Video of the Week

Mike and Jerry’s Irish cousins prefer cruising to racing:

Tyrell and Rousso Wrap-up

It was a sparkling clear, warm Sydney afternoon with a strengthening north easter and an outgoing tide – what a great day for our annual Christmas fixtures, the Tyrell and the Rousso. 

These are prestigious races, each with a perpetual trophy that includes some lofty names in sailing. And they are a fun format too. 

The Rousso is a scratch race with a massed start, comprising all boats in all classes starting at once.  By tradition, everyone wears a Santa hat for some great photos of the start. A yardstick is applied to the winner in each of the classes to determine the overall winner. 

Santas Sailing.

The Tyrell is a handicapped chase, with the slowest boat starting first and successive faster boats hunting each other down as they start over the next 5-10 minutes per their handicap, making for perhaps the most competitive and exciting race of the season. 

Dene Bergman presented a short biography on Dick Tyrell and Mano Rousso, which will be posted in the coming weeks in the history section of the website. He also presented the club with two new permanent trophies to replace the now-aging originals. 

In the Rousso, the winners were Rod Barnes in the Standards and Martin White in the Radials. The overall winner was Martin, who thrived in the bumpy conditions and strengthening breeze, beating many of the Standards across the line. 

Martin White wins the Rousso.

In the Tyrell, the handicap system was working well, with the top 10 boats finishing within less than a minute of each other. The leading Standards were not quite able to catch the leading Radials as the breeze picked up and kept the Radials in full power. There was a hot chase and closing gap as Matt Knight crossed the line a few boat lengths behind the winner, Richard George. 

Richard George wins the Tyrell.

Thanks to all our volunteers for a great day out: Mark Bethwaite (PRO), assisted by Clare, and Simon Stone (COTD), assisted by Jack Sywak and his mate, Toby, who, when he’s not visiting DBSC, is reading Economics at Oxford. Thanks also to Peter Speed, who assisted in the canteen.

Simon Stone chauffeuring Carolyn Bethwaite and Shirley Roach.

Have a Great Break and Enjoy the Holidays!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the rest of the festive season. We look forward to a great year of friendship and sailing in 2018.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be taking a brief break from “official” sailing. There is no racing on 30 December and no twilight sailing on 27 December or 3 January.  People who want to go for a sail with others should post on The Top Mark. If you are sailing over this period, please make sure you pull down the garage door and shut the adjacent front door when you are out sailing, and that you lock up when leaving. 

The next organised racing is sprints on 6 January and Autumn Point Score 1 & 2 on 13 January. There will be informal twilights on 10 January and 17 January, with formal twilights recommencing 24 January.

DBSC Awarded NSW Grant

We are pleased to announced that the club has been awarded a grant of $10,000 towards our piles project in the NSW Government’s 2017 Community Building Partnership grants program.

We would like to thank our local member, Gabrielle Upton, for her support in the award of this grant.  Gabrielle has been a great supporter of the club.  A letter from her, expressing her interest in the club, and congratulating Marlena and Finn on their wins at the States, can be viewed here.

Video of the Week

If you think we have messy bottom marks think again ... here's an 8 laser pile up:

Spring Point Score Wraps Up

Saturday marked the end to the Spring Point Score series. It was a beautiful sunny day out on the water with a moderate NE breeze. The harbour was more crowded than usual as multiple fleets were racing for Sail Sydney. This forced the course to be laid west of Clark Island, which added a bit of novelty and new challenges to the racing. First over the line after handicap were: Standards: Max Dzura (heat 15) and Matt Wenke (heat 16); Radials: Andrew Cox and David Rogers (tie, heat 15) and David Murphy (heat 16). Check out Brett Beyer’s video of the radial starts here, and the standard starts here.

It was a very competitive 2017 Spring Point Score Series. Big congratulations to our series winners:

4.7s
Brook Wilson (winner, 20 points)
Daniel Costandi (runner-up, 29 points)

Radials
Robert Young (winner, 38 points)
Jim Dounis (runner-up, 66 points)

Standards
Geoff Boscoe (winner, 49 points)
Maxim Dzura (runner-up, 63 points)

A Festive Saturday

The clubhouse was transformed on Saturday evening into a festive venue for our New Member’s Drinks and Christmas party. Twinkling fairy lights hung from the rafters inside, a club laser served as an esky for the beer and wine on the deck, and members and their partners mingled and celebrated the end of another year. 

Our Festive Laser Esky.

The festivities kicked off at 6pm with a toast to all of DBSC’s new members. Then, Jim Ley was inducted as the newest DBSC Lifetime Member. Jim's mum, Patricia Ley, was one of the founding members of the club, and was instrumental in its formation and funding.  She is memorialised by a permanent plaque on the clubhouse wall. At the time, DBSC was called the Double Bay VJ Club. Jim was the first club champion, winning in consecutive years, starting in 1956. He has been an active sailor all his life, and still competes regularly (including in World Championships) in the Finn class.  

Jim Ley is Inducted as DBSC Life Member.

The second part of the evening was a scrumptious Christmas dinner that was enjoyed by all. The huge snappers and salmons cooked on the barbie and all the other delicious food went down a treat. Thanks to everyone who contributed so much to make the evening one to remember, particularly all those who assisted with catering!

Good Times on the Deck.

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 20 December, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. BBWP is on. Sign up here if you’re coming.

Saturday 23 December, 2pm Start – Tyrell and Rousso Races. There will be no BBSP. See below for more details.   

A Christmas Tradition - Tyrell & Rousso Races

The Tyrell and Rousso races will be held this Saturday, 23 December.  The first race (the Tyrell) is a handicapped start where the faster boats must chase down the slower boats.  There will be a normal 5-minute countdown start sequence, at which time those will zero handicap (the slowest boats) will start. After that, faster boats will leave when the race time reaches their handicap over the next 5-10 minutes.  The handicaps will be announced during the briefing on Saturday. The first boat over the finish is the winner.  The second race (the Rousso) is a scratch race, with everyone starting on the same start line with a normal 5-minute countdown sequence.  The first 4.7, radial and standard across the line are the "finalists" and the overall winner will be determined by applying a yardstick across the three separate classes. These are once-a-year prestigious events for DBSC that come with perpetual trophies.

Brett Beyer Program Update

The current Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP) has had 8 instalments.  There will be no BBSP on 23 Dec.  It will recommence for its final two instalments on 27 Jan and 17 Feb.  After that, there will be a 5-week program, commencing 24 February.  Excluded dates for the new series are 17 Mar (Metros), 31 Mar (Easter).  The series will end on 7 April as Brett is away after that. There will be two program options: "A" = $450, "B" = $225 (plus Try Booking fees) for the 5-week series. "A" and "B" both get a video of the start and the fleet's GPS tracks, plus fleet race commentary on a leg-by-leg basis.  "A" also gets an individual report on their race.  There will be no Option "C" this time. Those who are interested, please email training@dbsc.com.au.

The Brett Beyer Wednesday Program (BBWP) has now had 8 instalments too. The final two sessions will be 20 December and 24 January.  There will be another BBWP commencing 31 January and ending on 28 Mar (the end of daylight saving).  It will be an 8-week series and will exclude 7 Feb (Nationals). The BBWP will be limited to 10 participants –- FIRST IN BEST DRESSED, with applications open now. The cost is $240 (plus Try Booking fees) for a ten-week series. Those who are interested, please also email training@dbsc.com.au.