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.
We have installed ladders to service the RIBs on each of the davits. Please note that it is unsafe to ride up and down in the RIBs – you must get out of the RIB before raising or lowering it, and then use the ladder to climb into or out of the boat. Thank you to Luke Parker for kindly donating the ladders, and to Geoff Kirk for installing them.
We’re proud to announce that our very own Clare Alexander has been chosen as a Finalist for Australian Sailing’s Sport Promotion Award. It’s a huge honour and we’d like to get a DBSC table at the Award’s Night on 19 October. The dinner is at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, in Pyrmont, and costs $180 per person – in addition to great company, a lot of fun, and the opportunity to support Clare, you’ll get a three-course dinner and drinks. Please email secretary@dbsc.com.au in the next few days if you are interested in attending.
Clare Alexander winning the Club Person of The Year Trophy in May.
Wed, 10 October – Twilight sailing, splash at 5pm (or whenever you can get there)
Sat, 13 October – Spring Pointscore heats 7 and 8, including BBSP, 1pm briefing for 2pm race start
Good news – the Brett Beyer Twilight Program is fully subscribed with 10 subscribers! Payment details will be sent by email direct to subscribers.
We will commence twilight sailing next Wednesday, 10 October. Spash is at 5.00pm (or whenever you can get there).
We had 15 regular twilight sailors last year – let’s aim for 20 this year. All visitors are welcome – please pass this on!
There is no better way than this to break up your week, so tell your boss to get with the program – we’re in the era of flexible work.
Sat, 6 October– Club Championship heats 3 and 4, including BBSP, 1pm briefing for 2pm start, BBQ and BBSP debrief for all members after racing
Sun, 7 October– Big Boat race, 2pm start. DON’T FORGET DAYLIGHT SAVING!
Mon, 8 October– Novartis function at the club – please do not attend the club from 9am-3pm
Wed, 10 October– twilight sailing, splash at 5pm (or whenever you can get there)
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
