Train with an Olympian

There will be training every Sunday morning in August, with an 8am splash.  Mark Bethwaite has committed to be there each week and all sailors attending the Worlds, together with any others who wish to join, are encouraged to attend.

Mark at the 2016 Laser Master World Championships

Big Boats Race Sunday

The next big boat race (the third of the winter races) is scheduled for this Sunday, August 6; with a 1.00pm start. Please let Jonathan know if you can make it by emailing him at jonathanston@gmail.com.

New Ranking Rules for World Masters Championships

There is a new ALCA ranking policy for Australian Laser Sailors who apply for entry to ILCA World Masters Championships. The new policy is can be viewed online here:  http://www.lasersdownunder.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/ALCA-Laser-World-Masters-Ranking-Policy.pdf
 
The new policy will apply for the September 2018 World Masters in Dun Laoghaire Ireland and ongoing.
 
Up until the 2017 Masters in Split Croatia all Australian masters applicants have been offered a place. With the increased popularity of the event, the desire to run Radial and Standard rig fleets at the same time, venue capacity and charter boat limitations some applicants will likely miss out in Split. Consequently it was considered by the ALCA that a fairer ranking system was needed.
 
The new ranking arrangements are based on results at Worlds, National and District Masters Championships rather than the old one which was based on the order of placement of online entry applications.
 

Tell Us How to Make DBSC Better

Our unofficial motto at DBSC is “The Best Laser Sailing Club in the World”.  Now we’re looking for your feedback on how to make the best even better! In the coming days, you will receive an email from DBSC with a SurveyMonkey survey asking for your feedback on how we can continue to develop and improve the club and our various activities for members.

There are only 10 questions and should only take 5-minutes to complete. We believe this is the first such survey undertaken by the club. It represents a commitment from the management committee to ensure all members have a voice and that people's ideas are heard and considered. We appreciate you taking the time to respond, and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Youth and Great Grand Master Meet with Worldwide Success

Over the last few days, the 2017 Laser 4.7 Youth World Championships were held in Niuewpoort, Belgium. Congrats to all our DBSC sailors who made the massive trip overseas to compete on the world stage and to learn so much with international competition. 

Here are the results:

Boys - 234 Competitors

Zac West in Action

Gold fleet
7th Zac West - Huge Congrats!
28th Jack Littlechild
51st Mark Louis

Silver Fleet
53rd Daniel Costandi

Girls - 115 Competitors

Gold Fleet
21st Sylvie Stannage

Not to be outshined by the youth, the top end of our fleet dominated closer to home. In April, Mark Bethwaite competed at the World Masters Games, held at the Torbay Sailing Club in Auckland, NZ. Mark performed wonderfully in a very competitive fleet and outsailed many competitors who were decades younger. He came home with the Laser Standard Great Grand Master Gold Medal, adding to his suite of many world titles. Congratulations Mark on your well-deserved win.

Congested mark roundings at the 2017 World Masters Games were no problem for Bethwaite 

Vale Keith Piggin

Double Bay Sailing Club farewells Keith Piggin, one of the great figures in the club’s history.

Keith was the son of one of the club’s founders, Ross Piggin, who contributed the first £10,000 to the club and whose shed at the end of Beach Street was used as the club’s initial boat storage facility.

Keith was one of the original “youngsters” who sailed Vaucluse Juniors with the club when it was formed in 1956.  He continued his membership into adulthood, and was President from 1986 to 1997.

Under his leadership, a strong financial base was built, new RIBs were purchased, marks and flags were upgraded, race management systems were modernised, working relationships with the Australian 18-footers League and Sydney High School were formed, and the clubhouse his father had built was maintained and improved.  Most importantly, Keith’s personal skills of friendship and fairness developed a congenial culture that inspired membership. 

The results were demonstrable.  The club became known for its quality racing and welcoming culture, and membership grew steadily, attracting members from around the harbour, and doubling the size of the Laser fleet.

Keith’s contribution provided a legacy that the club still enjoys to this day, attracting the largest laser fleets on Sydney Harbour each weekend, and characterised by a high standard of racing competition and an active and inclusive social community.

Keith was made a life member of the club in 1990.  He will be missed and not forgotten.

Keith’s funeral will be held at St Mark’s Darling Point at 12.30pm this Friday, 21 July, followed by a wake at Double Bay Sailing Club from 2pm. 

Many hands make light work

We had a very successful working bee on Saturday.  43 club members attended and contributed to an unbelievable hive of activity. All the boats were removed from the club and made quite a display on the lawn. 

One member, who had somehow escaped the mailing list, was driving past and noticed all the boats out.  He thought he was missing out on a regatta, so came for a look – and was promptly press-ganged into action!

Mark Bethwaite and Geoff Kirk led a crew of skilled craftsmen, who converted the SHS racks to laser racks.  We took the opportunity of an empty club to cut off all the old carpet on the eastern side and replace it with new, which was seamlessly executed by a swarm of cutters, wrappers and tapers, too many to name here, but all noticed individually for their extremely hard work and commitment.

Jim Dounis, Josh Kirton and Peter Collie drew the short straws – working under the clubhouse in freezing water, spraying fungus off the beams and floorboards with high-pressure gurneys, and ending up covered in what can only be described as “wood goo”.  The occasional jet came up through the floorboards, just to make sure the carpet team didn’t get too comfortable in their warm, dry environment. 

Andrew Simpson, John Verco, Ashley Deacon and Geoff Boscoe led the painting efforts.  The north wall now looks brand new.  And John Verco has generously donated even more time to come back during the week and finish the south wall!  One timber element had a large amount of rot to remove, and is now a fine example of the building trade’s best kept secret – “builders’ bog”.  Bet you can’t tell!

At one point, in a fine demonstration of modern OH&S, Andrew Simpson was working at one end of an aluminium plank, cantilevered out over the water, supported by nothing other than three able-bodied gents standing on the other end.  He assured us he had drawn upon his engineering expertise in calculating the moment of inertia in his head.  Fortunately, his three helpers had the presence of mind not to depart their stations a few minutes later when asked to help with something else.

Martin White and Simon Stone got the club lasers in ship shape, Gerry Donohoe did some work on the Jazzman, and Alistair Sutherland, Fergus Pitt and Richard George took a break from the carpet gang to remove a mountain of rubbish from the south deck, which has never before looked as tidy as it does now. 

Then everyone came together at the end to join the fray in returning all the boats to their newly allocated rack spots, and to pull the Dene Bergman out of the water for service, an event that was fittingly supervised by the other Dene Bergman, before Paul Adam and Andrea Bergman served a hearty lunch to the hungry workers, who wolfed it down while enjoying the balmy sunshine on the front deck. 

Clare and Charlotte Alexander captured the whole day on social media, including several live feeds.  Mark Crowhurst, who was on a plane to Singapore, texted to let us know the random person next to him, was taking an interest – note to self, don’t sit next to Mark on a plane!

Thank you again to everyone who participated in what was a very successful and productive day for the club.

Rack allocations

When you next arrive at the club, you are likely to find your boat in a different place.  This is as a result of our periodic rack re-allocation, made more significant this time by the availability of 15 brand new racks!

We assign racks based on a number of criteria, the most important of which are:

• How often you sail – Saturday races, Wednesday twilights, self-sail / training, learn to race
• How much you help – committee membership, other volunteering, significant recent past service

We will revisit rack allocations again around year end.

But in the meantime, we have 10 spare racks that we want to fill. 

If you have any friends, relatives, colleagues or strangers that would like to give it a go, we can get them into one of the club’s hire boats for either one-on-one starter training with an experienced coach or learn-to-race on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month, starting in September. 

Put out the word!

Lost Property - Sails

During the working bee several sails were found that we struggled to assign to a current member. Please email Martin White at mwhite@universalmagazines.com.au if any of these sails belong to you:

Standard sails numbered:

• 177081 – was around a tube marked ‘Jessica’ 
• 177734
• 193394

Radial sail numbered:

• 181982

If the owners do not come forward the sails will be discarded as they are not needed. 

Please Help This Saturday

The winter working bee is on this Saturday, 15 July at 8am. Thanks to all those who have already committed to coming, but there are heaps of jobs and we still need more hands to help out. If you haven’t done so already, please email Andrew Cox ASAP at ar.cox@bigpond.com to confirm your attendance.

Also, remember that all boats and equipment will be moved out of the shed so it would be a good idea to label all your gear before then. We will try to keep property together, but will take no responsibility for missing items.  The best way to safeguard your gear is to come to the working bee!