RACE REPORT - SATURDAY 7 September 2024

Photos by Justine Scott

Club Championship Races 1 & 2

By David Huber (LtraR)

The first serious race of the season and we start with the first championship round.  A beautiful day on to be on the harbour.  It started out sunny but then became overcast.  A breeze out of the south-east gradually turning slightly east particularly later in the day.  The course was set in the Dardenelles without too much competition from the Etchelles (apart from one entanglement).  Only one general recall (for the over-enthusiastic Standard fleet)  The breeze started at around 10kts and built slightly to gusts of 12-15kts and relatively steady.  Gusts came through in the centre of the course and it seemed that going too far either side spelt trouble.  The Radials had a master (mistress?) class from Sylvie who won by large margins in both races.

Congratulations to Sylvie Stanage, Healy Ryan, Alistair Sutherland, Sara Bruce, Roberto Blum and Miles Greenwood in the Radials.  In the Standards Campbell Patton, Luke Parker, James Tudball and Daniel Costandi.

Thank you to the PRO Mike Dunn, COTD Charles Byford, CoCOTD Justine Scott for a great course and race organisation, and Robert Bruce on the RIB reserve.

Championship BBQ on the Deck

After sailing we were treated to a BBQ on the deck cooked by Pat Levy. A huge thankyou to Shirley Roach and Hannah Stone for putting it all together (Paul was unable to be there on the day but had prepared stewed rhubarb and cream for desert. What a treat!

Learn-to-Race this Saturday

Reminder from our volunteer coach Martin White that Learn to Race (Lasers) at Double Bay Sailing Club is on this Saturday morning, 14 September, commencing at 9am.

LTR is for genuine prospective new members – a ‘try before you join’ arrangement. Also current members wishing to develop their sailing skills. This year we hold LTR on the second and forth Saturday morning of each month during our main sailing season (i.e. Sept-April) from 9am to 12 noon.

Requirements: basic helming ability, ideally in dinghies. We are squad-based and one-on-one coaching time is very limited, so this is also a safety requirement.

Our coaching team consists of experienced and friendly Laser sailors with the skills and knowledge to help you improve your sailing skills.

Boat hire is $30 per session payable on the day. No charge for assistance and coaching.  

Please complete these forms by this Friday if you have not yet done so:
https://www.dbsc.com.au/learn-to-race

Free Temporary Sailpass is required for non members: 
https://www.revolutionise.com.au/doublebaysc/registration/

Members and non-members: please advise Martin by this Friday if you are planning to attend so he can allocate boats and support volunteers email: LTR@dbsc.com.au

WHAT'S GOING ON

Annual Member Competency Training Morning

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday 19 October 2024 from 9am - 12pm before racing.
We are asking ALL members to plan to attend our annual Competency Training on the morning of Saturday, 23 November.
No matter how experienced you are, your attendance is required. There will be 3 stations based around Safety and Frist Aid, Race Management and Club Gear (laying marks, anchors, ribs, davits, radios)

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Saturday 14 September

  • Learn-to-Race: 9am

  • Spring Point Score Races 1 & 2 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

    • Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP)

• Saturday 21 September

  • Club Championship Races 3 & 4 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

    • BBSP

  • BBQ on the Deck after racing

• Saturday 28 September

  • Learn-to-Race: 9am

  • Spring Point Score Races 3 & 4 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

    • BBSP

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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.

Season Opening Dinner - Sailors & Volunteers 2024

(Photos Peter Collie)

Double Bay Sailors and Volunteers got dolled up for a smashing night out with a bit of knees up at the Lord Dudley last Friday. All our favorite British Icons came out of the woodwork to shake off the winter blues and celebrate the traditional opening of the sailing season.

We were chuffed to bits to catchup for a chinwag, eating the scrummy pub fare, listening to classic British tunes (cheers Tuddy Elton), when our favorite football hooligan got up and hosted a pub quiz! (Ta muchly Master Pellow it certainly hit the back of the net!).

Right so, we crack on talking poppycock till the wee small hours, shootin pool till we were snookered by our very own secretary. And then blimey before you know it we were cream crackered and almost three sheets to the wind when we hit the frog and toad.

Cheers! And look forward to seeing everyone at our first Summer Championship Series race this Saturday.

- The Gaffer

Brett Beyer Saturday Program 2024

LAST CHANCE - Sign up today - CLICK HERE

We are delighted to announce that Brett Beyer will offer his popular Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP) this season at DBSC. 
Brett is an Olympic coach and 15-time Laser Masters World Champion.
There will be 8 Saturday sessions from September to December:

7 September, 14 September, 21 September, 28 September, 19 October, 2 November, 9 November, 21 December.

The cost of the program is $600 (plus merchant fees) per subscriber. We need at least 20 subscribers to proceed. The terms of the program and sign-up form can be found here.

BBSP subscribers will carry a GPS during each race (and a program bib), and will later receive a report and animation showing their GPS tracks vs the fleet, together with fleet-level commentary on each leg, and also a video with commentary of the starts. Subscribers will have access to Brett to ask questions on the water before and after each race (not during the races), and can also later ask questions on the weekly report.

WHAT'S GOING ON

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Saturday 7 September is DBSC Spring Season Opening Day

  • Club Championship Races 1 & 2 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

  • BBQ on the Deck after racing

• Saturday 14 September

  • Learn-to-Race: 9am

  • Spring Point Score Races 1 & 2 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

• Saturday 21 September

  • Club Championship Races 3 & 4 (1pm briefing, 2pm first warning)

  • BBQ on the Deck 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.

RACE REPORT - SATURDAY 24 August 2024

Photos by Katie McHugh

Winter Sprint Racing

By Andrew Simpson

This was the last of the sprint race series, and the annual DBSC Working Bee in the morning ensured a good turnout, with helpers hanging around to sail in the afternoon, meaning a fleet of around 40 took to the water.

The morning weather was a little overcast with the odd shower and a Northerly breeze which the course was set to. By the time racing started at 1.00PM, the clouds had cleared, the sun was out, and the wind had shifted towards the NW and strengthened. The course was adjusted accordingly. The wind continued even more West for a while, meaning a big left bias on the first race, but returned back to a steadier NW of between 10 and 20 kts for the rest of the afternoon. Once the start line was tweaked again, the final 3 races of 5 were on a pretty true course.

We decided to start the Standards ahead of the Radials to avoid them sailing over the Radials, but Sylvie Stannage managed to sail right through that fleet anyway and won by just pipping the first full rig on the line. After that the full rigs pulled their fingers out and finished ahead of the very fast Sylvie who led the Radials home all afternoon.  Hamish Crabb mostly led in the Standards with Luke Parker close by - Luke winning one race despite a 360-penalty handed out by the PRO just before the finish line due to a start line indiscretion.

Races ran to 20 mins, so everyone had a good workout and warmup in preparation for the season start.

Thanks to Robert Bruce (LTRaR), Kate McHugh (COTD) and James Gosling (CoCOTD) for their assistance

Swarm of Worker Bees at Working Bee!!

Thankyou to all members who helped this year in our hugely successful Annual Club Working Bee and especially to vice commodore Rod Barnes for organising us and keeping us on task.

There were those who came down for the early shift at the 6am low tide - removing the rubble, rocks and glass from the beach around the new Eastern Ramp (thankyou Luke Parker for organising), and then a larger group of members were working from 8am to 11am before racing.
We had a record 60 members helping out on the day! A tribute to our volunteer club culture - coming together to support the club.

We managed to get all of our annual maintenance tasks done including: dollie maintenance, rack carpets tighten and replace, workshop cleanout and tidy up, showers and bathrooms cleaning, changeroom walls patch-ups and painting, safety gear and buoys audit and fix-up, splicing new lines for anchors and dollies, sweep out and clear the floor under the racks, cleaning tables and chairs, tidy handicappers desk, club boats maintenance and clean, LTR sails audit, clean rubbish off the southern deck, kitchen tidy and clean, cladding repairs, replacing various floor and deck boards, install new grate at washdown taps, cleanout the Jazzman and the two RIBs, various door and window seals and bolts. Thankyou Geoff Kirk who has also arranged for other trade repairs around the club - fixing gutters and other specialised fixes.

Brett Beyer Saturday Program 2024

Don’t Delay - Sign up today - CLICK HERE

We are delighted to announce that Brett Beyer will offer his popular Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP) again this season at DBSC.  Brett is an Olympic coach and 15-time Laser Masters World Champion. We are very fortunate to have him working with us!
There will be 8 Saturday sessions from September to December:

7 September, 14 September, 21 September, 28 September, 19 October, 2 November, 9 November, 21 December.

The cost of the program is $600 (plus merchant fees) per subscriber. We need at least 20 subscribers to proceed. Please subscribe as soon as possible - as we need to confirm numbers. The terms of the program and sign-up form can be found here.

BBSP subscribers will carry a GPS during each race (and a program bib), and will later receive a report and animation showing their GPS tracks vs the fleet, together with fleet-level commentary on each leg, and also a video with commentary of the starts. Subscribers will have access to Brett to ask questions on the water before and after each race (not during the races), and can also later ask questions on the weekly report.

Another Work-on-your-Boat Day

Now that everyone’s spent a day on the tools sprucing up the clubhouse, Maxim Djura is once more hosting a boat hull maintenance session on Saturday, August 31st, starting at around noon. This is a perfect time to give some love to your boat and get her ready for the upcoming season! Most of what we need is in the workshop, except a buffing machine — please bring one if someone has one.

Please email Maxim if you have any questions.