DBSC Heads to National Masters

Good luck to all our DBSC sailors who are headed to Geelong, Victoria for the 2020 Oceania & Australian Laser Masters Championships. Racing begins on Sunday and concludes on Wednesday 18 March. 

JJs at Double Bay

It will be very crowded in the park the next two weekends, as we will be sharing the rigging area (and clubhouse) with the A18s annual JJ Giltnan World Championships. The JJs are on from 14 March through 22 March. The 18s have agreed to leave space for us between the club and the eastern boat ramp – for those who rig first, please rig in the main park behind the playground area to leave room for later-comers to rig in front of the club.  Also, please be aware that the 18s have limited manoeuvrability near the shore. Please do not launch or retrieve lasers while the 18s are launching or retrieving. We appreciate your patience and understanding. 

Up Next at DBSC

Wednesday 11 March, 5pm splash – Twilight Sailing.

Saturday 14 March, 2pm Start – Sprints (due to the National Masters).

Wednesday 18 March, 5pm splash – Twilight Sailing.

Saturday 21 March, 9am Start – Learn to Race.

Saturday 21 March, 2pm Start –Autumn Point Score heats 9 & 10.  

And remember to start inviting your loved ones to DBSC Friends and Family Day – Saturday 4 April, 5pm.

Twilights Tonight with Special Appearance from Brett Beyer

Twilight sailing is back on again tonight with a 5pm splash. Brett will be running races tonight as he trains Andrew Cox. Brett has welcomed the rest of the fleet to utilize the marks and the starts that he will be setting up as part of Andrew’s training. Hope you can join us!

Sprits and SailGP

Last weekend was a busy one on the harbour. DBSC held Sprits due to the SailGP event. Over 30 members took part in seven very competitive short races. Thanks to Alistair Sutherland and Marty Trembath for setting up an excellent course, under some very tricky conditions. 

After the sprints, about a dozen or so members headed out on the Jazzman and Berman, finding the perfect vantage point to anchor up off Point Piper and watch day two of Sail GP. Day one saw Ainsley in Team GB win all three races, leaving the first two races on Saturday as a battleground between Team Australia and Team Japan for a place in the winner takes all final match race against Team GB.  

Team Australia was successful getting to the final match race, but Tom Slingsby and the Australians found themselves behind from the start, incurring a penalty for entering the start box early and the hosts were unable to pull back. 

Prior to heading home, a slightly rogue Bergman took the phrase “#justforthegram” slightly too literally for comfort. But Emily Ball didn’t seem fussed, commenting, “The photo almost cost us a $1,500 fine but I’d say it was definitely worth it.” 

The $1,500 photo.

Summing it up, Emily reflects, “The F50s are basically the same as lasers. Just slightly less cool...” Thanks to Emily for organizing the afternoon and to Justin Davey for captaining the Jazzman.

Bergman to be Used as Default RIB

The new Paul Adam is still being upgraded and worked on by Pat Levy. While this is occurring, members should use the Bergman as the default RIB. The Adam may be used with Pat’s okay. Thanks for your help with this until all the Adam upgrades are completed. 

Clean-Up Australia Day Success

Written by Jonathan Stone

It was a clear and sunny day - the first day of autumn.

Low tide was at 7.20am, so the ‘event’ - three hours of cleaning up - was scheduled for 7.00 -10.00am. 

I am rarely at the Club so early - it was really pleasant. The morning was warm, the day at its best. The bay was dead calm; no commuters on the ferry wharf as it was a Sunday; much too early for the crowd for the harbour’s music ‘islands’. Or for Laser sailors to be rigging. A couple of 18s turned up early, perhaps for early parking spots. Paul Adam appeared soon after 7, with the day’s meat pies (for the 18s).

I opened the Clubhouse, set up a table at the entrance, and found the gear stored since last year. Candice and Mike appeared first and worked long and hard; they were followed Diana and Christiana and Christine and by Craig and a daughter, Richard, Andrew, and more.

Right at the end, Stephen - from the BIG BOAT float fleet came by with some paint cleaner and scrubbed some graffiti from the front entrance area. A valuable improvement.

All sorts of rubbish were collected, from a car tyre to a broken mirror stand. No sharps; no syringes; still some cigarette butts. Maybe 10 bags of rubbish, most unrecyclable. 

My job was to get it all out to the end of Bay St, wash the gloves, repack the unused bags and the gloves and stow them in the corner of the workshop. And it was done for another year.  The job is more than symbolic; levels of rubbish were not high - though people swept all the usual areas - the beaches and grass areas and the kid’s play area. Levels were low because we do the job each year.

My thanks to all those who came and made it happen! 

(Editor’s Note: A big thanks to Jonathan for organizing another successful Clean Up Australia Day at DBSC.) 

Acquired Resilience Conference at DBSC

Jonathan Stone will be hosting a conference at the clubhouse from March 9 – 11. They will be using the deck, and the northern part of the Clubhouse. Please respect the order of the meeting, but if you want to sail on those days, that’s great. Give Jonathan a bit of warning by emailing him HERE and he will help you get your boat out at a good time. The change rooms and workshop will remain accessible; just please be quiet while the meeting is in session.

The Conference itself is quite fascinating. Please read the details from Jonathan (and find out how you can attend) below. 

After long planning, with welcome Club support, this meeting is nearly here. It is called AR2020.

AR stands for 'Acquired Resilience’, a new concept in human health. It’s a bit like acquired immunity - the body system that upregulates the immune system in responses to pathogens like viruses. Without acquired immunity (as in AIDS) the individual is vulnerable to every disease that’s around, and most noticeable to cancers. It turns out that our immune system keeps cancer at bay.

But we have known about acquired immunity, in increasing detail, for over a century. Work done much more recently with key contributions made by DBSC folk (Paul Adam and myself), has developed a concept of acquired resilience.

Why is the Mediterranean diet (lots of vegetables) good for you? It’s because each vegetable has developed toxins to ward off insect predators. What toxins? Well, resveratrol which grows in the skin of red grapes and makes its way into red wine, is an example. The vine does not need it for metabolism or reproduction. It is a toxin to make it impossible for insects to eat much of the plant. When mammals like us eat the same plant (as we have ever since our ancestors climbed out of the sea) we have to do something with the toxin. Our discovery is that mammals use these toxins to up regulate pathways that increase tissue resilience. So, regular ‘Mediterranean’ meals make our tissue resilient, because of the poisons in the vegetables. And that resilience is seen as decreased morbidity (illness) and delayed mortality. Hmmmmmm

And the Western diet is bad for us …… why? because it’s not poisonous enough. Who’d have thought?

But then it turns out that tissue resilience is also induced by exercise (because hypoxic muscle release resilience-inducing factors into the bloodstream), and hunger and low levels of sunlight (from UV to infrared) and even gamma rays at low levels induce the same resilience. The stresses of everyday life. 

We have much to learn about this newly recognised system. At the conference a new Society for Acquired Resilience will be established and there will be intense exchange of views. And the Club will - with a bit of luck - have earned a place in medical history.

That said, I have an invitation:

• The invitation is to anyone interested to be part of the audience. You are most welcome, but please let me know so we put out enough chairs. 

• If you want to join us for teas and lunch and dinner please register for the meeting HERE. Registration involves a cost - for the catering. (We are a fledging society - I wish we could provide freebies).

• But if you just like listening to talks - no need to register.

• And let me know if you intend to come by, so I have an idea of numbers.

Coming Up…

Wednesday 4 March, 5pm splash – Twilight Sailing (with Brett Beyer organizing starts). 

Saturday 7 March, 9am Start – Learn to Race.

Saturday 7 March, 2pm Start – Club Champs heats 11 & 12 AND Autumn Point Score heats 7 & 8. Followed by a BBQ.

Wednesday 11 March, 5pm splash – Twilight Sailing.

Saturday 14 March, 2pm Start – Sprints (due to the National Masters).

Drifting Away at Vaucluse Regatta

Sadly, the Vaucluse Regatta was a non-starter due to a highly unseasonal absence of raceable breeze, with the wind ranging from 0-5 knots and changing direction from SE to NE during the course of the afternoon!

A large fleet of DBSC boats headed up the harbour for the event, partly under sail and partly under tow offered by Pat Levy in the new Paul Adam.  However, after some solid drift practice, they were forced to return, again partly under sail and partly under tow!

But all was not lost. Just as people finished their showers, a puff of breeze appeared and the SailGP fleet were out in force for a practice session, foiling up and down the harbour.  A bunch of DBSC sailors headed out to watch them up close and personal – including a cheery wave from Tom Slingsby as he flew past for team Australia.

The DBSC fleet gets towed back home after the Vaucluse Regatta was a non-starter. Photo by Emily Ball.