Action Items

With spring around the corner, things are starting to heat up at DBSC. That means a bumper newsletter this week, and there are some important action items we need your responses on. We know some of you may not have time to peruse the entire edition in detail, so we’ve outlined the most important items below. Read on for more details, but please respond, sign up and volunteer:

Working Bee – Saturday 24 August. Sign up to volunteer HERE. 

Season Opening Dinner – Friday 30 August. Get your tickets HERE.

Boat Repair Day – Sunday 1 September. Sign up to help fix boats HERE. Sign up to get help repairing your boat HERE.  

Women’s Laser Regatta – September 28 and 29. Sign up to participate in the Regatta HERE. Sign up to volunteer at the Regatta HERE. 

Brett Beyer Saturday Program – Ongoing in Spring. Sign up for the BBSP HERE.  

Race Management Volunteers – Ongoing. Sign up to volunteer to do two race management shifts this season HERE. 

Winter Sprint Series Starts This Saturday

Laser racing returns to Saturdays this weekend, with the start of our August Winter Sprint Series. The sprints are a perfect way to get back in shape for the upcoming season of sailing, and will be held every Saturday in August, with an early 1pm start. So join us for some pre-season fun this Saturday.   

Working Bee

We will be running our annual working bee on Saturday 24 August at 8am. This is an important event that gets our club ready for the new season of sailing. 

There is a lot to do, and we would appreciate participation from all members to make this a success. Could you please RSVP HERE to confirm your attendance?

We have set out below the list of tasks required on the day. Could you please let us know in your RSVP if there are particular tasks you would like to do (no guarantees, but we will accommodate where possible)?

• paint change rooms

• dolly maintenance team 1 — axles / rivets / tyres

• dolly maintenance team 2 — padding / plastic protectors 

• dolly audit — club vs member dollies

• club laser maintenance

• gurney the ramp and deck ladders (can anyone supply gurney guns?)

• wash the Jazzman

• scrub and wash the two RIBs

• audit / check all anchors and tackle

• check all radios / handhelds are working

• check all safety packs / replenish as needed

• workshop tidy and clean

• tidy and clean food storage shelving

• remove items in accessible bathroom and store elsewhere / discard

• tidy / discard storage in rafters

• remove two lumps of concrete in water

• remove rubbish from beaches

• clubhouse spring clean

• miscellaneous maintenance

It’s a long list — please plan to attend, and please RSVP!

Boat Repair Day

Have a bent bailer or a cleat that popped off in the last race of the season? Then our Boat Repair Day is for you. The annual fix up is happening at 9am on Sunday, 1 September. This is a day when some of our handy members have volunteered to help with minor repairs to hulls and foils. Major work will need to be outsourced. Generally we recommend purchasing new spars and sails rather than repairing old ones. Depending on the work required and the cost of materials and parts, there may be a charge applied. 

If you’re one of our skilled members who’d like to help and are willing to assist with repairs, please contact Ian Alexander HERE. If you need help with repairs please contact Craig Sheers HERE, outlining the work required so that Craig can obtain materials. 

Thanks to Craig Sheers and Ian Alexander, and everyone else who volunteers, for providing this very helpful service!  We encourage you to sign up and make use of it.

Race Management Volunteers Needed

The #1 strategic initiative for the club this year is to improve the quality of our race management.  We have been very fortunate in the last few years to have had expert “permanent” PROs to manage much of our racing — a big thank you to Jonathan Stone, Clare Alexander and Christine Patton for their enormous contributions. 

While this has given us reliable and consistent race management, it has resulted in a skills gap among our broader membership, which has been evident on days when our permanent PROs are not present. Furthermore, we cannot assume we will always have willing permanent PROs.  

For this reason, and noting it is consistent with our club culture and ethos that everything at the club is shared among our volunteer members, we are changing our approach to race management this year, and putting it back in the hands of our broader membership. We want everyone in the club to become competent race officers — capable in all aspects of race management to the highest standards of safety and quality. 

To this end, Matt Knight has offered to redesign our race management system, including leading a team to re-work the Sailing Instructions, Incident Management Plan, PRO Guide and COTD Guide, producing a series of consistent and easy-to-use practical documents. 

We have used elements of this new system to trial a Learn To Run A Race program during the Winter Championships, which we have now refined based on the learnings from the trial. We will be running the Learn To Run A Race Program on an ongoing basis until all members are competent in race management. 

We will also be running further mandatory competency training on two alternative days in the first half of the season — please save the date in your diaries for either 26 Oct or 23 Nov. All members are required to attend one session. 

Our commitment to safety and quality requires a minimum of four people to be rostered on-water each week (except for sprints). Given our new approach and the full racing calendar we offer, there are more race management slots to fill than there are active members.  

As a consequence, we are calling for volunteers who are willing to be rostered twice during the season. We need about 20 volunteers. Could you please email Mark Crowhurst HERE if you are willing to do this?

While we are implementing the Learn To Run A Race program, there will be errors in race management. This is a natural part of the learning process. We ask all members to understand this is a necessary investment and to be supportive rather than critical of those involved as we make this investment in our future.   

Separately, following the retirement of Andrea Bergman, whose smiling face and cheeky sense of humour will be greatly missed in the canteen, we will be rostering two people in canteen each week to assist our tireless permanent team of Paul Adam and Shirley Roach. Thank you again to Paul and Shirley for their enormous commitment to this critical element of the soul of the club!  We appreciate everyone’s support in providing assistance when rostered. 

Season Opening Dinner

Gilligan’s Island is the theme for DBSC’s annual Season Opening Sailors and Volunteers Dinner on Friday 30th August – 7pm at the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in Point Piper. You’re not going want to miss this season’s social kick off.   

The cost for the evening is $90 which includes a 2 course dinner (and a share cheese platter), wine with dinner and open bar on arrival (while our kitty lasts).  And after the main event, we’ll head to Bedouin in Double Bay. 

Tickets are selling fast, so get yours HERE today!

Brett Beyer Coaching

Get coached by one of Laser sailing’s best, Brett Beyer. The Master is back again running his Saturday coaching program on the following dates:  21 Sep, 19 Oct, 26 Oct, 2 Nov, 16 Nov, 30 Nov, 7 Dec.*  You can sign up for the program and learn more details HERE.

Women’s Laser Regatta Needs Your Help!!

Excitement is building for the 2nd Annual Women’s Laser Regatta which will be happening at DBSC on September 28 and 29. When the NOR (which you can see HERE) went live on Monday, the world took notice. The very popular Sail-World.com tweeted about it. 

The Tweet Seen ‘Round the World.

On top of that, Clare Alexander and Christine Patton represented the club at a recent grant presentation at Woollahra Council. The duo accepted a cheque in support of the Regatta from Mayor Peter Cavanagh. So, it’s already looking like the second edition is going to top the hugely successful inaugural Women’s Laser Regatta. Please make sure you spread the word and get women and girls to register HERE. 

Mayor Peter Cavanagh with DBSC’s Clare Alexander and Christine Patton

To make sure the Regatta lives up to expectations we’re going to need the help of our members. Christine Linhart is coordinating our volunteer group so please email her HERE and let her know if you can help with any of the following.

Our Donation Wish List (more to follow): 

On water items:

Ribs for coaches, rescue and race committee as needed – estimate 6 will be needed in addition to Club ribs.

 Social items:

Loaner outdoor deck heaters that we can put on the deck for yoga and drinks and prize giving 

Loaner PA System for our Inspirational Speaker Evening on September 28 

Our Volunteer Needs: 

Friday September 27 & Sunday September 29

Drivers to transport some of our coaches and PRO from/to airport – Time TBC 

Friday September 27, 3pm – 6 pm 

Hang banners, prepare registration area, set up promotion material, help prep kitchen, and ready all marks for event

Saturday September 28, 8.30 am - 9.30 am

Car Park attendant, taking money for parking at the Double Bay School  

Saturday September 28, 4.30 pm – 5.30 pm

Decorate and set up for dinner (cocktails start at 5.30 pm so we have a very tight window to make this happen)

Saturday September 28, 5pm – 9 pm 

Kitchen help to assist caterer with presenting and cleaning up for dinner – 3 people needed 

Saturday September 28, 9 pm – 10 pm 

Kitchen clean up squad – come and have a glass of wine at the event whilst helping us tidy up  

Sunday September 29, 3.00 pm – 4.30 pm 

Assistance with bringing boats off the beach, general wash down, racking and putting boats on trailers. We are targeting a 5.30 pm prize giving, so come and join us for a beer with the Mayor after you have pitched in.

Thanks in advance for your help in making this another outstanding Women’s Laser Regatta!

Youth Achieve at Worlds

Our DBSC youth sailors represented us well at the 2019 Laser Worlds Championship in Miho Bay, Japan. 

Zac West has just returned after winning the silver medal at the Laser Radial Men’s World Championships – he lead the regatta until the last day and was pipped at the post by a few points!

Mark Louis was 5th overall with another terrific performance.

You can check out all of the results and find out more about the event HERE.

Zac West Smashing it in Japan.

Winter Champs Come to a Close

It certainly didn’t feel like winter last Sunday morning on Sydney Harbour. The 25 members who competed in the final heats of the Winter Championship were treated to a stunning morning complete with a brilliant blue sky, unseasonably warm water and air temps approaching 20 degrees. The 10-12 knot Westerly made for a competitive day of racing. In the Standards Rod Barnes won heat 19 and Campbell Patton took first in heats 20 and 21. For the Radials Sylvie Stannage kept up her winning ways in heats 19 and 21, whilst in heat 20 Martin White showed us that Master’s can still beat the Youth once in a while. 

A huge thank you to PRO Instructor, Gerry Donohoe; learn to run a race participants David Rogers and Richard George; and COTD / Co-COTD, David Newman and David Airey.

Sunday was the final day of racing for the Winter Championship and after a competitive series Geoff Kirk took the title in the Standards, and Sylvie Stannage cruised to victory in the Radials. Congratulations!