minute fleet starts (5,4,1,0) with ILCA 4 & ILCA 6 combined if there are less than six ILCA 4 at the start line. Please refer to Sailing Instructions for all the details.

You will need to sign-on using the Sailor app — this is mandatory if you want to be scored. Download instructions are HERE.

WHAT'S GOING ON

2 September 2023 - Learn to Race 9am, Club Championship Races 1 & 2 and Season Opening BBQ

9 September 2023 - Sprint Pointscore 1 & 2, Brett Beyer Saturday Program

16 September 2023 - Learn to Race 9am, Club Championship Races 3 & 4,Brett Beyer Saturday Program, and BBQ after Racing

23 September 2023 - Sprint Pointscore 1 & 2, Brett Beyer Saturday Program

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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.

LAST CHANCE - BRETT BEYER SATURDAY PROGRAM

3 spots left - Don’t miss out, this is your last chance to book your place in the Brett Beyer Saturday Program.

The program comprises individualised on-water tips before and after racing and between races, as well as a video of the start, and a GPS animation and accompanying analysis that shows your tracks and stats vs the other participants in the fleet on a leg-by-leg basis, with commentary on fleet and/or selected individual performances on each leg. It also includes the opportunity to ask Brett questions during the week, between BBSP sessions.

The initial program for the 23/24 season will run for 8 sessions on 9 Sep, 16 Sep, 23 Sep, 7 Oct, 21 Oct, 28 Oct, 4 Nov, and 11 Nov.  The cost of the program is $560 (plus merchant fees) per person, and this pricing is dependent on 20 participants.

Click HERE to register for the program. The terms and conditions can be found on the registration form.

Working Bee

Vice Commodore Rod Barnes directing the work…

Thankyou to all members who attended the annual working bee. A very respectable turnout of 57 members helped out in last Saturday, and with the fine weather, this group tackled the following tasks:

• Replacing some of the deck timbers

• Scraping and repainting facia boards on the north gable (above the deck)

• Replacing some of the cladding boards (including painting)

• Sweeping shed floor beneath the Laser racks

• Replacing rack beams on the east side, creating a little more vertical clearance

• De-cluttering and cleaning the workshop, including replacing fluorescent tubes

• Repairing wheels and replacing noodles on the club trolleys (including the stacking “away” trolleys)

• Pressure washing the ramp

• Collecting, sorting and fixing components of the training boats (centreboards, rudders, tillers, spars)

• Checking and updating first aid and rescue packs

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Thanks to Rod for planning and directing the operation, as well as carting away a lot of the rubbish. And for Paul and Shirley in the kitchen (and in particular for the brownies).

Also, as special shout out to those that stayed very late to put away a significant number of boats that had been left on the rigging lawn.

RACE REPORT 19 AUGUST 2023

Sprint Racing

After a morning of hard work repairing, tidying and generally sprucing up the clubhouse, 25 sailors took advantage of the sunny weather to get in some sprint racing. PRO Mike Dunne reports:

Westerlies on Sydney Harbour are there to remind us that, yes, there is a hell. These brave souls tackled extremely variable conditions. The wind eventually reached the predicted SSW direction, but took a long time to make up its mind. Mostly it was all over the shop and more than a few enjoyed a cool dip after being caught by a sudden shift, gust (or both). Best performers on the day had their heads out of the boat and read the shifts (or guessed) the correct side. No-one dominated and cobwebs certainly got cleared out after a tough working bee (see below). Several had their equipment tested, most notably Commodore Steve London who broke a mast. The race committee ran six races and got everyone safely off the water in time to catch the Matilda’s match.

Thankyou to the on-water crew: Mike Dunne as PRO ably supported by Omer Konakci, Jim Dounis and Isabelle Wilkins. Thanks also to Paul and Shirley in the canteen for putting in a long day.

Photos by Isabelle Wilkins and the race team.

WHAT'S GOING ON

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SEASON OPENING and BBQ: SATURDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER

Join us for a BBQ on the deck on Saturday 2 September for the official opening of the 2023/24 sailing season. Family & friends are welcome! Please RSVP by Wednesday 30 August so we know how many hungry sailors (and guests) to feed: dbsc.com.au/club-events/2023-season-opening.

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 12 AUGUST 2023

Sprint Racing

It was another beautiful day on Sydney Harbour. The wind was light and shifty, starting out as a 6 - 8 knot north westerly, then veering to the north before returning back to a southwest over the course of the afternoon. More than 20 boats turned out, across the three fleets with the majority being Radials, thanks to the development squad as they continued their Saturday training.

Five races were run over the course of the day and with many course changes. Each race was 15 to 20 minutes long with quick starts trying to keep everyone sailing as long as possible. The most successful sailors on the day were those reading the channels of wind and positioning themselves to take advantage of that. It truly was a “hunt for wind” type of day, with no single person dominating in each race and some very good displays of light wind seamanship in the Standard and the Radial fleets.

The on-water crew was Mike Dunne as PRO supported by Ben Byford, with Katie McHugh and Alban Delpey on the support boat, always brilliantly served in the canteen by Paul and Shirley.

This sprint series is always popular and continues to be well supported from many clubs. We continue to welcome everyone wanting to knock off a few cobwebs from the winter break.

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U21 ILCA European Championships

A massive congratulations to our DBSC sailors (and youth coaches!) Dan Costandi and Brooke Wilson, who have just finished a highly successful campaign in Stavanger, Norway, at the U21 European Championships.

Dan qualified for the gold fleet and then went on to finish 8th overall (from 150 competitors).

Brooke finished 25th overall (from 72 competitors).

A fantastic effort, guys!!

Season Opening

Season Opening: Saturday, September 2nd.

Join us for a BBQ on the deck on Saturday 2 September for the official opening of the 2023/24 sailing season. Family & friends are welcome! Please RSVP by Wednesday 30 August so we know how many hungry sailors (and guests) to feed: dbsc.com.au/club-events/2023-season-opening.

Club Championship racing also commences on the 2nd.

Working Bee This Saturday

Our annual working bee is on Saturday 19 August from 8am to 11:30am. Please do not forget! There is quite a bit to do to keep the club in shape for the summer season, so all members are expected to attend.