Race Report - Saturday 3 January 2026

All photos by Roberto Blum

Sprint Racing - 2026 kicks off with a bang!

On Saturday 3rd Jan we commenced our racing for the year, with a cranking 20+ knot nor'easter.  Where were you Pat Levy?! With the Nationals currently underway down in Hobart, we ran our popular sprints format.

The race management team of James Tudball, Yves Stenning, Rob Blum and Alban Delpey arrived to a flurry of activity at the club, as both the Cherub and 12ft Skiff Nationals are currently taking place at DBSC.  After a chat with their race team, we settled on a course deep in Double Bay for our Laser members, to ensure all fleets could peacefully coexist. 

20 x Lasers headed out to enjoy the champagne sailing conditions.  We even had an outgoing tide against the nor'easter, so there were some tasty waves to enjoy downwind.  As we started to churn through the races, we realised that the Radial fleet were looking a bit lethargic on the starting line.  Perhaps one too many champagnes on New Years Eve?  On every start the Radials were 1+ boat lengths behind the line.  On the other hand, the Standards were bang on every race - well played gents.

The racing was dominated by Geoff Kirk in the Radials.  He notched up at least 4 wins., though Martin White got the bullet in the last race.  In the Standards we had Barnesy enjoying a few wins, and a win each to Murray Stone and Connor Kellett. A shout out to Diana Chen who battled the conditions very nicely in the 4.7.

Out on the course we also had two guest sailors.  Shirley and Ross from Dún Laoghaire in Ireland used club boats to enjoy the great wind... and our warm water!  Shirley and Ross demonstrated some pretty handy skills and I hear they're considering a trip extension in order to race at the Masters at Port Stephens in Feb!  Shirley's daughter, Louise, also assisted us on the starting RIB - thank you, Louise!

Two other thanks...

1. Luke Parker for the loan of his RIB.  We also had a bit of fun getting off and on the floating dock at Double Bay Marina.  As Luke instructed us on the phone: 'Just drop the motor in, and GIVE IT HERBS!'  

2. Shirley Roach, Paul Adam and John Vasey.  I can see the club has been hectic over the New Year Period with the Cherubs and 12-foot skiff regattas.  These guys are doing a great job at facilitating their racing (on and off the water).  Hosting these two classes is important for our relationship with the 18-footers, so thanks Shirley, Paul and John for all of your hard work.

- James Tudball, PRO