The Wait is Finally Over

We know you’ve been counting the moments ever since the articles about invoices appeared in the past two week’s newsletters… well the wait is finally over. Check your inboxes, you should have received your invoice for the 2018/19 season last night!  But in all seriousness, we would appreciate you paying your dues as quickly as possible, as there are heaps of expenses over the winter months. Our goal is to have 100% of dues paid before 30 April, so we don’t have to have volunteers chase people to pay. Thanks for your help with this. 

Metros Race Report

Reported in part by laser.asn.au

The NSW & ACT Metropolitan Championships were held over the weekend of 17-18th March at Drummoyne Sailing Club. There were 77 entries for the event over the three fleets – 4.7 – 20 entries, Radial – 33 entries, Standard – 24 entries.

The regatta was in two parts with a gentle 9-12 knot easterly on Saturday followed by a boisterous 18 gusting to 30 knot north westerly on Sunday.

RO Col Chidgey set the sailors some challenges. Considering the tight race track defined by the west harbour islands and the many moored craft Col opted for journey courses rather than our normal trapezoid (essentially windward and return courses). There were two days of starboard rounding courses. This combined with restrictions on sailing inside moorings (including very many with little more than a small red float to mark them) lead sailors to refresh their knowledge of RRS rules which we seldom need to consider in our events. Some sailors managed the new situations and environment better than others.

Five races, of the scheduled six, were completed – two on Saturday and three on Sunday.

DBSC’s  4.7 fleet dominated with Daniel Costandi, Jack Ferguson, Sylvie Stannage, Brooke Wilson, Mina Ferguson, and Ryan Littlechild taking home 1st to 6th place in that order. The other highest placed DBSC boats were Jack Littlechild who was 4th in the Radials and Hadrien Bouvely who was 8th in the Full Rigs. Congrats to all who participated. 

DBSC member and Metro 4.7 winner, Daniel Costandi

Winter Series

With just over a month left in our regular season, some may be going into an early winter, lack of sailing funk… But cheer up, because the winter of 2018 will be unlike any other in DBSC’s history. For the first time, we will be running an official winter series.  

The intention will be to have races every second Sunday, starting 6 May. The first warning signal will be at 8.30am, so splash by 8am. There will be three ~30min races (wind permitting).  The start sequence will be advised pre-season based on the number of boats expressing interest. There will be a PRO/COTD roster for those participating.

Please email Ian Alexander at ianalexander1@optusnet.com.au if you are intending to sail (if you intend to sail more than once, please also be willing commit to being PRO / COTD once).  If you are only going to sail once, there is no need to volunteer – we welcome one-off casuals.

Save the Dates

Two important dates to note in your calendar:

• End of Season BBQ – Saturday, 28 April
• AGM and Dinner – Friday, 25 May

Autumn Pointscore Race Report

We had nearly 40 boats turn up last Saturday for heats 11 and 12 of the Autumn Pointscore. It was a beautiful, sunny day with an unsettled 5-12 knot E - NE breeze. The light breeze, a reach behind Shark Island and a big fleet of 18’s gave us some tricky racing – as our PRO, Mark Bethwaite put it, it was a thinking sailor’s course. The winners, and smartest racers (after handicapping) were: Full Rigs: Ian Alexander (heat 11), Hadrien Bourely (heat 12); Radials: Julian Van Aalst (heat 11), Zac West (heat 12). Thanks to last week’s volunteers for putting on a great day of racing: PRO Mark Bethwaite, assisted by Clare Alexander, COTD Candice Cushway, CoCOTD Josh Pearl, and Canteen Assistant Geoff Boscoe. 

Thanks to Nick Pellow and Ashley Deacon for pointing out some great footage of our fleet as captured by the JJ's race coverage. To see how crowded it was on the harbour you can check it out here.

Close encounters with the 18s.

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 14 March, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. Sign up here if you’re coming. Only three weeks to go before we lose daylight saving!  In the last three weeks, we have practiced drills – starts, then mark rounding, then tacks and gybes.  This week we are having a series of short races to put all these skills into practice – Brett will record the results.  Come and join our large fleet of Wednesday sailors, and make the most of the last of summer!

Saturday 17 March – Sunday 18 March – Metros at Drummoyne Sailing Club. Mike Dunne is coordinating transport and all other needs associated with the Metros this weekend.  If you need assistance (or have spare space on your trailer and can assist someone else), please contact Mike at mikedunne070@gmail.com or on 0407 016 125.

Saturday 17 March, 9am – Learn to Race. Come along if you want to learn more about Laser boat handling, balance, boat posture, trim, starts, tacks, gybes, boat set-up and any other race management fundamentals. Please email Martin White at mwhite@universalmagazines.com.au if you are planning on attending.

Saturday 17 March, 2pm – Sprint Races. While some of the fleet is sailing in the Metros the rest of us will be practicing with a series of short sprint races near DBSC.

Saturday 17 March, 4:30pm – Family Day BBQ – All welcome. See details below. 

Family Day BBQ - This Saturday

Following this Saturday’s Sprint Racing we’ll be hosting a Family Day. Please plan to attend, even if you don’t have kids or a loved one to bring along – we’ll have plenty to go around! After a few short sprint races for the kids, we’ll have a family friendly BBQ with sausages, party pies and jelly snakes. Plus, there will be a jumping castle to tire out the little ones and a special drawing for free movie tickets.

A jumping castle will play centre stage at the Family BBQ. 

Thanks to Palace Cinemas, we have a limited number of tickets for The Mercy.  Based on the incredible true story that captivated the world, The Mercy follows Donald Crowhurst’s extraordinary journey in his attempt to win the first solo non-stop round-the-world yacht race. We will have a random draw of four double passes at our Family Day BBQ.  So, come to Family Day to have your shot at free tickets to see this brilliant new sailing movie.

Tickets to The Mercy will be won at Family Day. 

Thanks to the JJs Canteen Crew

Thanks to the canteen team of Paul, Andrea and Shirley for their tireless efforts in the canteen during the JJs – 10 exhausting days straight! They were ably assisted by Tim and Christine Patton, Debra Whitley, Jan Ryan, Di Chapman, Edwina Chapman, Richard George, Maxim Dzura, and Mike Dunne. The canteen is an enormous contributor to the club’s funds, and much of the year’s surplus is made during the JJs.  We are very grateful to the team for everything they do. Thanks also to Tim Patton, Andrew Simpson, Daryl Lawrence, Luke Parker and John Vasey who helped on the RIBs during the JJs. 

Yearly Dues

You will soon get an invoice for your 2018-19 dues. We’d appreciate your prompt payment as the funds allow us to do much needed work over the winter season. Thanks in advance for your help with this. 

AGM - 25 May

DBSC’s Annual General Meeting and end of season dinner will take place in the clubhouse on Friday May 25 at 7pm. Please save the date. More details to come.