The best way to find out about the club is to visit us, and meet some members.
Apart from the week of Christmas, the clubhouse is open from at least noon every Saturday from 1 August to 30 April. Our telephone number is: +61 2 9363 5577.
We are run by volunteers, so if your query cannot answered by the frequently asked questions (FAQs) below or the rest of the website, we will get back to you by Wednesday, 10pm.
How do I subscribe to your Pulitzer Prize winning newsletter?
How to make a tax-deductible donation to the club (using the internet)?
How to make a tax-deductible donation to the club (using paper forms)?
Want to book a seat at the restaurant?
Want to become a social member?
Can I rent/hire your clubhouse?
How do I get to crew on a yacht?
Can you teach me to race a Laser?
What is the deal between your club and the 18 footers and Sydney High School?
Can I store my kayak (or similar) in the clubhouse?
Can you help me buy, or sell, a Laser?
How many times can a visitor race at DBSC?
79 Bay St
Double Bay NSW 2028
Australia
The best ILCA / Laser sailing club in the world, located in Double Bay on Sydney Harbour.
Sunday 17 June, 7:45am briefing, 8:30am start – Winter Championship Heats 10-12. The series has proven very popular thus far with close to 25 boats in each race. We hope you can join us this Sunday, but remember to keep off the grass.
Sunday 24 June, 8am– Boat Licence Course. Only one space left. (See below for details)
DBSC is a club that is built on a culture of volunteerism. The management committee has elected to disband the sailing committee and the marketing committee, in favour of a more fluid structure that is more efficient for volunteers and calls for requests on a project-by-project basis as needed.
Immediate needs include:
Could you please let Andrew Cox know (commodore@dbsc.com.au) if you would like to be a member of our volunteer panel?
Due to a mechanical fault and a potential overheating situation, the Jazzman is out of commission now until further notice and MUST NOT BE DRIVEN under any circumstances. In addition to this, one of the RIBs is awaiting repairs. That means we’re down to one RIB until repairs are undertaken. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
We have seven members signed up and one spot still available for the second boat licence course to be run at DBSC in 2018. The course will start at 8am and finish by 4pm.
Members need to pay $125 to do the course and the club will subsidise the other 50%. All members should have this licence if you perform PRO or COTD duties. It is also good for anyone who just enjoys being on the Harbour in a boat.
The final spot will be allocated on a first-in basis. Please make your payment here.
We plan to run the boat licence course intermittently at DBSC until all members performing PRO or COTD duties have a licence. Please email Christine Linhart (c.linhart@unsw.edu.au) to express your interest so that future courses over the coming months can be arranged to suit your availability.
This long weekend many of our DBSC sailors headed south to Georges River Sailing Club for the East Coast Championships, with some impressive results.
Congratulations to all our competitors:
4.7 - 18 boats
Radial - 11 boats
It was quite a different day to our previous two Winter Championship outings. A stiff Southerly blew in at a challenging 15 – 18 knots with some much higher gusts. Add to that, on and off rain showers made for a challenging day of racing. Despite the less than perfect weather, nearly 25 sailors competed in heats 7-9 of the Winter Championship.
The winners for the day were, Full Rigs: Sail Number 181703* (see below) (heat 7); David Newman (heats 8 and 9); Radials / 4.7s: Andrew Cox (heat 7 and 8), and Martin White (heat 9). Full results are now available in the results section of our website. Thanks to the race volunteers and to Campbell Patton’s Dad, Tim for serving up the great homemade soup to warm us up at the end of the morning.
Max Dzhura, who is keeping our winter series results needs your help in finding out the names for some anonymous sailors who raced last Sunday. Please let him know here if you are the sailor or know the owner of any of these boats: 181703 (a full rig sailor, finished first in the first race), 199028 or 202561. Thanks for your help.
Rainbow Racing. Photo by Clare Alexander
Sunday 17 June, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 10-12
Sunday 24 June, 8am– Boat Licence Course. For details and registration please click here.
Written by Jonathan Stone
It was a wintry day. A cold southerly had been blowing for some days, and would blow for several more. Rain in the morning was discouraging but the conditions eased a little as the race approached - some sunshine, the wind easing slightly to 20 knots (with gusts to 25 nots)
In the race itself (from notes provided by Chris), Corinna won the start narrowly from Smitten with Sanity about a minute and a half late. By Taylors Bay Sanity had almost caught Corinna with Smitten in close company. Sanity continued to show speed and, at the bottom mark (Sow’n Pigs), led by about 2 minutes from Corinna with Smitten still in touch.
On the work back up the harbour Sanity showed power and speed to carve out a 10 minute lead from Corinna, who dug too deep into Rose Bay and did not play the shifts well. Smitten did well up to Shark island but lost ground on the final leg to be about 8 minutes behind Corinna.
After the race, gentle sunlight kept us warm as crews from on all three boats sat on the deck, with drinks hot or cold. The wind was very fresh but all boats had handled it comfortably, and all had enjoyed.
Thank you John for coming out on such a cold, cold day, to give the fleet a start. Greatly appreciated.
We race next on July 1.
On Friday 25 May DBSC held an Annual General Meeting like no other. Renamed the Annual General Party, the event lived up to its new moniker, with the last revellers exiting the clubhouse at 5am! The evening started in a refined manner with cocktails and entrées on the deck followed by the official AGM.
A beautiful start to the AGP.
The highlight of the “official” portion of the evening was Clare Alexander being named as Club Person of the Year. Clare’s never-ending enthusiasm and dedication to the club were recognised – whether it be helping on the Jazzman every week, serving as club Secretary, working to increase and celebrate women’s sailing, or her overall welcoming spirit, Clare is certainly a positive force at our club and is a very worthy recipient of DBSC’s most prestigious award. It was clear on the night that Clare was very excited about the honour. On Facebook she beamed, “You never do these things for any sort of accolade or praise but to be acknowledged in this forum was truly magical and I am so very grateful. Thank you to all my friends and family at DBSC!” Congratulations Clare!
Clare Alexander wins Club Person of the Year. Photo by Peter Collie
In addition to Clare’s award, all the 2017/18 sailing awards were presented (see complete list below) and Mark Bethwaite was inducted as an Honorary Life Member. We wish Mark all the best as he travels to sail in warmer climates during our winter months, and look forward to welcoming him back next summer.
Mark Bethwaite with Shirley Roach. Photo by Peter Collie
All the Management Committee members then presented reports. By all accounts the state of the club is good. The last year saw DBSC gain 24 new members (including 6 new female members), 80 new initiatives, 15 new laser racks (which were all full during the season), and 3 successful grants, bringing in $18K to the club. Before the conclusion of the AGM, Commodore Andrew Cox and his Management Committee were re-elected and we look forward to another successful season under their leadership.
After the necessary formalities were out of the way, the evening took on a more festive tone. A delicious dinner was served up by Paul Adam and all the helpers in the kitchen, including Shirley Roach, Christine Patton, and many others who lent a hand.
After dinner, the clubhouse was transformed into a full-on nightclub and Double Bay Sailing Club has never seen anything like it. A member-based rock band thumped out the greatest songs of all time, and everyone else cut loose on the dance floor. The band was led by the very talented professional front man and keyboardist, Gerard Masters, who has an incredible talent for cooking up a frenzy! He very generously gave his time, as did awesome professional guitarist, Sebby Bartels. Both are anchor musicians in James Tudball's highly-demanded White Tree bands, which specialise in weddings, parties, corporate gigs, and whatever. And then there were our talented club members, James Tudball on drums, Andrew Cox on bass, Finn Alexander on guitar, and the star of the show, Marty Trembath, on bagpipes. Special thanks to John Vasey who used his music industry connections to source donations of lighting and staging. After that thumping, we've had to ask the engineer to update his structural report on the piles.
Nightclub DBSC. Photo by Peter Collie
The conga line on the dance floor went on into the early hours of Saturday, with the heartiest partiers stumbling out of the clubhouse at 5am. Thankfully they didn’t need to tidy up thanks to the clean-up brigade of Shirley Roach, Mark Bethwaite, Peter Collie, John Vasey, Ian Alexander and Clare Alexander who came back Sunday morning to make sure the club was spick and span.
The Party Spills onto the Deck. Photo by Nick Pellow
Thanks to everyone who made this memorable event a great success. We’re already looking for next year’s edition!
Sunday 3 June, 7:45 briefing / 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 7-9 and BBWP. Hopefully our streak of good winds and weather will continue.
A few items to note:
Sunday 3 June, 1pm start – Big boat racing
Sunday 17 June, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 10-12
Sunday 24 June, 8am – Boat Licence Course. For details and registration please click here.
