DBSC Victorious in Vaucluse Challenge

The second leg of the 2017/18 Vaucluse Challenge took place last Saturday. A crowded harbour and a good 12 – 16 knot NE breeze greeted the DBSC and VYC sailors who competed off Watson’s Bay. Once again DBSC prevailed, although it was a tighter outcome than in November. DBSC came away with 40 points to VYC’s 66 points. In November, it was DBSC 35 to VYC 84. The total for both legs had DBSC on 75 to VYC’s 150. Nice round numbers!  

There was a good showing from the Vaucluse fleet with a convincing first place in the standards from Matt Faddy, ahead of DBSC’s Luke Parker, and a strong second place in the radials from Rob Perrsson behind DBSC’s Martin White.  

Both clubs paid tribute to Carolyn Bethwaite by flying their flags at half-mast and sailors had black ribbons streaming from mast tops.  

After the competition on the harbour, DBSC welcomed a sizable contingent of sailors from Vaucluse to a BBQ on our deck. We celebrated Mark Bethwaite’s 70th birthday with a cake and speeches, the results were announced, and the Double Bay - Vaucluse Challenge Shield was exchanged. In all the excitement, we forgot that in addition to the main club trophy, there are also trophies for the best full rig and radial sailors in the Challenge series on aggregate.  The winner of the Graham Reid Trophy for the wining standard sailor goes to VYC’s Matt Faddy. For the radials, DBSC’s Jack Littlechild came out on top, and will take home the Dene Bergman Trophy.  The trophies will be engraved and presented to the winners in due course. Thanks to VYC for a well-run and enjoyable day of sailing and to Paul, Andrea, Shirley, Deb, Peter and Pat for a great meal. 

Clare also snapped some great shots of the action – check them out on our Facebook Page, The Top Mark.

Michael Stackpool and Andrew Cox with the Double Bay - Vaucluse Shield

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 28 March, 5pm – Final Twilight Sailing this season. Sign up here if you’re coming. It’s the last chance until October to enjoy a warm sunset sail on the best harbour in the world. In addition to the beautiful scenery, Brett Beyer will be there to run us though our paces. Thanks to Brett for an outstanding twilight series that has seen large and regular fleets, as well as an excellent mix of drills and racing. As usual, everyone is welcome to join the racing, whether part of the program or not. 

Saturday 31 March, 2pm – Easter Sprints. To get us in the spirt, hot cross buns will be available. But please note that the canteen will be closed, so make sure to bring your own lunch.

This week is also the last BBSP for the season. Thanks also to Brett for this program. The GPS analysis has given participants great tactical insights, which Brett has combined with detailed technical commentary. We also appreciate the insights she shared with everyone at the club through his post-race briefings. 

30% vs 70%

Which camp are you in? No, we’re not talking about the marriage equality postal survey. 30% of members have already paid their dues. A huge thank you to those who have acted quickly. Now for the rest of you… make sure you pay your 2018/19 invoice ASAP. The funds will go far in maintaining the club’s financial help and will allow us to proceed with winter maintenance projects. Thanks for your help with this. 

Brett to Coach During Winter Series

The winter is looking better and better… In conjunction with our upcoming winter series, Brett Beyer will be running a coaching program. The winter series will comprise three ~30min races with an 8am splash for 8.30am start every second Sunday from May through July. Please sign up for this series ASAP by emailing Ian Alexander, confirming (a) your participation in the racing and (b) your interest in being part of the Brett Beyer program. If you’ve already emailed Ian to let him know you’d like to race, please email him again if you’d like to participate in Brett’s program. More specific info about the Brett Beyer Winter Program will be announced soon. 

Don’t Forget

Two important dates to note in your calendar:

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

An Extraordinary Person

It is with great sadness that we say farewell to Carolyn Bethwaite.  It is no exaggeration to describe her as an extraordinary person.

Carolyn lived all her all-too-few 68 years to the fullest.  She is described variously as “Sweet Caroline” (sic) (in the words of Neil Diamond), “warm Carolyn” (in the words of her innumerable friends and family), and “Remarkable Woman” (represented in the letters “RW” on the back of a key chain her friends made for her).  And collectively those epithets capture her essence. 

She will be remembered for many things, but two that perhaps stand out most are her warmth and her zest.

First, her warmth – more than most, she had an open mind that saw the good in others.  She had a magnetism, augmented by deep perception and profound empathy, which reached out and touched everyone she knew.  She was gracious and generous in all things.  She was a remarkable wife, mother and friend, who displayed great love and support to everyone in her life.  Over the last two years, that warmth that Carolyn brought to so many relationships was radiated back at her with so many expressions of love and support, flowers that brightened her life, and fan mail that came in almost daily from around the world.

Second, her zest – while she was ever modest and understated, in reality she was a serial high achiever.  She was an incredible source of energy and drive, displaying tremendous leadership and organisational skills.  She was School Captain and Dux at Ravenswood, an Honours graduate in Social Studies, a talented social worker, a wonderful wife and mother, a Distinguished Toastmaster, a consummate linguist, a fabulous leader of the guides at the Art Gallery of NSW, and a credible sailor (no surprise).  She had a global view, underpinned by insatiable curiosity and tremendous love of adventure.  She was constantly listening and evaluating, learning and teaching.

She will be remembered for all those things and more.  But perhaps her greatest achievement was the way she carried herself since her diagnosis in January 2016.  The strength and courage she showed in the face of such a shock and unfathomable adversity was exceptional.  She was incredibly brave and strong through the most arduous of journeys that would test the spirit and strength of a saint.  Yet through it all, she maintained such grace and composure, that was an inspiration to all who knew her.

Carolyn will be greatly missed by Mark, Campbell, Luci, her broader family and her myriad of friends.  She was an extraordinary person.

Mark and Carolyn Bethwaite 

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 21 March, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. Sign up here if you’re coming. Only two weeks to go before we lose daylight saving!  The weather forecast isn’t looking great, but sailing is still going forward unless advised otherwise.

Saturday 24 March, 12pm – Vaucluse Challenge. Briefing one hour early – 12 noon. See details below. 

Vaucluse Challenge – This Saturday

The second leg of the 2017-18 Vaucluse Challenge will take place this Saturday, and all DBSC members are encouraged to take part. It will be a 2pm start at Vaucluse. The forecast is for a light NE breeze, so it might be a long sail to get there.  Briefing will be at 12noon (an hour earlier than usual), with a splash no later than 1pm.

We will be offering a tribute to Carolyn Bethwaite on the day.  All DBSC boats will fly a black ribbon at the top of their masts – ribbons will be provided at the clubhouse on the day.  The post-race BBQ will be held at DBSC.  We encourage all members to attend in remembrance of Carolyn and in support of Mark.

The format of the racing will be as follows:

• 2 x ~45min races, with the first counting towards the Vaucluse Challenge, and the second just for pride
• course and sequence to be advised
• standards will start first (not radials/4.7s)
• port or starboard roundings to be advised (look for the red or green coloured flag on the start boat)
• usual 5min start sequence
• I-flag instead of P-flag (this means that a boat over the line during the 1-min before the start must sail around the end of the line to the pre-start side before re-crossing to start)

Scoring will be as follows:

• the first n boats from each club in each of the radial/4.7 and standard fleets will score (with n to be advised based on fleet sizes on the day)
• the first (n-1) boats from each club in each fleet will be allocated a score of 1 through 2 x (n-1) in their order of finishing, regardless of their actual position in the fleet
• the nth boat from each club in each fleet will be allocated a score based on its actual position in the fleet
• the scores for each club from each fleet will be added together to determine the winner of the 2nd leg of the Vaucluse Challenge
• these scores will be added to the scores from the 1st leg of the Vaucluse Challenge to determine the overall winner of the Vaucluse Challenge for 2017/18

Scoring example:

• say it is decided that 5 boats from each club in each fleet will score
• then the first 4 boats from DBSC and the first 4 boats from VYC in each fleet, will be allocated scores 1-8, even if their actual position in the fleet was worse than that
• the 5th boat from DBSC and the 5th boat from VYC in each fleet will be allocated a score based on its actual position in the fleet
• in this example, the objective for us in each fleet is to have as many DBSC boats as possible ahead of the 5th VYC boat (and also to have our first 4 DBSC boats beat the first 4 VYC boats)

The score from the first leg of the Vaucluse Challenge was DBSC 35 to VYC 84. We’re looking forward to a fun and competitive day of racing at VYC!

Family Day Fun

DBSC’s first annual Family Day was a huge success. A beautifully warm day and gentle breeze greeted the families and friends who came to enjoy the afternoon of fun. There were perfect conditions to give the little ones a chance to helm a laser for the first time. The light breeze allowed a rounding of Clark Island, with some close-up viewing of the huge submarine that was anchored in the harbour. Back on shore the jumping castle got a good workout and the delicious BBQ complete with gummy worms and party pies went down a treat. To round out the evening four double passes to see the new sailing flick, The Mercy, were randomly drawn and won.

A rare sight in Sydney Harbour -- 3 lasers, 6 sailers, 1 sub.

A huge thank you to Kirk Marcolina for conceiving and organizing the day, to Simon Stone and Justin Davey for driving the RIBs and taking out the younger kids, as well to Paul Adam for the delicious catering, and Peter Collie for manning the BBQ.  

Jumping fun at Family Day.

Saturday Sprints

Whilst some of the fleet was away at the Metros, a nearly 30-strong contingent of sailors practiced their skills in a series of sprint races. The light breeze gave the advantage to those who have been watching their waistlines. Thanks to PRO David Murphy and COTD Jen Wells for running a great afternoon of sailing.

After the racing was over the fleet was in for a big surprise – brand new hoses, hose nozzles and self-winding hose rollers. It made cleaning our boats a joy! Well maybe not a joy, but it was a welcome change to the tattered leaking hose system they replaced.  Thanks to Pat Levy for the awesome new setup. Let’s make sure we keep the new rig in good working order by taking care when pulling the hoses out and around the roller door and by making sure to guide the hose back in to the roller and making sure it doesn’t get snagged by the roller door.