Winter Series Race Results

A crystal blue sky, warm May temps, and a decent 10 to 12 knot westerly breeze enticed a fleet of over 25 sailors to participate in the opening heats of the first ever DBSC Winter Series last Sunday. The racing started promptly at 8:30am (causing some of the fleet to miss the first race) and we were off the water by 10:30am to enjoy some hot tomato soup on the deck courtesy of Paul Adam and Peter Collie. A shorter course and a combined fleet start (with the Radials starting one minute ahead of the standard rigs) made for a competitive and fun morning of racing. The winners for the day were, Full Rigs: Rod Barnes (heats 1 and 2), Anthony Scaly (heat 3); Radials: David Rogers (heat 1), Peter Heywood (heats 2 and 3). Full results are now available in the results section of our website. Thanks to Ian Alexander, Pippa Batchelor and Simon Stone for putting on a great day of early morning competition. 

The next instalment of the Winter Series will be on Sunday 20 May. A few things to remember if you’re racing with us in this series:

• Briefing time is 7.45am – rig and change before then
• Recommend splash at 8am LATEST – so you don’t miss the first race!
• Starts will have a horn sounded every minute – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 (SIs will be updated to reflect this).  If a horn is missed, the start will still proceed
• No other change to the starts – Radials start on 1 and Standards on 0.  Flags will remain unchanged from existing SIs
• There was discussion about removing the wing mark in a westerly – this will NOT occur. The course will remain as published
• The Brett Beyer Winter Program starts for the next races on 20 May – if you've signed up for this program, be early to get your GPS units and bibs and RETURN BIBS AFTER SAILING
• After sailing we have soup and bread, thanks to Paul Adam and Peter Collie – please stay and enjoy that on the front deck
• Max Dzhura will have results available about 30min after boats are derigged and results will be published on the website
• If you are a member and are planning to sail more than a few times, but are not rostered as PRO/COTD/Co-COTD (which you will know if you have not already received an email from Mark Crowhurst), please be fair to your clubmates and let us know

A perfect start to our Winter Series. Light winds inside Double Bay, gave way to a perfect 10 knots on the course. 

Upcoming Events

Sunday 13, May, 1pm start – Big boat racing

Sunday 20 May, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 4-6

Friday 25 May, 7pm –DBSC’s Annual General Meeting and end of season dinner at the clubhouse. Bring your partners and get ready for a great night. 

Saturday 26 May, 8am– Boat Licence Course.  Cost is $125 per person (with the club covering the remaining $125 cost). To reserve your spot please email Christine Linhart at c.linhart@unsw.edu.au.

Laser Events for 2018/19

We’re already gearing up for a big 2018/19 season of sailing. Here are some of the non-DBSC highlights for the upcoming laser sailing season:

Oceania and Australian Laser Championships: Devonport, Tasmania. 1st to 8th of January 2019. More info here.

Oceania Laser Masters: Denarau Island, Fiji, Standard rigs from the 13th – 19th October 2018, Radials rigs from 20th – 26th October 2018. More info here. 

The main NSW & ACT Laser District events for next season are:

• Coast Championships: Vaucluse Yacht Club, 27-28  October 2018
• State Championships: Canberra Yacht Club, 24-25 November 2018
• State Masters Championships: South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club, 2-3 March 2019
• Metropolitan Championships: Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, 16-17 March 2019

Advertising Your Laser for Sale

We have decided to allow members to advertise their boats for sale in the newsletter going forward.  We see this as both a service to sellers and to would-be buyers, who might not see a 'traditional' sign on our noticeboard.  Ads for a particular boat will take the form of “editorial copy”, and will be included for one week only. Please submit your listing to newsletter@dbsc.com.au, your ad will then appear in the following Wednesday's newsletter. (Please note, submissions must be received by 5pm Monday to appear in that week’s newsletter.) The Commodore has generously volunteered to road test the new system this week, joined by Dennis Kuhlmann (please see below).

In addition to this, the “boats for sale” section on the website will still remain – see revised usage instructions here. We encourage members to use this, and to post on our Facebook page: The Top Mark and the clubhouse noticeboard.

Lasers for Sale

Andrew Cox is selling his 2yr old boat, 210797.  The laser comes fully rigged as is, with aluminium top section, yellow laser foils, carbon tiller and extension, and a used sail.  It is available either with radial bottom section and sail (correct numbers) or with standard bottom section and Mark II sail (different numbers).  The price is $8,000, which is a discount to the price at which 210192 recently sold on equivalent spec.  Contact Andrew on 0412 445 667.  See details here.

Dennis Kuhlmann is selling his lightly used laser, 209271. The boat is ready to race with a radial sail that has only been used for eight hours. The set-up includes heaps of upgrades and extras. The price for this boat is $7,500. Check out the details and photos here. Please contact Dennis on 0405 217 587 for more information. 

Club Championship Wrap

We had 42 boats for the final Club Championship races of the season, in a 10-15kt southerly.

It was a somewhat eventful day, with the first attempt at Race 15 having to be abandoned mid-race at the insistence of the Port Authority, who required us to move our bottom mark further south due to an unusually large tanker that was scheduled to exit the harbour.  We re-ran Race 15 and then managed to squeeze in Race 16 before sunset, making for a long day on the water. We apologise to the fleet for the disruption and for the disadvantages it may have caused to people’s positions.

In the end, the 2017/18 Club Championship series was won in the Standards by Mark Bethwaite ahead of Rod Barnes and Luke Parker, in the Radials by Jack Littlechild ahead of Martin White and Matt Knight, and in the 4.7s by Brooke Wilson ahead of Sara Brooks and Daniel Costandi.  Well done to you all!

Thanks to our PRO, Jonathan Stone assisted by Ashley Deacon, as well as the on-water team of Andrew Cox, Dave Rogers and Gerard Cafe.  Photos taken by Andrew Cox are available here.

The Standard Fleet Prepares to Start

May Events

Sunday 6 May, 8:30am start – Winter Series Commences. It looks like we’ll have a large fleet and good weather. Come join us for the inaugural edition of the newest DBSC racing series. 

A few items to note regarding the Winter Series:

• If you plan on sailing in the series, please email your name and sail number to Max Dzhura here. Max has volunteered to be responsible for the results.
• There will be 3 races on each day of about 30 minutes’ duration.
• The course will be one triangle and one sausage.
• The starting sequence will be 5 minutes with the Radials and 4.7s to start at 4 minutes and the standards at 5 minutes.
• The series is conducted every second Sunday.

Sunday 13, May, 1pm start – Big boat racing

Sunday 20 May, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 4-6

Friday 25 May, 7pm –DBSC’s Annual General Meeting and end of season dinner at the clubhouse. Bring your partners and get ready to sing along and dance.

Saturday 26 May, 8am– Boat Licence Course (see details below)

Boat Licence Course – Saturday May 26th

We will be running a 1-day boat licence course at DBSC on May 26th from 8am - 4pm, provided by ABC Boating and financially supported by the club.

The course costs $250 per person, but members will pay just $125 to participate and the club will fund the other 50%. All members should have a boat licence if you perform PRO or COTD duties. It is also good for anyone who just enjoys being on the Harbour in a boat.

Spots will be allocated on a first-in basis. To reserve your spot, please email Christine Linhart (c.linhart@unsw.edu.au) with the subject "LAST NAME - Boat Licensing Deposit". Christine will then send you the details of how to make the payment of $125. After we receive payment, your spot in the course will be confirmed.

The weather policy on the day is go unless it's dangerous (e.g. lightning).  If you can't attend, it will be your obligation to find an alternate (we will help as long as it's not at the last minute). If you don't attend without covering your spot, you will be expected to reimburse the club for its contribution on your behalf (an additional $125).

You will need to provide your boat licence details to us for our records once you have obtained it. If you do not, we may request you cover the club's contribution for the course.

New Sailing Instructions

The Sailing Committee has tweaked the existing Sailing Instructions for the 2018/19 season (which begins with the Winter Series). You can check them out here. The two biggest changes follow:

• The Winter Championship will be conducted in accordance with the Sailing Instructions in general, with additional provisions specific to the Winter Championship in Annexure 6, which can be seen here.
• The Sailing Instructions now include the new sign on / sign off rule – no score will be recorded unless people sign on before racing and sign off within 30 minutes of the last on-water race committee member returning to shore.  Provisions for people signing on and off from other locations are yet to be finalised.  As a result, the new sign on / sign off provision will not operate for the Winter Championship.

Laser Oceania Masters in Fiji

The 2018 Fiji Oceania Laser Masters Championships will be held on the beautiful Denarau Island, Fiji, hosted by The Denarau Yacht Club.  Warm waters and great sailing breezes are a feature at the event venue, the luxurious Sofitel Resort and Spa. 

  The event will be run separately for Standard and Radial rigs:

• Standard rigs from the 13th – 19th October 2018 
• Radials rigs from 20th – 26th October 2018

A fleet of 100 PSA supplied brand new Lasers will be allocated for the event, just turn up and sail. The event web site HERE has links to the notice of race and all the information and links for charter and accommodation.