Easter sprints

With the majority of our sailors on holidays, we had a reduced fleet of 12 boats turn up for our Easter Sprints. It was a beautiful afternoon on the harbour, with an 8 knot easterly breeze and warm, sunny skies.  PRO Andrew Cox and COTD Kate McHugh ran a series of five 20 minute races for the fleet, followed by relaxing drinks on the deck before people scurried off to their family commitments!  The highlight of the afternoon was Matt Wenke learning to roll tack under the able coaching of Finn Alexander.  Apparently you are not allowed to exit a tack faster than you entered it.  Matt passed with flying colours ... it did not require a jury to determine that exiting the tack upside down is well within the speed restrictions.

Upcoming events

Saturday 27 April, 2pm – Final Heats of the Club Championship followed by an end of season BBQ.

Friday 24 May, 7pm — Annual General Party (and Meeting). The formal meeting starts at 7pm, followed by dinner and dancing. We already have 67 RSVPs…! We know you don’t want to miss the social event of the season, so please submit your RSVP today.

Saturday/Sunday 28/29 September — The Women’s Laser Regatta will be held out of the Double Bay Sailing Club, off the back of a huge success last year. More details will follow, however save the date to participate or help facilitate!

Time to Pay Up

Annual Dues are required to be paid by the end of the month. (You should have received an invoice from the Secretary a few weeks ago.) Most of our expenses occur during the winter months, when our maintenance program is in full swing, so we need everyone to pay up on time. Thanks to the 38% of members who have already done so. The other 62% of you, please hop online and pay your dues today. Thanks. 

Winter Championships

So far we’ve have had 11 people sign up for the Winter Championship, which is down on the 20 or so we had last year. We know there are more winter warriors out there, so if you plan to sail some or all the winter championship, please respond ASAP here.  The series will begin on Sunday 5 May and run every second Sunday morning from May through July. Splash is at 8 for an 8.30 start. 

In addition to the Championship races Brett Beyer will also be running a winter program (BBWP) that includes on-water coaching during the races and fleet level GPS analysis with individual statistics. Seven members have signed up for the BBWP – we need 10 to make it viable.  If you are interested in the program, please sign up here.

Dance the Night Away at the AGP

Autumn’s biggest party is almost upon us. On Friday, 24 May, we’ll be having our Annual General Party (and Meeting). The formal meeting starts at 7pm, followed by dinner and dancing. We already have 50 RSVPs… but there are still 70 who haven’t responded!  We know you don’t want to miss the social event of the season, so please submit your RSVP today here.

Learn to Run a Race

We are calling for volunteers who are willing to commit to learning how to run a race.  We are offering an opportunity for two people to run the winter championship races each fortnight, under supervision from an experienced race officer.  There are three races each fortnight, every second Sunday morning at 8.30am, starting 5 May.  Trainee race officers should be at the club at 7.30am to set the course and get in position for starts at 8.30.  You will be home, with much improved skills, by 11 (after free hot soup and bread from the canteen).  If you are interested in this opportunity, please email commodore@dbsc.com.au.

COTD Responsibilities

We had a VERY NEAR engine-terminating incident on Saturday.  Presumably someone the previous week had flushed the Bergman engine and left the water-cooling connector unattached. Fortunately, one very observant member saw it before the RIB was used. Had it been driven without the connector re-attached, the engine would have been caput!  $15,000 later …  PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE COTD GUIDE, LEAVE THINGS HOW YOU FIND THEM, AND IF IN DOUBT ASK FOR HELP!

Club Clean Out

There is an enormous pile of lost / unwanted / unloved clothing in the men’s change room – hanging up on the wall hooks, strewn across the benches, and half in and half out of plastic crates.  If this is your gear, please collect it.  We will be reminding people each week between now and the AGP – anything left in the changerooms after the AGP, whether hanging up or not, will be donated to charity via one of the neighbourhood “friendly bins”. 

Club Tidiness

We have had several articles over the past few weeks about taking pride of ownership in the club.  It continues to be disappointing to find examples of people who don’t demonstrate this pride or sense of responsibility.  For example, all the club’s lifejackets were carefully stacked neatly against the wall by one member after Community Day – and someone else has decided they look better strewn across the floor like this:

Someone else, who clearly has domestic problems, has decided to make the workshop their new bedroom, at least judging by the large pile of bedding left in there:

If you are responsible for either of these things, can you please take the time to clean them up before (a) a volunteer has to deal with the life jackets and (b) we put the bedding outside this weekend.

CYCA Scholarships

CYCA has kindly offered half-scholarships to DBSC youth members to participate in CYCA youth sailing courses on CYCA’s Elliott fleet.  If you are between 13-18, you can take up this offer (subject to availability for each specific course) for any of CYCA’s Youth Sailing Academy courses.  The list of courses can be found at https://cyca.com.au/youth/ and further details are available from Jordan Reece on 0433 272 283 / Jordan.reece@cyca.com.au.  If you are interested in these scholarships, please email commodore@dbsc.com.au.