Only 3 Sleeps till the Women’s Laser Regatta

After many weeks of preparation, the Second Annual Women’s Laser Regatta hosted by DBSC is almost here. Check out the full schedule below. To entice you to get there bright and early we have a pop up coffee sponsor The Little Marionette onsite both mornings from 7:30 for fresh coffee! They are heading on down to the DBSC clubhouse, setting up a pop up shop and making a brew with the finest beans, creating full-bodied and crowd-pleasing blends with small-batch single origins. It will get you charged up for the Opening Ceremony with the Hon. Gabrielle Upton at 8:30am Saturday!

Thanks to Christine Patton, Christine Linhart, Clare Alexander and the many other volunteers who have spent countless hours putting together a world class event. With over 50 sailors set to attend it’s sure to be a great weekend of women’s sailing!

Brett Beyer Twilight Program

With daylight saving just around the corner, one of our favourite club activities will be resuming – twilight sailing!  The first of these will occur in two weeks, on Wednesday, 9 July with splash at 5pm (or whenever you can get there) for sailing from 5.30-7.30pm.

And with this comes another instalment of the fantastic Brett Beyer Twilight Program.  This program is capped at 10 participants (on a first in basis), who benefit from direct on-water coaching from Brett, and access to ask follow-up questions during the week.

The Brett Beyer Twilight Program (BBTP) will run for 9 sessions as follows: 16 Oct, 23 Oct, 30 Oct, 6 Nov, 13 Nov, 20 Nov, 27 Nov, 4 Dec, 18 Dec.  The cost of the program is $270 (plus merchant fees) per person.

If you want to participate in the BBTP, please apply and pay here. Terms and conditions are included in the payment link.

All sailors are welcome to participate in twilight sailing, whether or not participants in the BBTP.  Everyone benefits from the races and drills that Brett coordinates.  Last season we had 15-25 boats every week – let’s build on that this season!

Private Dollies

We published an article a few weeks ago asking people to identify and claim their personal dollies, otherwise those dollies would be deemed donated to the club.  We did not receive many responses!

We have attached again the private dolly register HERE and ask that people review this and confirm to the Dolly Auditor, Mark Gray, by email here if any dollies in the register are theirs.  Note there are four private stackable dollies in one image labelled 18A-18D – please review these too.

We have also not received communication from the owner of the heavy dolly made from steel pipe shown at item 15.  This dolly needs to be removed from the club as it is incompatible with the racks.  We have another member who has volunteered to remove it and, if we do not hear from its owner, it will be deemed abandoned and will be removed by that other member.

There are several people whose dollies have been reported missing.  This is an unfortunate reality of storing private dollies at the club.  There is a very high probability, based on experience, that any private dolly stored in the club will eventually go missing.  We are sorry that this has happened to those people.  The club’s dolly policy is as follows: 

Our policy is to encourage members not to store personal dollies in the club.  If you elect to store a personal dolly in the clubhouse, you will be deemed to have donated that dolly to the club, unless you submit photographs with unique identifiers that are accepted by the Dolly Auditor AND your name and those photographs are recorded in the Private Dolly Register.  The club bears no liability for failure to record or retain details of your dolly in the Dolly Register, even where such details were provided to and accepted by the Dolly Auditor.  If you store your dolly at the club, you do so at your own risk, and the club bears no liability for loss of your dolly, even as a result of negligence or of a wilful decision by the club to scrap it, which the club reserves the right to do at any time without notification to you.  Members should be aware that numerous private dollies have been lost and/or scrapped over the years, and you have no right of claim, including no right to an alternate dolly, should that occur to yours.  You are not entitled at any time, including upon selling your boat and/or ceasing to be a member of the club, to remove a dolly from the clubhouse or surrounds except with the specific approval of a Flag Officer or the Dolly Auditor and then only when the dolly you propose to take is recorded as yours in the Dolly Register.  By storing your personal dolly in the clubhouse, you agree to these terms.

World Championships - Entries Open

Entries for the 2020 ILCA Laser Masters World Championships in Geelong have opened.  The regatta is scheduled to run from 19-28 March, immediately following the National Masters Championships from 13-18 March.

The advice is to get entries in early and MOST IMPORTANTLY to book your accommodation NOW (for both Nationals and Worlds) – accommodation is already extremely tight, with only a few places left! 

You can enter the Masters Nationals here and the Masters Worlds here.

Entries have also opened for the Standard Men’s World Championship from 9-16 February, the Radial Men’s and Women’s World Championships 21-28 February, the Radial Men’s World Championship.  The full list of World Championship events in Australia in 2020 is here.

We want to get a huge DBSC contingent there for both the Nationals and the Worlds, so sign up now and don’t miss out!

Top Tip - Quick Rigging Vang and Down Haul

What you need:

• Oversized shackle (some use quick pin, but I learned that a shackle is more secure)

• Spring Clip

• Loop spliced into Downhaul 

Once set up, You’ll be quick to rig and unrig and you never unrig your down haul. 

To rig:

1. stand mast, 

2. attach boom to mast and sail

3. shackle vang to mast tang

4. Connect vang to boom

5. Pass downhaul line through sail, clip in your loop

6. Presto!!!!

Opposite to unrig, be sure that you don’t untie your downhaul, and leave the system on your cockpit

Disclaimer.....This will make it simpler and faster to rig and unrig. Unfortunately doesn’t make you faster on the course. 

Coming Up...

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

Saturday, 5 October, 2pm Start – Sprints (due to the October Long Weekend)

Wednesday, 9 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sprints

Saturday, 12 October, 2pm Start – Sprints (due to Oceania and Coasts)

Sunday, 13 October, 2pm Start – Big Boat Race

Wednesday, 16 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sprints

Saturday, 19 October, 9am – Learn to Race

Saturday, 19 October, 2pm Start – Club Championship, Heats 3 & 4 AND Spring Pointscore, Heats 5 & 6.  Followed by a BBQ

Big Discount on Great Gear

Boat Crew Gear are generously supporting The Women’s Laser Regatta and would like to share the love to the whole DBSC membership - So – Jump on board – support our sponsors.

Order online now with BoatCrewGear.com for pickup at the Women's Laser Regatta and receive a 15% discount on your gear!

BoatCrewGear.com is an Australian small business servicing the sailing and paddling market online and at popup shops at regattas. BCG sells ALL brands – MUSTO, Zhik, Spinlock, Harken, ForwardWIP, Gill, Ronstan, wetsuits, boots, blocks, jackets for on and off shore, thermal hot sox, Performance knee pads, and more  – basically everything you need for sailing either on a dinghy OR a big boat!

When was the last time you bought a NEW Lifejacket? They don’t last forever – BCG have a variety of brands too!  

If you order online between now and the 26th September 2019 you can pick up your gear at their popup shop at the Women's Laser Regatta on the 28/29th September

Use code DBSCLaser at checkout for your 15% discount. Only valid for online orders with regatta pickup. Discount not valid on items already on special.

If you miss the online shop – come on down to DBSC as Andrew will have a pop up shop both days so you can come and try gear on, buy last minute things to get ready for the summer of sailing!

Sweet Spring Pointscore

What a difference a week makes. Instead of the near-gale force winds of two weekends ago, Saturday brought a much gentler 10 – 12 knot Southerly. The first heats of the Spring Pointscore were sailed by almost 40 boats. The fleet had to battle some major shifts and lulls, but all in all it was a much tamer day of sailing. 

The winners after handicapping were: Standard Rigs: Steve London (race 1), Campbell Patton (race 2); Radials & 4.7s (who race as one fleet in the Pointscore): Kate McHugh (race 1), Otto Henry (race 2). You can check out all the results HERE.

Thanks to last week’s race management volunteers for running a great day on the water: PRO Mark Bethwaite, assisted by Justin Davey; COTD Emily Ball, CoCOTD Kim Ketelbey, and Canteen Assistants David Huber and Alvaro Manzanares Bertran.

Join us this Saturday for heats 3 and 4 of the Pointscore. 

Photo by Emily Ball.

Brett Beyer Saturday Program

This Saturday is the first instalment of the Brett Beyer Saturday Program.  We have 15 participants signed up and paid.  This is your LAST CHANCE to sign up -- 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).

Weekly Top Tip

 We are looking for ideas for a Weekly Top Tip section in the newsletter.

It might be something clever you have discovered about rigging your boat, or how to prevent a capsize, or how to get your boat out of the racks, or how to dry your wet gear, or how the canteen honesty book works … anything you have discovered about the club or about sailing that you think other people might not know or might find interesting.  

It might be that you are a new member and you recently discovered something you wish you had been told – then tell us what it is, so we can let others know.  It might be that you are an “old hand”, and you have some wisdom to pass on – again, tell us what it is, so we can let others know.

We are looking for any and all ideas – can you please email Kirk Marcolina, the Newsletter editor HERE with your suggestions?