Winter Series Race Report

It was quite a different day to our previous two Winter Championship outings. A stiff Southerly blew in at a challenging 15 – 18 knots with some much higher gusts. Add to that, on and off rain showers made for a challenging day of racing.  Despite the less than perfect weather, nearly 25 sailors competed in heats 7-9 of the Winter Championship. 

The winners for the day were, Full Rigs: Sail Number 181703* (see below) (heat 7); David Newman (heats 8 and 9); Radials / 4.7s: Andrew Cox (heat 7 and 8), and Martin White (heat 9). Full results are now available in the results section of our website. Thanks to the race volunteers and to Campbell Patton’s Dad, Tim for serving up the great homemade soup to warm us up at the end of the morning. 

Max Dzhura, who is keeping our winter series results needs your help in finding out the names for some anonymous sailors who raced last Sunday.  Please let him know here if you are the sailor or know the owner of any of these boats: 181703 (a full rig sailor, finished first in the first race), 199028 or 202561. Thanks for your help. 

Rainbow Racing. Photo by Clare Alexander

Upcoming Events

Sunday 17 June, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 10-12

Sunday 24 June, 8am– Boat Licence Course. For details and registration please click here. 

Big Boat Report

Written by Jonathan Stone

It was a wintry day. A cold southerly had been blowing for some days, and would blow for several more. Rain in the morning was discouraging but the conditions eased a little as the race approached - some sunshine, the wind easing slightly to 20 knots (with gusts to 25 nots)

In the race itself (from notes provided by Chris), Corinna won the start narrowly from Smitten with Sanity about a minute and a half late.  By Taylors Bay Sanity had almost caught Corinna with Smitten in close company.  Sanity continued to show speed and, at the bottom mark (Sow’n Pigs), led by about 2 minutes from Corinna with Smitten still in touch.

On the work back up the harbour Sanity showed power and speed to carve out a 10 minute lead from Corinna, who dug too deep into Rose Bay and did not play the shifts well.  Smitten did well up to Shark island but lost ground on the final leg to be about 8 minutes behind Corinna.

After the race, gentle sunlight kept us warm as crews from on all three boats sat on the deck, with drinks hot or cold. The wind was very fresh but all boats had handled it comfortably, and all had enjoyed.

Thank you John for coming out on such a cold, cold day, to give the fleet a start. Greatly appreciated.

We race next on July 1.

AGP Festivities Roar On Till 5am

On Friday 25 May DBSC held an Annual General Meeting like no other. Renamed the Annual General Party, the event lived up to its new moniker, with the last revellers exiting the clubhouse at 5am!  The evening started in a refined manner with cocktails and entrées on the deck followed by the official AGM. 

A beautiful start to the AGP.

The highlight of the “official” portion of the evening was Clare Alexander being named as Club Person of the Year. Clare’s never-ending enthusiasm and dedication to the club were recognised – whether it be helping on the Jazzman every week, serving as club Secretary, working to increase and celebrate women’s sailing, or her overall welcoming spirit, Clare is certainly a positive force at our club and is a very worthy recipient of DBSC’s most prestigious award. It was clear on the night that Clare was very excited about the honour. On Facebook she beamed, “You never do these things for any sort of accolade or praise but to be acknowledged in this forum was truly magical and I am so very grateful. Thank you to all my friends and family at DBSC!” Congratulations Clare!

Clare Alexander wins Club Person of the Year. Photo by Peter Collie

In addition to Clare’s award, all the 2017/18 sailing awards were presented (see complete list below) and Mark Bethwaite was inducted as an Honorary Life Member. We wish Mark all the best as he travels to sail in warmer climates during our winter months, and look forward to welcoming him back next summer. 

Mark Bethwaite with Shirley Roach. Photo by Peter Collie

All the Management Committee members then presented reports. By all accounts the state of the club is good. The last year saw DBSC gain 24 new members (including 6 new female members), 80 new initiatives, 15 new laser racks (which were all full during the season), and 3 successful grants, bringing in $18K to the club. Before the conclusion of the AGM, Commodore Andrew Cox and his Management Committee were re-elected and we look forward to another successful season under their leadership.

After the necessary formalities were out of the way, the evening took on a more festive tone. A delicious dinner was served up by Paul Adam and all the helpers in the kitchen, including Shirley Roach, Christine Patton, and many others who lent a hand.  

After dinner, the clubhouse was transformed into a full-on nightclub and Double Bay Sailing Club has never seen anything like it. A member-based rock band thumped out the greatest songs of all time, and everyone else cut loose on the dance floor. The band was led by the very talented professional front man and keyboardist, Gerard Masters, who has an incredible talent for cooking up a frenzy! He very generously gave his time, as did awesome professional guitarist, Sebby Bartels. Both are anchor musicians in James Tudball's highly-demanded White Tree bands, which specialise in weddings, parties, corporate gigs, and whatever. And then there were our talented club members, James Tudball on drums, Andrew Cox on bass, Finn Alexander on guitar, and the star of the show, Marty Trembath, on bagpipes. Special thanks to John Vasey who used his music industry connections to source donations of lighting and staging. After that thumping, we've had to ask the engineer to update his structural report on the piles.

Nightclub DBSC. Photo by Peter Collie

The conga line on the dance floor went on into the early hours of Saturday, with the heartiest partiers stumbling out of the clubhouse at 5am. Thankfully they didn’t need to tidy up thanks to the clean-up brigade of Shirley Roach, Mark Bethwaite, Peter Collie, John Vasey, Ian Alexander and Clare Alexander who came back Sunday morning to make sure the club was spick and span.

The Party Spills onto the Deck. Photo by Nick Pellow

Thanks to everyone who made this memorable event a great success. We’re already looking for next year’s edition!

Upcoming Events

Sunday 3 June, 7:45 briefing / 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 7-9 and BBWP. Hopefully our streak of good winds and weather will continue.  

A few items to note: 

• Make sure to stay off the newly planted turf, and rig on beach
• Make sure you leave no later than 8am for the start as the predicted Westerly breeze is light and fluky inside Double Bay

Sunday 3 June, 1pm start – Big boat racing

Sunday 17 June, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 10-12

Sunday 24 June, 8am – Boat Licence Course. For details and registration please click here. 

Reduce Your Tax Bill

Looking for a way great way to support one of our DBSC sailors achieve greatness, and reducing your tax bill at the same time?

Click on the link below to donate to Finn Alexander via the Australian Sports Foundation.

https://asf.org.au/athletes/finn-alexander-laser-campaign/

All donations will go directly to Finn, helping him fund his 2018/19 campaign. 

Your support will make a difference.

Help Support Finn!

2017/18 Winners

Below is a list of all the trophy winners awarded at last Friday’s AGM. Congratulations everyone!

• Laser Radial Spring Point Score – Robert Young
• Laser Standard Spring Point Score – Geoff Boscoe 
• Laser Radial Autumn Point Score – Martin White
• Laser Standard Autumn Point Score – Murray Stone
• Richard Tyrrell Trophy – Richard George
• Mano Rousso Trophy – Martin White
• Graham Reed Trophy – Jack Littlechild
• Dene Bergman Trophy – Matt Faddy
• Big Boat Challenge – Chris Bowling
• Masters’ Laser Radial Club Championship – Martin White
• Masters’ Laser Radial Club Championship – Mark Bethwaite 
• Laser 4.7 Club Champion – Brooke Wilson
• Laser Radial Club Champion – Jack Littlechild
• Laser Standard Club Champion – Mark Bethwaite

Boat Licence Course Succeeds

Just a few hours after the end of the AGP, 7 members managed to make it back to the club for an all-day boat licencing course from ABC Boating.  Despite some rather large hangovers, the course went very well, with everyone passing with flying colours. That’s 9 more well-trained members – if you still don’t have your licence yet, there is another course running on Sunday 24 June. Don’t miss this opportunity, sign up here.

Big Boat Report

Written by Chris Bowling

The Big Boats raced last Sunday. This race was a replacement for the cancelled race two weeks ago.  The forecast light sea breeze arrived pretty much on time but stayed below 10 knots, with holes.  Just enough to race. Two boats raced - Corinna and Chenonceau.  By agreement we decided no spinnakers.

Race 1 was to go around Shark island and return. Corinna went east and picked up a private puff to gain a good lead. In the light going we chose to shorten course to round the Point piper mark and run back to Clark to re-start. Chenonceau closed part of the gap on the run but Corinna had a clear win.

In race 2 it was Chenonceau who went east and found the shift, giving her about a two minute lead at the island. Corinna gave chase on the run, going wide into the middle of the harbour, and at one point looked to have taken back the lead. But on the final part of the run Chenonceau had a good angle while Corinna had to run square, so Chenonceau pulled away again to a 100 metre win.

Honours equally divided on a pleasant winter afternoon.

Winter Championship Race Report

A beautiful crisp, sunny autumn day and a near perfect 12-15 knot Westerly greeted the 25 sailors who competed in heats 4-6 of the Winter Championship. A fluky, very light breeze in Double Bay caused some competitors to miss the start of the first race, and the combined starts, with a horn at every minute, did throw a bit of confusion into the mix. But all in all, three very competitive races were run by Clare Alexander and Finn Alexander on the Jazzman and Martin White and David Rogers on a rib. The winners for the day were, Full Rigs: David Newman (heat 4), Ian Alexander (heats 5 and 6); Radials / 4.7s: Pat Levy (heat 4), Jack Sywak (heat 5), and Andrew Cox (heat 6). Full results are now available in the results section of our website. Thanks to Paul Adam and Tim Patton for the yummy tomato soup to warm us up at the end of the morning. 

We had the beautiful Sunday morning harbour to ourselves for heats 4-6 of the Winter Championship. Photo by Clare Alexander