79 Bay St
Double Bay NSW 2028
Australia

The best ILCA / Laser sailing club in the world, located in Double Bay on Sydney Harbour.

News

Race Report - Saturday 23 August 2025

Steven London

Windy Winter Sprints for Busy Bees

After a busy morning's work getting the club in shipshape ready for the new season and with gusts of over 30 knots being recorded on the Harbour, there was nervousness in the air for the afternoon's racing. The briefing was delayed by 30 minutes as we waited to see if it was going to build even more.

The morning activities combined with strong winds meant only a small Radial and 4.7 fleet turned out, but a strong contingent of Standards made it to the start line. The course was set, and the brave ones took on the elements as racing started at 1:30pm.

David Airey won the first Radials race and then decided it was faster to spend the second race upside down for an extended period (see image below). Harper Spacey showed the Radials how it was done with first in the next two races. And Julian Doumit came home strong in his 4.7 to win the fourth race (despite spending the first race making on-water repairs with help from the second support RIB)

In the Standards it was close matches between Campbell and Zander for top spot, with Campbell taking two and Zander one. A personal highlight of the day was seeing both of them wipe out around the bottom mark as a huge squall came through, which opened a gap for Tuddy to take the win in the fourth race. We were setting up for a fifth race, but everyone else had other ideas as they set sail for the club. There were some high speed runs and plenty of wipeouts all day, but congratulations to all those that took on the elements and won.

Thanks to Jim Dounis, Rob Blum, Robert and Sara Bruce for their help on the water. Also, a big shoutout to two of our youth sailors Olivia Aitken and Pat McLachlan who joined us on the start boat and took charge of the flags.

Scott Hunter (PRO)

Working Bee - Great Turnout! - Thank you

Steven London

Thank you to all members who attended the annual working bee. 57 members helped out in last Saturday, and with the fine sunny skies, volunteers tackled the following tasks and more:

  • Repainting the North facing walls on the deck

  • Replacing broken deck timbers (storing and stacking spare deck timbers)

  • Sweeping shed floor beneath the Laser racks and removal of old rubber sheets

  • Replacing corroded rack beams (F2, G2, H2, I2) and re-wrapping with carpet protectors.

  • Patch and re-paint the wall around the canteen and cleaning in the canteen

  • Clean out the change rooms

  • De-cluttering and cleaning the workshop and removal of rubbish.

  • Hoses maintenance and repairing the grate under the taps

  • Buoys and anchors audit and repair, and check the safety bags

  • Clean tables and chairs and tidy the handicapper’s desk

  • Jazzman: clean and tidy-up the cabin

  • Six Learn-To-Race club Lasers: clean, check rig, spars, rudders and gear; check club sails

  • Dolly repairs: fix broken axles and wheels, replacing noodles, gunwale protectors and splice rope lines

  • Cut, fit and prep a new front door on the club! (painting offsite to be continued)

Thank you, Diana for organising and Daryl for cooking up a great sausage sizzle for the hungry workers.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Chris Tattersall

Club Look-ahead Schedule

  • Friday 29 August: DBSC Sailors’ Season Opening Dinner

  • Saturday 30 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

  • Sunday 31 August: Reach Youth Training: 8:30am

  • Saturday 6 September: Summer Opening Club Championship Races 1 & 2

    • 1pm Briefing, 2:00pm First warning

    • BBQ on the Deck after racing

  • Sunday 7 September: Reach Youth Training: 8:30am

  • Saturday 13 September: Spring Point Score Races 1 & 2

  • Sunday 14 September: Reach Youth Training: 8:30am

  • The Double Bay Regatta - Saturday 11 October - Save the Date!


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 16 August 2025

Steven London

Winter Sprints Run by REACH Youth Sailors

Well, I drew the short straw this week, or the long one, depending on how you look at it. Instead of bobbing around the Harbour in a Laser, I got the honour of sitting on the RIB and spectating. Considering what the breeze was doing, I reckon I was pretty lucky.

We set off with some light rain, but it didn’t last long, although it lingered in the background. The wind decided it would pick up the slack and misbehave instead. From the very first minutes on the water, it was obvious this wasn’t going to be one of those “set and forget” days. The breeze couldn’t decide where it wanted to come from, so it tried everywhere. I started feeling less like a race officer and more like a weather app with 1% accuracy, just making far fetched guesses, and hoping no one noticed.

There was only one person 'over' the whole day who self-nominated and made a mess of their start faster than we could catch up, they did make a comeback, however, so props to them. By race three, we gave up on the rule book and shortened things in a way that World Sailing wouldn’t have approved of, but I would have, had I been racing, and frankly, I wasn’t prepared to wait half an hour for the fleet to go 100m.

All told, it was a decent day out. For the sailors: a test of patience, anger management, and keeping your sense of humour. For the race committee: a chance to stay dry-ish, avoid the misery of drifting backwards on a Laser, and watch everyone chase the breeze and never find it, or at least not enough of it. 

On a serious note, thanks to the team this week: Zoe, Elouise, Charlie, Wendell, and Craig. Course changes were dealt with very efficiently and a good job done. Thanks as well to Tuddy, Van, and Steve for their work with the club and our youth program, hopefully after these 2 weeks of running the races for everyone, the youth team appreciates the pains a race committee has to go through every week. We’ll see you on the water next week, I hear there's some time on the tools required beforehand but it's all part of the fun.

by Healy Ryan

Working Bee - This Saturday from 8am-11am

Steven London

Don’t Forget, calling all Members!!! Come down and help maintain our club this Saturday.

The annual working bee will be conducted this Saturday 23rd August from 8am. This is an event that takes considerable planning to ensure our club is ready to run smoothly for the summer season. All members are expected to attend – there is a large amount of work to be done. If you are unable to attend on the day, please contact the Commodore, Steven London, and arrange for a job to be undertaken at a time convenient to you. Sprint Races will be held afterward (12pm Briefing 1pm First Warning)

Announcing The Double Bay Regatta 2025

Steven London

Save the Date: Saturday, 11th October 2025

This year DBSC will be hosting the inaugural Double Bay Regatta. A day to celebrate Laser racing in Double Bay, it is open to all Laser ILCA sailors.

Three races will be held on this single day event on Saturday, 11th October 2025 in the waters off Double Bay in Sydney Harbour.
Cash Prizes will be awarded to winners in ILCA 4, ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 divisions, and the winner of each class will get their name on the Mark Bethwaite Trophy, named after our club legend.

The Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions and Registration will be issued shortly. Until then, lock this date into your sailing calendar.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Chris Tattersall

Club Look-ahead Schedule

  • Saturday 23 August:

    • Working Bee - All Members (8:00am start)

    • Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

  • Friday 29 August: DBSC Sailors’ Season Opening Dinner

  • Saturday 30 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

  • Saturday 6 September: Summer Opening Club Championship Races 1 & 2

    • 1pm Briefing, 2:00pm First warning

    • BBQ on the Deck after racing


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 9 August 2025

Chris Tattersall

Winter Sprints with a Championship Twist!

Last weekend we had volunteer PROs Dr Martin Gill and Gaye Rosen joining us on the start boat to run the racing, and so for this sprints day we ran a mini Champs course. A few showers around made for a gusty/shifty S to SSE course just off Double Bay, with blue sky breaking through on occasion. The course was set South and as the wind tended more to the SSE for the second race, we adjusted the course more to the SSE for the third.

Martin Gill our PRO had his wind instrument up on the Jazzman, and we made great use of his self-written app which showed the wind swinging from 20deg on one side of the course to 20 degrees on the other. Excellent information for deciding on course changes.

We look forward to welcoming new members Martin and Gaye as our PROs on our Club Championship Race days this Season. Please say hi to them and make them feel welcome at the next Championship Race day in Spring.

The short course we had set made for tight racing for the small ILCA 6 fleet, and in the First Race David Airey was 1st over the line, closely followed by Martin White in 2nd, and Brad Cox 3rd. Then it was Martin White winning with a clear lead in the Second Race with Andrew Cox 2nd, David Airey 3rd. Then Martin White again clear ahead in the Third Race was 1st, with Brad Cox (visiting us for the day) in 2nd, Andrew Cox 3rd.

In the larger ILCA7 fleet, the First Race saw Yves Stening 1st over the line (after James and Rod worked through a port vs starboard which slowed them somewhat), followed by Geoffrey Boscoe in 2nd, Patrick Black 3rd. Rod and James continued to compete for the front of the fleet in the second race, where Rod Barnes prevailed in 1st and James Tudball 2nd, Jason Wilkins 3rd. Then in the Final race James Tudball took 1st and Rod Barnes 2nd, Mike Dunne 3rd.

This week we only had one ILCA 4. We welcomed new member Ben Philips, who mixed in with the ILCA 6 fleet. Hopefully we will see more members return to racing this week as the weather returns to more sunshine and less rain!

Thank you to our on-water team lead by Dr Martin Gill and Gaye Rosen as PRO, Steven London as LtRaR, COTD Kerryn Smith and Quentin Burns. Thanks also to our canteen captain Paul Adam (assisted by Geofrey Bosce). Everyone should know that Toasties are now available every Saturday race day, so come and see Paul in the canteen!

by Steven London

Working Bee - Saturday 23rd August from 8am

Steven London

Calling all Members!!! The annual working bee will be conducted on Saturday 23rd August from 8am. This is an annual event that takes considerable planning to ensure our club is ready to run smoothly for the summer season. All members are expected to attend – there is a large amount of work to be done. If you are unable to attend on the day, please contact the Commodore, Steven London, and arrange for a job to be undertaken at a time convenient to you.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Chris Tattersall

Club Look-ahead Schedule

  • Saturday 16 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

  • Saturday 23 August:

    • Working Bee - All Members (8:00am start)

    • Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

  • Friday 29 August: DBSC Sailors’ Season Opening Dinner

  • Saturday 30 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)


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.