Bumper Fleet for Club Champs

The Competency Training and an agreeable 7-12 knot E/NE breeze ensured the biggest fleet of the season competed on Saturday for Club Championship Heats 9 and 10. 58 boats faced a gradient breeze that was patchy at times; looking for the pressure and avoiding the lulls was key. 

The winners were: Standards: Rod Barnes (heat 9) and Mark Bethwaite (heat 10); Radials: Jack Littlechild (heat 9) and Daniel Costandi (heat 10); 4.7s Kim Ketelbey (heats 9 and 10).  

Thanks to this week’s race volunteers — Jonathan Stone (PRO) and Clare Alexander on the Jazzman, and Craig Sheers and Marty Trembath on the Paul Adam. David Devlin joined Paul, Shirley and Andrea to cook the plethora of toasties needed after the intellectual workout of the Competency Training. 

Thanks to the Canteen Crew and the BBQ-masters, the day ended with a scrumptious BBQ on the deck and a debrief with our coach Brett Beyer, along with DBSC’s most impressive-ever planning for the State Masters Championship (thanks Ian!). 

A Grey Summer’s Day on the Harbour. Photo by Clare Alexander.

RIB Help Needed for the 18s

John Vasey graciously helps DBSC fulfil our affiliation agreement with the 18s by supplying support to their fleet every Sunday in the Paul Adam. John is unavailable to so from the 24th of February till the end of the 18s’ season (on March 17th) and we need volunteer(s) to fill in. If you are interested, please let Andrew Cox know ASAP. The day goes from about 1pm to 5pm and we have detailed instructions from John on what’s involved. We really need your help with this, which will be greatly appreciated!

Twilight Sailing

We kicked off the second instalment for the season of the Brett Beyer Twilight Program last week, with a near-record number of boats on the water – 19 sailors reminded their bosses of the importance of work-life balance and fronted for some gruelling long and short course training in ~20 knots.  Come on down tonight for the next instalment!

Big Boat Report

Written by Jonathan Stone

At last, a perfect afternoon for sailing - warm but not oppressively, a fresh, steady but not wild north easterly, a (relatively) empty Harbour, though the 18s were out later. And five well-prepared boats, with experienced skippers

The start was prompt on 2.00pm, thanks to the PRO Peter (Collie). There were 5 boats in from 23-34ft in length. At these lengths, a few feet in lengths matter. And when skippers are experienced, stealth and cunning come into play.

In a nor-easter, the pin end of our line (just south of Clarke Is) is heavily favoured, but it is a bit tricky, for this end of the line is only just free of the lee of the Island. Maybe because the smaller boats are more manoeuvrable their skippers find it easier to avoid the lee, avoid being early and start at speed. In the event, Corinna (an Endeavour 24) won the start, just upwind from Umbakumba (a 26ft-er) with T&T (a Hood 23) close behind. G-Force (30 ft) and Sanity (a 34ft Jenneau) both started late, further down the line, though at speed. 

Corinna showed good speed close to the wind across Double Bay (indeed right around the course) and was still ahead at the Point Piper mark, with Umbakumba on her transom. G-Force and Sanity used their boat speed well, to sail below T&T and be in position to challenge for the lead, on the leg to Taylor’s Bay. The wind was fresh-to-stiff - it was ideal for the larger boats, and first Sanity and G-Force moved past Corinna. So the order around the top mark, past Taylors Bay and at Sow’n Pigs, was:

• Sanity

• G-Force

• Umbakumba (who squeaked past Corinna  at the mark)

• Corinna

• T&T

Downwind was a chance for attacking. Corinna hoisted a spinnaker, then G-Force; but not Umbakumba, who fell back to fourth. On T&T we fought hard to stay in touch, a respectable last. To do that, we goose-winged successfully, and the little boat ran comfortably and fast, but not fast enough to catch the kites. At the Shark Island mark we all had to gybe; only G-Force seemed to struggle, for - though their kites took a while to fill on both G-Force and Corinna, the reset after the gybe was faster on the smaller boat, and she claimed back second place. 

Deck work on T&T was good, and we made up good ground on the final leg; but not enough to challenge for a spot. We need to get the spinnaker up!

Over the line:

•  Sanity - welcome back to Jim Ley, after a break

• Corinna - this time with the whole family on board

• G-Force

• Umbakumba

• T&T - who must get their crews spinnaker-ready.

 We race next on March 3.

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 6 February, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. 

Saturday 9 February, 12pm Briefing – Vaucluse Regatta. See important details above.

BBSP Needs YOU

The Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP) will commence this coming Saturday, 2 February, which is a club championship.

We currently have five participants signed up – 2 full rigs and 3 radials.  We need many more people to make this viable – like 10 in each class.

If you are interested, can you please purchase your tickets HERE ASAP in the next two days?

The Brett Beyer Twilight Program (BBTP) is fully subscribed with 10 people.  Twilight sailing is on tonight with Brett Beyer and all are welcome to attend.  Let’s maintain the momentum last year, when we got a record number of 22 sailors on a Wednesday evening in December.

Competency Training - This Saturday 9am

Our first ever competency training course will be held this Saturday, 2 February, commencing at 9am at the club.  We have only 35 people signed up, out of our 120 members.

This is an event we are asking all our members to attend as a commitment to your fellow members and to the standards of racing and safety to which we aspire. 

The reason we are doing this is that we are consistently short of people who are competent to set courses, run races, record results, launch and drive our boats, rescue lasers, use the radios and deal with life-threatening emergencies.  This is a big problem for the club and we need to fix it by increasing the competency of all members.

The topics covered will be course setting, mark laying and mark moving, race management and weather monitoring, RIB launch and operation, Jazzman launch and operation, radio usage, incident management plan and emergency response, defibrillator usage and CPR, and off-water COTD responsibilities.

Please commit to attending this event by signing up here.  If you are genuinely unable to attend, please email commodore@dbsc.com.au.

Coming Up

Wednesday 30 January, 5pm – Twilight Sailing.

Saturday 2 February, 9am –  Competency Training for all members. (see above for details) 

Saturday 2 February, 2pm Start – Club Championship Heats 9 & 10 followed by a BBQ on the deck after racing.  

Sunday 3 February, 2pm Start– Big Boat Racing.

Brett Beyer Programs

We will be running another instalment of the BBSP and BBTP, commencing shortly. 

If you are interested in these programs, can you please click on the following links and purchase tickets ASAP. Closing date for purchase is in one week — Tuesday, 29 January.

For BBSP, click HERE. For BBTP, click HERE. 

BBSP details:

The Brett Beyer Saturday Program (BBSP) will run for 7 sessions as follows: 2 Feb, 9 Feb, 23 Feb, 9 Mar, 23 Mar, 30 Mar, 27 Apr.*  You can sign up for the BBSP HERE.  

There will be two categories: B = $315, A = $630 (plus merchant fees).* Everyone is invited to join the post-race briefing on the deck.

“B” participants receive (a) a video of the start with voice-over commentary, (b) a video of the “real time” GPS tracks of the fleet, (c) a leg by leg analysis of the performance of the fleet including individual speed and angle statistics vs the fleet, (d) access to Brett for comments and questions on water when not racing, (e) participation in the communal post-race debrief at the clubhouse after racing.*

 “A” participants receive all the above plus (f) an individual report on their performance, referencing tactical and/or technical considerations and (g) the opportunity to email Brett with follow up questions.*

BBTP details:

The Brett Beyer Twilight Program (BBTP) will run for 9 sessions as follows: 30 Jan, 6 Feb, 13 Feb, 20 Feb, 27 Feb, 6 Mar, 13 Mar, 20 Mar, 27 Mar.* The program is capped at 10 participants on a first-in basis.  You can sign up for the BBTP HERE.   

The cost of the program is $270 (plus merchant fees).*

Twilight sailing will occur each Wednesday during daylight saving, with a 5pm splash for 5.30 start, whether or not the BBTP is held that day. All sailors are welcome to join, whether or not participating in the BBTP. 

* Terms for both programs can be found HERE.

Laser State Masters South Lake Macquarie March 2nd & 3rd

The block buster State Masters Championship is coming up 2nd and 3rd March. This one will be at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club at Sunshine – always a great venue. We have 20 DBSC members signed up to participate… if you haven’t done so already, and want to join us, please let us know HERE. This is your last chance to join our armada headed North. 

The Notice of Race for the event is HERE and you can enter online HERE. 

SLMASC have arranged with the Lake Macquarie Council to allow us to camp (tent only – no caravans) on Friday and Saturday nights on Sunshine Park at the club. Camping fee is $30 per night (with funds going to the Council). The clubhouse toilets and showers will be available 24 hours. Please contact Diana Charlton by email at treasurer@slmasc.org if you want to book a camping spot. 

On Saturday night the club is putting on a BBQ dinner for us. Nibbles, BBQ (steak & sausage) with salads, plus dessert and tea/coffee for just $20. What’s not to like.