Club Policies

This article covers four important policies:  results, insurance, dollies and sign on/off.  Please read this article carefully.

 Results

This is a recap on last week’s article.  Please remember to speak to the handicapper before racing this week to make sure your sail number is correctly recorded in the system.  And, if you want to receive results, please make sure your sail is correctly numbered – six numbers that uniquely match your hull or at least do not duplicate any other number in our fleet.

Insurance

It is a condition of participation in sailing at DBSC that you hold and maintain third party liability insurance in respect of your boat.  We also recommend you include comprehensive insurance, to cover your own boat.  Note, this insurance does not cover injuries to you, which you will need to cover separately through your health insurance and life insurance policies.

This insurance is available very cost-effectively from Nautilus Marine – see the link on our website here or go direct to Nautilus here.  Basic third party liability insurance is $110 per annum.  If you want to include comprehensive insurance for your own boat up to $10,000, the cost is $270.

If you do not have current insurance, you MUST purchase insurance before any further participation in DBSC events.  This takes 5 minutes to do online.

Dollies

We have a problem with club dollies “walking out the door”, and it is costing us a lot of money each year.  In order to address this, we are instituting a dolly policy immediately as follows. 

We encourage members NOT to bring their dollies for storage in the club.  If you insist on doing so, you must provide commodore@dbsc.com.au with photos of your dolly, showing how it is clearly and uniquely marked.  There is NO ENTITLEMENT to a dolly upon leaving the club, unless you have followed this documentation procedure and unless the dolly you take matches that documentation.  The decision of the Management Committee will be final in this regard. 

Whether or not you follow the documentation procedure, storage of your dolly is at your own risk and the club takes no responsibility for members’ dollies that are damaged, lost or stolen.  Based on long experience, there is a high probability that your dolly will no longer be at the club and/or uniquely identifiable after a few years, so you should assume that if you store a dolly at the club you are donating it to the club and you WILL NOT GET A DOLLY BACK IF YOU LEAVE. 

Going forward, we are maintaining an inventory record of uniquely numbered DBSC dollies and we will undertake regular dolly counts and stock takes.  If a dolly is found to be missing, we will be reviewing CCTV footage to determine the cause.  Please respect the club’s property and your fellow members by not taking club dollies.

Sign on/off

The sign on/off policy is as follows (this replaces anything to the contrary in the sailing instructions).  All sailors are encouraged to sign on and sign off for all events at DBSC, predominantly as a courtesy to assist the handicapper in recording race results. Please check that your sail number is correct on the sign on sheets and tell the handicapper if it is not. 

For members or visitors sailing from other clubs, please sign on and sign off using the link on our website: http://www.dbsc.com.au/remote-signonoff/.

Sign on and sign off will be implemented as part of our culture and, consistent with that culture, we will not penalise sailors who forget to do so.  Having said that, we encourage all members to adopt a practice of adherence as a courtesy to the handicapper and also as an additional safety layer that may be useful in certain limited situations.

In this context, we reiterate our higher-order safety protocols, which are available on the website at http://www.dbsc.com.au/safety/ and are summarised as follows: (i) all sailors are responsible for their own decision to sail and their own safety and must be familiar with and have accepted the risk warning, the release of liability and conditions and the incident management plan, (ii) the nearest boat (and each successive nearest boat) has responsibility to ensure the safety of the sailor of a capsized boat, and (iii) the club’s response boats will provide safety support where possible, but there is no guarantee a club volunteer will see an incident or be able to attend to it either in time or at all (and there will be no support for members or visitors sailing to or from other clubs).

Bulk sail order

NB Sailsports is still working on completing our bulk sail order.  A further instalment of sails was delivered to the club last week – we have emailed those whose sails are available. If you have not received an email, your sail is still coming – thank you for your patience.  Please do not take sails from the boxes without speaking to Andrew Cox, who will check them off the list.

Lost property

We have not found Mike Dunne’s missing BBSP GPS unit, which he left in the bathroom two Saturdays ago.  Our assumption is that someone accidentally gathered it up with a pile of clothing and it is probably in that person’s bag.  Can you please check all the clothing in your bags and/or on your boats, and let us know if you find this unit.

 For BBSP participants, please remember to return your BBSP GPS units and vests to Brett ON THE WATER after racing, before you sail back to the club.  And also feel free to get as much as you can out of the BBSP by sailing over to Brett before racing, between races and after racing for questions and feedback.  All members are welcome to join Brett on the clubhouse deck for a post race debrief each week.

Last weekend’s sprint racing

It was another wild day on Sydney harbour, with the southerly breeze consistently above 20-25kts and repeatedly gusting >30kts, punctuated by the odd 14kt lull!

Considering the weather, the long weekend, and the footy finals, we had a very credible fleet of 16 boats turn out for sprint racing, including our plucky new member, Emily Ball, who not only sailed all the races, but also spent the time between races reaching back and forth behind the start line at high speed! Thanks to James Tudball and Candice Cushway, who ran three excellent 20min sprint races until everyone was exhausted and, in between, towed Peter Collie back to shore with a broken mast. And thanks also to Shirley Roach, who staffed the canteen solo, providing sustenance in the form of our famous signature toasties!  We were delighted to have two visitors from VYC.

We all got back to shore in time for the second half of the footy and well-earned beers on the deck!

Another Saturday of High Winds.

NSW Youth Championships

Well done to the large contingent of DBSC sailors who competed at the NSW Youth Championships at Lake Macquarie last weekend. And thank you for supporting DBSC with branding in your registration details – we know you are all members of more than one club!

The results speak for themselves – our sailors performed very strongly in their fleets with a first in the Radials and clean sweep in the 4.7s.  Congratulations and well done! 

Radials - 25 Competitors:

1st - Zac West

4th- Campbell Patton

6th - Otto Henry

7th - Mark Louis

11th- Maddie O’Shea

13th - Sylvie Stannage

14th - Tom Green

4.7s - 28 Competitors:

 1st - Brooke Wilson

2nd - Mina Ferguson

3rd - Daniel Costandi

16th - Ian Louis

Cover Girls

We are proud to report our very own, and significantly more wholesome, version of the “cover girl” concept.  Sistership magazine, which is the biggest selling sailing magazine for women in Australia, and also has a huge international following, is featuring our Women’s Laser Regatta in its next edition, not only in the form of editorial copy, but also on the front cover!  Make sure you get yourself a copy.  Well done to Clare Alexander for organising such a great outcome for the club. You can check it out here.

Front Cover of the October edition of SisterShip Magazine featuring the DBSC Woman’s Laser Regatta.

Brett Beyer Twilight Program

We now have five boats confirmed for the Brett Beyer Twilight Program. We need 10 for this to proceed. If you want to join the program, which is capped at 10 boats, please email coaching@dbsc.com.au ASAP. 

The program involves individual real-time on-water coaching during both drills and racing scenarios. Drills last season included start practice, super short course boat handling, and tacks and gybes. Last year’s program participants learned a tremendous amount about boat setup, boat handling, technique, strategy and tactics. 

Splash is at 5pm (or whenever you can get there) for a 5.30 start and two hours of serious fun!  All sailors are welcome to join whether part of the program or not. We had 15 boats every Wednesday last season — let’s try and get to 20 regulars this season!!

Up Next

Saturday 29 September, 2pm start – Sprints. With the long weekend and footy finals, we’ll be talking it a bit easier at DBSC, with a series of short sprint races. 

Weekend Recap

It started as a light North Easter on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon for heats 3 and 4 of the Spring Point Score.  We had a large fleet of 45 boats racing. 

In the first race, there were significant differences in pressure between the left and the right, which resulted in some big shifts in position as the first race progressed. 

In the second race, an increase in wind strength made for more consistent pressure across the course. The wind shifted a little to the right and the top mark was moved in, favouring port as the long and often lifted tack.  

Thanks to Gerry Donohoe, Mark Crowhurst and Trish Hancock for PRO, COTD and Co-COTD duties. And thanks to Clare and Charlotte Alexander who slummed it on the start / finish in the Paul Adam because the Jazzman was out of service due to a leaking seal and bilge flooding. 

Thanks also to Shirley Roach and Yves Stening who staffed the canteen. 

And finally, thanks to Brett for running the first instalment of the Brett Beyer Saturday Program. Participants will receive start videos and GPS tracks during the week.

LOST PROPERTY:  while we’re on that subject, Mike Dunne’s GPS unit went missing in the change room after sailing. Can everyone please check their gear bags and let us know if you accidentally picked it up. 

Can all BBSP participants please return their vests and GPS units to Brett on the water. Sail over to Brett at the end of racing for some feedback and to return these items. And please feel free to get as much as you can out of your participation by sailing over to Brett before racing and between races for questions and feedback. All members are welcome to join Brett on the clubhouse deck for a post-race debrief each week.