DBSC strongly represented at Sail Melbourne

by James Tudball, Youth Engagement

18 DBSC members competed at Sail Melbourne recently, held out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club. It was a fantastic regatta with great breeze, big waves and highly competitive racing across all ILCA fleets. 16 of our competing members were from of our DBSC Reach Youth Team. 

Our Reach Youth coach, Josh Becker, was instrumental in facilitating the regatta travel logistics and the on-water coaching.  The youth sailors (and their parents) extend a big thank you to Josh for his efforts.

Congratulations to all members who competed!

Click here for the results

Image credits: Beau Outteridge

WHAT'S GOING ON

Wednesday 06-Dec: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 07-Dec: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 09-Dec:

• Tyrell and Rousso Races (2PM warning)

• DBSC Club Christmas Party (7PM)

Wednesday 13-Dec: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 14-Dec: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 16-Dec: Spring Point Score Races 13 & 14 (last of the Spring Series)

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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.

RACE REPORT 25 November 2023

Spring Point Score 9 & 10

PRO Luke Parker’s report:

Drizzly weather and gradient NNE of 10-16 knots greeted the fleet on Saturday. Numbers were a little down with the gun younger sailors away in Victoria and some softer older sailors scared off by the rain. With the wind to the left of a traditional Nor-Easter, and a run-in tide, and no ferries, we elected to set the course deeper in Double Bay than usual. The bonus was much less traffic for the fleet to contend with.

Starts were well- behaved, although the full rigs did test their luck in the second start. They got lucky.

A number of sailors took the opportunity of gusts and some great waves to rehearse capsizing and righting their boats. On the basis that “practice makes perfect”, some members should be getting rather good at it.

From the vantage of the start boat, it seemed upwind tactics were about balancing the tradeoff between flat water and wind strength close to Point Piper. Downwind was all about surfing the waves. And staying upright (refer prevous paragraph).

Results:

On scratch:

In the first race, the Radial race was a tight battle between Martin White and Charlie Byford, and Charlie eventually prevailed. In full rigs, the appropriately named old Fool Craig Sheers (aka 'the flag thief') nailed the start and eventually snuck home ahead of Dave Newman.

In 2nd race, The Troublemaker Andrew Cox (again appropriately named) led home the Radials and Grant Lovelady was in front from start to finish in the full rigs.

On handicap:

A good day for club veterans in the Radials with Peter Collie and Richard George picking up wins. In the full rigs, Maxim won the 1st race and Thomas the 2nd.

Shoutout to Andrew Cox who stumbled upon Connor’s orphaned tiller extension as it floated down the harbour and passed it to the start boat.

Finally, as boats were being packed up there was a general consensus at the club that it was a great day’s racing on the water, so to all the softies scared of a little drizzle……harden up and get out on the water!

Photos by Elisabeth Tattersall

Point Score Results (1st / 2nd / 3rd):

Race 9

Standards - Thomas Beregi / Craig Sheers / Tim Heath = David Newman

Radials - Richard George / Peter Collie / Kirk Marcolina

4.7’s - Miles Greenwood / Zoe Allen / Jasper Kinsman

Race 10

Standards - Maxim Djura / Grant Lovelady / Nicholas Pellow

Radials - Peter Collie / Kirk Marcolina / Jeremy Vives

4.7s - Miles Greenwood / Jasper Kinsman / Zoe Allen

60 Seconds with John Sweeney

As a new feature in this newsletter, we are going to introduce new members to the club by asking them a few questions. This week, DBSC’s secretary Tory Epsworth caught up with new member John Sweeney:

How old were you when you first stepped on a boat?

I think I was seven, crewing on a Sabot called Nitro.

If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?

oneAustralia

What is your sailing goal?

Have fun, be part of the community and enjoy this great sport.

Tell us the back story to your Laser's name?

I’m still boat-less, but when it arrives, I’m thinking Rage Against the Machine - I love the band from the 90’s and it plays on the simplicity of the ILCA’s set up that I’m sure we all love.

If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?

Even more cheese

What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot)?

Yoga, Camping.

Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words?

Sabbatical year, next career pending...

What's the dream destination for your next trip? And why?

Adelaide - to participate in the Masters [Worlds] regatta.

What’s your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?

Mostly I watch podcasts on YouTube. Just read Perfume, by Patrick Süskind

Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?

I drove from London to Mongolia with a mate in a charity rally.

DBSC strongly represented at VIC State Championships

by James Tudball, Youth Engagement

A large contingent of DBSC members headed south down the Hume Highway last week for the VIC State Titles, held at Port Melbourne Yacht Club on November 25 + 26. There were some impressive trailer set ups to go along with very impressive on-water results, too!

The highly competitive fleets encountered varying conditions across the weekend, with patchy oscillations and generally choppy seas with 15 knot wind strengths. Congratulations to all members for a job well done, and a thank you to our Youth Coach, Josh Becker, who helped facilitate some tricky regatta logistics.

DBSC member results:

ILCA 4

7th Ben Costandi
16th Charlotte Jenkins
23rd Elouise Morgan

ILCA 6

3rd Sylvie Stannage
4th Brooke Wilson
14th Healy Ryan
23rd Cormac Johnson

ILCA 7

4th Brett Beyer
6th Zander Bijkerk
7th Julian Taylor
13th Hamish Crabb
14th Quentin Burns

CLICK HERE for the full results

Image credits: Josh Becker

WHAT'S GOING ON

Reminder from ILCA NSW & ACT (Kevin Phillips):

• Regular price entries for the Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships 1-8 January close on 30-Nov. Entries after that date will incur an additional $75 charge. Enter here. The Notice of Race is here. Organisers are expecting about 200 boats.

• The ILCA 6 Women's Worlds 3-10 January in Mar del Plata, Argentina, has a few places unfilled. Six Australian sailors are entered. Late entry here is closing on 12-Dec.

• There are also a few places available in the ILCA 7 Men's Worlds 24-31 January in Adelaide where a record 26 Australians are entered. The late entry closing date is 27-Dec. Application can be placed here.

• The ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 World Masters 2-10 February in Adelaide has 134 Australians entered so far and 220 total. Late entry closing date is 27-Dec. Entry applications can be placed here.

Upcoming DBSC activities:

Wednesday 29-Nov: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 30-Nov: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 02-Dec:

• Learn to Race (9AM)

• Combined Club Championship 9 & 10 / Spring Point Score 11 & 12 (2PM warning flag)

• BBQ after racing

Wednesday 06-Dec: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 07-Dec: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 09-Dec (end of Spring Season):

• Tyrell and Rousso Races (2PM warning)

• Christmas Party (7PM)

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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.

RACE REPORT 18 November 2023

Sprint Racing

LTRaR Pia Hattersley’s report:

Saturday saw a good turn out for sprint racing despite many club members being away in Canberra for the ACT/NSW State Championships (see next article). A northeasterly breeze of around 19 knots at times gusting up to 27, plus a smoking hot reach to the wing mark, made for 5 rapid sprint races and some pretty ragged looking sailors at the end of it all. Well done to those who stayed until the very end!

In the Standards, early on it was very much a tale of Luke vs visiting sailor Canada (197422), with Canada coming out on top with 5 straight golds. Rod and Grant were also in contention for races 4 and 5. In the Radials Ian, Geoff, Mike, Sara and Martin battled it out for first place and after some close duels they decided to split the gold and take one each. Well done also to Jasper Kinsman, 4.7 sailor who scored a couple of podium finishes.

Thanks to the on water and canteen crews for their assistance and to all sailors for another fantastic day on the water.

photos by Pia Hattersley and Elisabeth Tattersall and Scott Hunter

Results (and you thought we weren’t counting!):

Race 1

Standards - 197422 CAN, 222755 Luke

Radials - 217381 Ian, 218008 Geoff

4.7’s - Jasper Kinsman

Race 2

Standards - 197422 CAN, 222755 Luke

Radials - 218008 Geoff, 217381 Ian

4.7s - Jasper Kinsman

Race 3

Standards - 197422 CAN, 222755 Luke

Radials - 217835 Mike, 220063 Martin

Race 4

Standards - 197422 CAN, 218664 Rod

Radials - 216362 Sara, 220063 Martin

Race 5

Standards - 197422 CAN, 208376 Grant

Radials - 220063 Martin, 217381 Ian

Ferry Wharf Reconstruction Update

Just received from Transport for NSW:

“Good morning,

Work on the Double Bay Wharf Upgrade will be completed by the end of December 2023, weather permitting. Over the next few weeks, we will install the new pontoon and carry out wharf commissioning. A date for the wharf opening and ferry service recommencement will be shared soon.

Kind regards,

Wharf Upgrade Program project team”

Report on NSW/ACT State Open & Masters Championship 2023

DBSC’s Campbell Patterson reports on last weekend’s state championships hosted by Canberra YC.

Canberra served up a challenging track for us ILCA 7 sailors at the States over the weekend. Ultra-flat water, massive shifts and huge velocity differences across the course meant that the thinking cap was far more important than the legs. It was an opportunity for the old boys to shine (and shine they often did). In six races in 2-16 knots over 2 days I won every start (in my opinion), often at the pin end. Staying in the lead proved difficult, however, and Zander and Brett frequently found better pressure, passing me on downwinds or second beats. We raced with our top mark behind a mountain and with an island in the middle of the trapezoid, and it’s safe to say that every sailor benefited from favourable shifts and suffered severe frustration watching others sail around them in unreachable pressure. Zander had more patience, vision and cunning on the day and took the state title from me, with Beyer a close third and more DBSC members hot on our heels. Our members were out in great force, yet again showing who the best Laser/ILCA club in the world is.

ILCA7 NSW/ACT State Champ Zander Bijkerk

Congratulations also to ILCA 6 champion Healy Ryan, with Brooke Wilson second and Sylvie Stannage rounding out the podium, and ILCA 4 champion Miles Greenwood followed by Ben Costandi and Harriet McLachlan in second and third respectively. And to all the Double Bay sailors who participated and won their respective age divisions.

photo courtesy Canberra Yacht Club

For full results, please see here.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Don’t forget to RSVP for
the Christmas Party (December 9th) here.

Wednesday 22-Nov: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 23-Nov: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 25-Nov: Spring Point Score 9 & 10 (2PM warning flag)

Tuesday 28-Nov: Reach Youth Training (4:30PM ready)

Wednesday 29-Nov: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 30-Nov: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 02-Dec:

• Learn to Race (9AM)

• Combined Club Championship 9 & 10 / Spring Point Score 11 & 12 (2PM warning flag)

• BBQ after racing

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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.