Top Tip – How to Dry Wet Boots

Last week Wet Foot Freddie asked how to dry his boots after a day on the water. DBSC members have come to the rescue with these suggestions:

Fill with scrunched up newspaper (or other absorbent paper) works with wet work boots & actual trekking/hiking boots. Leave in dry shaded area not full sun as get over heated & sweat. — Mick Forbes

I just hand them to Dad and hey presto next time I need them, they are dry!  — Sylvie Stannage

Open them up, rinse them out, drying racks are useful, accept they are a consumable and let the sun and breeze do the work! — Chris Stannage

Stuff your booties with newspaper! — Katie McHugh

My solution is 12min spin cycle in the washing machine for everything except the life jacket. Then hang everything on the clothes rack inside. Boots upside down as shown in the photo. Everything is dry by the next day.  —Andrew Cox

If you have a query, a suggestion or a tip, please email the Top Tipster HERE. 

Rules, Rules, Rules

By Andrew Cox

We are going to run a series of articles by Brett Beyer over the coming months, covering starting, top mark, bottom mark and port / starboard.

This is part of an effort to increase understanding of the rules by our sailors. But not just the rules — we are focused on understanding how to apply the rules sensibly in practice.

Importantly, there are many situations where the RIGHT answer is NOT to be aggressive in enforcing your rights. This is counter-intuitive to most sailors.

As Brett says, “The smart way to approach any rule is to do what is right for you. Giving a boatlength away at times could be the smartest long term approach. You usually can’t win a race as a result of an individual incident, but you can certainly lose one!”

This season, we are very focused on improving the quality of our racing. Please know the rules, know how to be sensible in applying them, and DO YOUR TURN(S) if you infringe.

Rule of the Month — Starting

By Brett Beyer

The pre-start period is probably where the most protests occur, most often as a result of windward / leeward situations. Most of these protests end with leeward boats being disqualified.

The main things to note are:

* Rule 11 applies — on the same tack and overlapped, the windward boat must KEEP CLEAR.

* There is no “PROPER COURSE” before the start, so the windward boat must keep clear all the way up to head to wind.

* But Rule 15 is a limitation imposed on the leeward boat when she has acquired the right of way — “she shall initially give the other boat ROOM TO KEEP CLEAR”. This means a leeward boat cannot sail into the hole and immediately ask / expect the windward boat to be able to keep clear. 

* Rule 22.3 is an exception — “a boat moving astern, or sideways to windward, through the water by backing a sail shall keep clear of one that is not”. And note that backing the boom to remain stationary against a current is considered “moving astern”.

Examples: 

(a) If the leeward boat comes in and hits the windward boat’s mainsheet, she has not allowed “room”.

(b) If the leeward boat comes in and the windward boat’s transom corner hits the leeward boat when attempting to keep clear, the leeward boat has not allowed “room”.

(c) If a faster moving leeward boat asks an almost stationary windward boat to keep clear, the leeward boat needs to give the windward boat room to BEAR AWAY to gather speed in order to round up out of the way.

So there has to be sufficient SPACE and sufficient TIME from where and when the overlap was first established before the windward boat can be expected to keep clear. And this can be quite a bit of space and time. 

A good RULE OF THUMB is that the leeward boat should be half a boat length to leeward and should allow at least three long seconds before asking a windward boat to keep clear (and maybe even more space and time for an almost stationary windward boat). 

Smart leeward boats will allow for this time and simply remain overlapped for some time before doing anything. As the leeward boat, it is worth being GENEROUS!

The objective after the start is to hold your starboard tack lane. A leeward boat is often more of a threat than a windward boat, so ALLOW THE WINDWARD BOAT SOME BREATHING ROOM. She is then more likely to do a good job of managing her own windward boat, thus effectively guaranteeing the leeward boat not getting rolled by any windward boats.

Up Next at DBSC

Wednesday, 9 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing

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 Sailing

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

Twilights and BBTP Need You

Twilight sailing starts next Wednesday, 9 October with a 5pm splash, and will continue every Wednesday until the end of daylight savings (except for a few weeks over the holidays). Twilights are a great way to hone your skills, have some mid-week fun and enjoy one of the best sailing sunsets in the world. So, we hope to see you there!

Along with Twilights we’re hoping to run another instalment of the fantastic Brett Beyer Twilight Program (BBTP).  This program is set to begin on Wednesday, 16 October and gives participants direct on-water coaching from Brett during the Twilights, and access to ask follow-up questions during the week. However, we need 10 participants to make the program a reality, and currently only three members have signed up. To ensure the program moves forward, please check out the details and sign up HERE before this Friday. 

Second Women’s Laser Regatta an Unmitigated Success

Written by Di Pearson

Last weekend’s Women’s Laser Regatta, hosted by Double Bay Sailing Club, was an unmitigated success, attended and coached by some of Australia’s highest profile sailors, mixed in with keen young sailors on their way up.

Photo by @darciecollington.

The Hon. Gabrielle Upton MP, Member for Vaucluse, and Andrew Cox, Commodore of Double Bay Sailing Club officially opened the regatta, while Mayor of Woollahra Municipal Council, Susan Wynne, presided over the prize presentation. 

Run, coached and competed in by women and girls on Sydney Harbour, the intention of the regatta is to encourage greater female participation in the Laser class. DBSC’s ethos is based on volunteering, and this came through with many members involved in supporting the event.

In only its second year, co-organisers, Clare Alexander, Christine Patton, and Christine Linhart were thrilled by the number of those wanting to attend. 

Patton commented, “We were over-subscribed this year. When we started the event last year, we couldn’t have guessed how popular it would become so quickly.”   

Photo by @darciecollington.

Eminent coaches included Karyn Gojnich, a triple Olympian; Krystal Weir, a double Olympian, and Katie Spithill, a multiple international and national Women’s Match Racing champion from youth to adulthood. Spithill also finished second overall in the 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart as tactician on Wild Oats X. 

The trio was joined by DBSC’s Marlena Berzins, a former Australian Sailing Squad member in the Laser Radial, and Charlotte Alexander, an up-and-coming match racer with wins to her name. Louise Davis, an experienced International Race Officer from Brisbane, flew in to preside as Race Officer. 

The two-day event comprised yoga each morning; an on and off the water coaching clinic; debrief and Q&A; dinner at DBSC; racing all Sunday and the prize giving. 

Among the entries was Australian Sailing Team member and Tokyo Olympic Games campaigner in the Laser Radial class, Mara Stransky. The 20 year-old Queenslander won the event, although it was not all about winning. 

“I thought I’d come down and see how the younger girls are progressing and share some insights with them,” Stransky said. 

“I’m impressed by the younger girls (the majority were from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and DBSC). They have a good work ethic and they’re disciplined.”

Karyn Gojnich, from RSYS herself, responded: “They’ve been training all winter under the guidance of Marlena (Berzins) and Mike Leigh (an Olympian). I think our girls gave Mara a run for her money. 

“It was an amazing weekend. The organisers did a fabulous job in bringing it together; a small club like this putting on such a big event.” 

Photo by @darciecollington.

Katie Spithill agreed. “Everyone seemed to love it and already there has been discussion about next year. We had five coaches for 50 boats, so each coach looked after 10 sailors. Krystal (Weir) likened it to a gym circuit – everyone got to see every coach in rotation. Today, on the water, we again looked after 10 sailors each. It was successful,” she said. 

Fifth placegetter for the racing component was 2016 Grand Masters Laser Radial Open world champion and newly crowned Women’s Grand Masters world champion, Vanessa Dudley, who is also an ocean racer with 23 Sydney Hobarts behind her, including last year with Spithill on Wild Oats X.   

“Today was a great day’s sailing and coaching yesterday was just as good. It’s been a worthwhile weekend,” Dudley said. “I found the girls from the Squaddy (RSYS) were very good and it was great to have Mara (Stransky) here. The effort that the Club put into it was really good.”

Photo by @darciecollington.

Entrants came from NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and ACT, with Cleo Boydflying in from New Zealand.  

Special thanks go to Woollahra Council and NSW Laser Association (assistance with coaching costs); Musto (donation of regatta tee-shirts); NB Sailsports, major supplier to the dinghy or off-the-beach racing classes in Australia(sponsorship of regatta bibs and their Laser truck onsite). 

For full results of the regatta please click HERE. Check out the international coverage HERE and HERE.

Photo by @darciecollington.

PRO Training from a Pro

Those who volunteered at the Women’s Laser Regatta were very privileged to receive a PRO training session on Saturday afternoon from renowned International Race Officer, Louise Davis.

Thanks to Louise for running the session and to Kirk Marcolina for filming it. You can check out her presentation HERE (password DBSC2019).

This is a fantastic resource for us as we continue with our major strategic priority of improving the quality of our racing.

We strongly encourage every member to watch this – it will benefit you immensely, both as a sailor and as an aspiring PRO.

There were a few points during the session where there was confusion among the people present –highlighting how important it is that everyone watches the video.  The points of confusion were:

1.     There was some debate about when to use the AP to postpone during a start sequence – the club’s position is that, if any error is made in a start sequence (even by one second), the AP must be put up and the start sequence re-commenced

2.     There was some discussion about when the orange “on station” flag should go up – our PRO guide is clear on this, namely that it must be at least 4 minutes before the start sequence commences 

3.     There was a suggestion that we do not move marks when the wind shifts – while that has generally been our practice, because the wind usually does not shift materially during a race, it is not necessarily the case.  If there is a big enough wind shift, we will change the course (see the PRO guide)

4.     There was a suggestion that only the last three digits on a sail need to be recorded – in our fleet it is critical that the last four digits are recorded because the last three digits are duplicated and result in confusion in our fleet

5.     There was a technical discussion on sailing rules around a finish (including penalty turns and buoy room) – ignore this as it is out of the intended scope for the session and should not be relied upon

International Race Officer, Louise Davis.

Top Tip

This week we have a member looking for advice. Wet Foot Freddie writes, “I want to know how people successfully dry their hiking boots. Or does everyone’s boots take days to dry as well?!?!” If you have the answer, email the Newsletter Editor HERE. Responses will be published in next week’s edition. 

Up Next at DBSC

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

Wednesday, 9 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing

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 Sailing

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

Race Report

It was another blustery September day for Spring Pointscore heats 3 and 4. Big waves and a gradient N/NE 22 knot breeze challenged the 30 + sailors that competed. In between dips in the water the fleet managed some great sailing – with incredible boat speeds on the reaches and runs.

At the end of an exhilarating day, the winners were (after handicap): Standards: Michael Osborne (Heat 3) and Steve London (Heat 4); Radials / 4.7s: Sylvie Stannage (Heat 3) and Kirk Marcolina (Heat 4). 

Thanks to this week’s race volunteers — Mark Bethwaite (PRO) assisted by Clare Alexander, Geoff Boscoe (LTRaR), Tim Patton and Christine Patton (COTD), Julian Van Aalst (CoCOTD), and Tim Heath and Christine Linhart in the canteen.