The Week Ahead

Wednesday 13 March, 5pm – Twilight Sailing with BBTP – Come on down for a great night of training and racing, only three left until the end of daylight saving!

Saturday 16 March, 9am – Learn to Race. Come along if you want to learn more about Laser boat handling, balance, boat posture, trim, starts, tacks, gybes, boat set-up and any other race management fundamentals. Please email Martin White if you are planning on attending. 

Saturday 16 March, 2pm Start – Sprint Racing. While some of the fleet is sailing in the Metros and at the Victorian State Masters, the rest of us will be practicing with a series of short sprint races near DBSC. 

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 6 March, 5pm – Twilight Sailing with BBTP – 15 boats last week, come on down again for a great night of training and racing, only four left until the end of daylight saving!

Saturday 9 March, 2pm Start – Club Championship Heats 13-14. Note: there will be NO Learn to Race (See more info below.) 

Saturday 9 March, 5pm – Minimalist BBQ (i.e. sausage on bread with a little salad) on the deck.   

Double Bay North

You could have mistaken Lake Macquarie for Double Bay last weekend, with so many DBSC members sailing there in the State Masters Championship. In fact, our club arrived at Lake Macquarie with 15 standards and 6 radials to compete against a fleet of 72 standards and 56 radials. The 21 traveling sailors marked a DBSC record for most attendees at a regatta outside of Sydney Harbour. 

By all accounts the DBSCers made the most of their weekend away – both on and off the water. Many of the sailors made it a bit of a holiday, some sharing an Airbnb whist others camped out under the stars. Good meals, fine wine and tall tales from past regattas were shared. 

When it came to the on-water competition, the team didn’t let us down. With strong overall finishes from Ian Alexander (8th in standards) and Andrew Cox (5th in radials) on equal points with Matt Knight (6th in radials on countback).

In the age categories, DBSC was even more dominant, with several podium finishers:

• Standard Apprentice Master:  Hadrien Bourely = 2, Jules Hall = 3

• Standard Great Grand Master: Mark Bethwaite = 1, Ashley Deacon = 2

• Radial Master: Andrew Cox = 2, Matt Knight = 3

Club Coach, Brett Beyer, shocked us all (not) with yet another unblemished performance of six straight bullets!  Well done to Brett and all DBSC participants.

The DBSC Crew at the State Masters.

More Traveling Fun in 19/20

With the overwhelming success and positive feedback from last weekend, we’re already looking forward to next year’s State Masters Championship on 8th-9th February 2020. The regatta will take place at Lake Jindabyne, which is a fun location with options for group accommodation and things to do at night (other than stretching exhausted TFLs and going to bed!). We want to get a big contingent to that regatta in the lead up to the Masters Nationals (13th-18th March 2020) and Masters Worlds (19th -28th March 2020) at Geelong. So, mark the dates on your calendar now! 

In the meantime, there are several local and regional regattas coming up as set out below. We will coordinate attendance, transport and accommodation as needed for each of these as they approach.

Next Season’s State Laser Highlights.

Sprints on the Harbour

Turnout was strong at Saturday's sprints despite many of the club's more mature sailors limbering old bodies into action and attending the State Masters Championship. In total 21 spring chickens presented and we managed to fit in about 6 races. Conditions were fun with a sprightly 12-15 knot Nor Easter and choppy waters. The harbour was particularly packed with 2 additional fleets racing ... the 18s in their JJ champs and a big boat regatta… both setting up start / finish lines in the mouth of Double Bay. The course was set in the only spare area between the JJs start and the CYCA mark off Point Piper; however, there were still a few too many close calls, as various out of control boats decided to skewer through the laser fleet. 

All is well that ends well and there was positive feedback about the sprint format and opportunity to complete so many races. Thanks to both Pia's Dad and Emil Huberts parents (visiting from the Netherlands) for helping Tony and Simon run the racing.

Spritely Sprints.

Messy Clubhouse

The clubhouse is extremely crowded these days, so it’s more important than ever to make sure all dollies and boats are put away properly. A clear aisle down the club must always exist and the fridges and kitchen areas must always be accessible. No exceptions – even if you are dropping off a boat late at night. The kitchen crew often makes early morning deliveries and it is unacceptable for them to have to clear a pathway to the canteen – which is exactly what happened earlier this week.  Thanks for your understanding and cooperation with this!

Club Championship This Weekend

It will be very crowded in the park this weekend, as we will be sharing the rigging area (and clubhouse) with the A18s annual JJ Giltnan World Championships. The A18s have agreed to leave space for us between the club and the eastern boat ramp – for those who rig first, please rig in the main park behind the playground area to leave room for later-comers to rig in front of the club.  We appreciate your patience and understanding.  There will be a lower-key-than-normal, but still excellent, BBQ after racing.

Clean Up Australia Day

Thanks once again to Jonathan Stone for organizing DBSC’s participation in Clean Up Australia last Sunday.  Jonathan was there from 10.30am, and people - from the local Federal MP to Laser sailors to big boat sailors to school groups to ‘members of the public’ and their kids - came be to volunteer. Candice and Christina and Kathy took over from Johnathan at 12.30pm and by 2pm the team had collected many, many bags of rubbish and managed to make the beaches sparkle once again. Thank you to all who participated. 

Big Boat Race Report

It was a classic early autumn afternoon on the Harbour.

The 18s ‘world championships’, their JJ Giltinans, were on and I heard stories of their first race, the day before. There was also a Sydney Harbour regatta with multiple fleets, so many that start boat volunteers were having a hard time picking which was their pin. Protests were being prepared. And of course the DBSC BIG boats. The Clubhouse was crowded, Paul and his catering group were busy, busy. Small repairs were being done on the grass

It was sunny and autumn-warm. A classic Sydney sea breeze, nor-east, blew all weekend.

Corinna, G-Force, Sanity, Smitten, T&T  all presented for the start; our line is fixed and in a nor-easterly we have to cross the line on port. That all happened with manoeuvrings and judgements; Corinna won the start, then T&T and G-Force, Sanity and Smitten.

T&T was late because - we were late; her skipper misjudged time by 15 seconds; Sanity because she had to give way to a starboard tack boat; Smitten, because she was late to the starting area and had only just unfurled her headsail!

So, Corinna led us on port tack across Double Bay, for our mark at Point Piper - faithfully laid by Peter Collie and Gerard Cafe, from an RIB (thank you)! Sanity is a beautiful boat, fast as a modern 34ft cruiser-racer should be, and her skipper has been winning trophies since the 1950s. She edged past Corinna on this leg, to lead us around the first mark, followed by Corinna, G-Force, T&T, Smitten. The leg to Taylors bay was a very close reach; some boats went a bit higher, some lower; the race was on for second place but places didn’t change.

The last upwind leg was again classic Harbour. Sanity went left, looking for a lift and breeze around Chowder Head. The rest of us went right, to the east side of the Harbour where there is hope of an easterly lift coming over a saddle in the Harbour’s South Head, into Watson’s Bay. We sailed hard through fleet after fleet to get to Watson’s Bay and still there were no place changes. Except that T&T briefly overtook G-Force and closed on Corinna, so that those three were all close at the top mark.

The leg to Shark Island was a square-to-broad reach, sometimes a dead run, as always. Sanity didn’t need to set a spinnaker to maintain her long lead; Corinna had to protect her second place and did need to set a spinnaker to be sure of it. G-Force took time to set hers and T&T  came past her goose-winged. But once the spinnakers were set it became a contest between the two kited boats for second. The contest lasted through the gybe at Shark Island and was decided back in Double Bay where G-Force struggled with her kite. Corinna pulled away and, very close to the line, T&T slid through into third, profiting from G-Force’s misfortune.

Back at the Clubhouse we rehydrated and talked it all through, tidied up the last of the Clean-Up Australia jobs as the 18 footers came in. And all was done.

Across the line:

•  Sanity

• Corinna

• Time & Tide

• G-Force

• Smitten

We race next on April 7.

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 27 February, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. It’s the last few weeks of daylight saving, come and join us for some big fleets.  Last week we had 15 on a dreary day. Today’s forecast looks picture perfect, so let’s set a record!

Saturday 2 March & Sunday 3 March – Good luck to our 20 members who are headed up to South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club for the State Masters Championship. If you’re one of them, make sure you’ve officially registered for the event here.

Saturday 2 March, 2pm Start – Sprint Racing for those not going to the Masters.  PLEASE NOTE — There is NO Learn to Race this week due to the Masters.

Sunday 3 March, 11am to 2pm  – Clean-Up Australia Day at DBSC. See details below. 

Sunday 3 March, 2pm Start – Big Boat Racing. Please let Jonathan Stone know if you want to join the fleet.