Toasties are Too Hot, Beer’s Not

Our beloved toasties are getting a makeover. To cut down on complexities in the kitchen and to relieve the canteen crew from endless shopping trips, chopping and sorting, toastie ingredients are being simplified. From this Saturday forward you can choose from ham, cheese and tomato (or any combination of those items) to have on your toastie.  Those are the ingredients that we all love anyway – so it’s a win for all!

Also, it’s been noted that several members are taking beer out of the beer fridge without paying; this is especially true during BBQs. Please note the only free food and drink during BBQs are the items on the serving tables (many times this includes free wine). However, the beer and other beverages are never free, so please make sure you pay up. 

Race Report

We had nearly 40 boats turn up last Saturday for heats 13 and 14 of the Club Championships. It was an unsettled day with a trying 3-10 knot breeze that started Southerly but tuned E/NE. The light breeze, and a big fleet of 18’s gave us some tricky racing. The winners were: Full Rigs: Geoff Kirk (race 13), Murray Stone (race 14); Radials: Mark Louis (race 13), Jack Littlechild (race 14); 4.7s: Finn Kirk (races 13 & 14). Thanks to last week’s volunteers for putting on a great day of racing: PRO Jonathan Stone, assisted by Rod Barnes, COTD Tim Heath, CoCOTD Kevin Gilroy, and Canteen Assistant Pippa Batchelor. Thanks also to the canteen crew for putting on the best post-racing “minimalist BBQ” ever. 

RIB Help for 18s on Sunday

The final race of the season for the 18 Footers is this Sunday, March 17th, and we need one last RIB driver volunteer for the race. If you’re interested, please contact Mark Crowhurst. 

Metros on This Weekend

A reminder the NB Sailsports Metropolitan Championships are on this weekend, 16-17 March at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club Pittwater. The Notice of Race for this event is HERE and the Sailing Instructions are HERE. You can enter online HERE of up until 11.30am on Saturday at RPAYC.

State Masters Corrections

The Editor must have sailed a bit too hard at States, as several items in last week’s newsletter about the event were incorrect. Ian Alexander placed 8th overall in standards, not 9th as previously reported. Also, Pat Levy placed 10th overall in radials. I apologise for the error and omission.

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.