Safety Reminder

As we start the new season, we want to remind all members about DBSC’s safety policy.  Please read and understand the policy at dbsc.com.au/safety.  We have summarised it below:

DBSC takes safety very seriously.  Sailing is dangerous.  All sailors must be aware of the risks and mitigants. Each individual must determine if it is safe for them to sail having regard to conditions, experience and equipment.  

Every participant is responsible for their own safety and the safety of others.  The safety of people comes before the safety of property.

Two basic principles of safety are awareness and common sense. If you see a capsized boat, and are closest to it, you must establish its crew are safe, even if this means sailing out of your way.  This is an obligation of every boat that sequentially becomes the closest boat until its crew is back on board.  There is no guarantee that a response boat will see an incident or be able to attend to it either in time or at all. You cannot assume that someone else will take care of it. 

Note that the club provides no support for members or visitors sailing to or from DBSC events from or to other clubs. 

Thank you for your individual commitment to safety.  It is a condition of sailing with DBSC that you have read, understood and accepted the risk warning, release of liability and conditions and the incident management plan.

Women’s Regatta Countdown

Just 10 sleeps to go until DBSC’s second annual Women’s Laser Regatta kicks off. Check out all the awesome events that are happening over the weekend of 28/29 September by viewing the schedule HERE. 

Coming Up Next

Saturday, 21 September, 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 HERE if you are planning on attending.

Saturday, 21 September, 2pm Start – Spring Pointscore, Heats 3 & 4.  

Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 September - DBSC Women’s Laser Regatta.

Wild Winds for Start of Season

The first heats of the 2019/20 Club Championship were quite a challenge for the 20 sailors who were brave enough to compete on this chilly early Spring day. The forecast was for a very strong Westerly and Mother Nature didn’t let us down. In fact, the start of racing was postponed for 30 minutes to let the breeze die down a bit, and the course was set inside Clark Island to lessen the impact of the 25+ knot Westerly that was blowing. There were plenty of capsizes, a few broken parts and many sore muscles by the time racing was complete. 

A Rare Inside Clark Island Course.

In the Radials, Otto Henry was victorious both races.  In the Standards, it was Ian Alexander in Race 1 and in the second race Geoff Kirk crossed the finish line first. Emily Ball was the only courageous 4.7 sailor to brave the rodeo ride, and despite a broken mast, still had a smile on her face at the end of the day. Congrats to all the hearty competitors.  

Emily started the day with the smallest sail of the fleet… and by the end of the day it was smaller yet.

After the tough racing the fleet was happy to dig into a beautiful BBQ on the clubhouse deck. Thanks to Paul Adam, Shirley Roach and Clare Alexander for whipping up such a delicious feast. 

Thanks also to last week’s race management volunteers for doing a great job in some tough conditions: PRO Mark Bethwaite, assisted by David Devlin and Diana Valia Chen; COTD Kirk Marcolina assisted by Justin Davey, CoCOTD David Airey assisted by Mark Crowhurst, and Canteen Assistants Jules Hall and Geoff Boscoe.

Coaching Call Out

Time is running out to sign up for Brett Beyer’s Spring Program. Come get coached by one of the best -- find out more and reserve your space HERE.  Dates are 21 Sep, 19 Oct, 26 Oct, 2 Nov, 16 Nov, 30 Nov, 7 Dec.; cost is $630 for “A” and $315 for “B” (plus merchant fees).

Insurance Reminder

It is a condition of participation in sailing at DBSC that you hold and maintain third party liability insurance in respect of your boat.  We also recommend you include comprehensive insurance, to cover your own boat.  Note, this insurance does not cover injuries to you, which you will need to cover separately through your health insurance and life insurance policies. 

This insurance is available very cost-effectively from Nautilus Marine – see the link on our website HERE or go directly to Nautilus HERE.  Basic third party liability insurance is $110 per annum.  If you want to include comprehensive insurance for your own boat up to $10,000, the cost is $270.

If you do not have current insurance, you MUST purchase insurance before any further participation in DBSC events.  It’s super easy to quickly purchase the insurance online.

Garbage Out, Garbage In

A quick reminder that when closing the club to please ensure that the BLUE bins are taken inside.  These are the special “return and earn” recycling bins through which we earn money, and cannot be co-mingled with other types of garbage. Last week, one of the blue bins was left outside and there were about 20 coffee cups, a lot of paper, 3 dog poo bags, several deflated balls and several large plastic bags in the bin. Thankfully, Paul Adam took the time to remove all of the inappropriate material out of blue bins and put it in the red Council bin. However, we want to ensure that he doesn’t have to do this again; so the last to leave on Saturday and Sunday must ALWAYS bring in the blue bins. The red and yellow bins can be left out on Sunday for weekly collection on Monday.

Invite to Women’s Laser Regatta Prize Giving

You are all invited - and we would love you to come and celebrate this important women's initiative at the prize giving at 5.30 pm on Sunday September 29, 2019 at the Club.    

Also, just so members are aware, there is a private function happening on the night of Saturday September 28,2019 for the women sailors who have entered the event.   

Look forward to seeing you over the weekend of 28 and 29 September 2019. 

From The Women's Regatta Committee,

Christine, Clare and Christine

Wind Prediction Geekdom

For all those who are looking for the most up to date wind forecasts, check out the updated version of PredictWind. They have enhanced their “Streamlines” graphics to allow you to literally watch the forecast wind over the day to see any expected squalls, lulls, etc. You can view a video that explains the new technology HERE. 

Big Boat Report

Written by Chris Bowing

Four boats reached the starting area on a beautiful sunny first day of spring.  Sincere thanks to David Devlin for giving us a boat start and taking lots of photos.

In a dying NW zephyr, Corinna made the best of the start at the Clark Island pole, with Sanity and G-Force downwind at the boat end.  Smitten, crewed mostly by small children, missed the start and elected to go cruising.  But the speed of the larger boats soon saw Sanity in the lead with G-Force second at Point Piper.  Sanity continued to pull ahead but Corinna made the best of the wind shift to NE and was still right on G-Force’s stern at Bradleys.

On the work to Sow and Pigs, Sanity danced away and G-Force found good speed to pull a big gap on Corinna.  On the run home nobody flew spinnakers - G-Force for crew reasons, Corinna for medical reasons – but G-Force made remarkable ground to finish within 2 minutes of Sanity. Corinna limped in much later.

A pleasant gathering on the deck finished a sunny, sparkling spring day.  

At the finish:

Sanity.

G-Force

Corinna.

A beautiful first day of spring on the harbour. Photo by David Devlin