Coming Up…

Most Saturdays at 5pm – Zoom Cocktails on the Deck (Check The Top Mark Facebook Group for more info and Zoom code)

Friday 22 May – Virtual AGM. More details to follow. 

60 Seconds with James Tudball

During the Coronavirus lockdown we’re running a special newsletter feature to continue to get to know our fellow DBSC members. The series kicks off with James Tudball…

1. How old were you when you first stepped on a boat? I can't remember exactly, but I do know I started sailing sabots when I was 9.

A young James hones his sailing skills.

2. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy? Does a kayak count as a boat?  Because I just purchased a red cammo kayak and I've gotta say it's the best harbour-going vessel I've ever owned.  I am fully content with this baby.  I'm so excited with my kayak that I am now running Sydney harbour kayak tours, inspired by the former PM.  Click to learn more and book online

3. What is your sailing goal? I have two. #1. To buy a competitive one design keelboat, such as an Etchell, and race that with my dad and some other sailing mates at the pointy end of the fleet.  Don't get me wrong I enjoy sailing by myself, but I do prefer sailing together with family and close buddies.  Goal #2. To one day sail a regatta on Lake Garda.  I've only been to Garda as a land-based tourist, but geez, it really is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.  It is like Mecca for sailors.

4. Tell us the back story to your laser's name? Well my laser was originally called Barnstormer, as I bought Rod Barnes' old boat.  Barnesy actually regrets selling me the boat because he now realises it's quicker than his new one.  Anyway we couldn't have 2 x Barnstormers on the water, so I renamed the boat Captain Steamhole.  This name comes from the holes I get in the crotch of my pants as a result of playing the drums.  After a long sweaty gig my band mates refer to this hole as my Steamhole.  Unfortunately, at the AGM, Sara Brooks told me that a "Steamhole" has another meaning.  In shock, I decided that I better censor my boat name.  I emailed Daryl and asked him to please rename my boat Captain Steamy.  

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?  I know the right answer is to say "nothing at all, they're perfect just the way they are". They ARE incredible, but I reckon a little dab of Sriracha or basil pesto would elevate them to the universe’s best toasties.

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot). Sailing JUST pips my musical hobbies, particularly playing the drums. #3. Is playing Scrabble Go.  I've had a few competitive Scrabble Go tussles with Andrew Cox, Katie McHugh and Mark Crowhurst.  I am the worst out of the 4 of us. And Andrew Cox has a great ability to compare his Scrabble Go tactics to sailing and the strategies that Brett Beyer employs.  By the way everybody, download the Scrabble Go app if you haven't already done so.  It's the perfect iso activity!

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words? Organise creative freelancers for events

8. What’s the first international flight you are going to book post Covid-19? And why? Well I should probably book a flight to Milan, drive to Lake Garda and tick off that bucket list item afore mentioned!

9. What’s the maximum number of toilet rolls you’ve held in your household post 01 March 2020?   I haven't bought any because I choose to bidet myself.  Honestly it's cost effective, very hygienic, good for the environment and it means I completely avoid the stress of the toilet paper crisis.  My girlfriend finds it a bit weird, but many cultures around the world agree with my logic.

10. What’s your go to Covid-19 dish?  Pizza.

11. What life skill are you committing to learning whilst in lock down? How to lose graciously when playing Scrabble Go.

12. Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?  15 years ago (almost to this day) I came last in a sailing race at Mordialloc in Melbourne - where I'm from.  I was sailing a Contender at the time - a boat that I never really mastered if the facts be known.  Anyway, I came ashore incredibly frustrated and decided that I was completely and utterly over sailing.  I sold the boat the next week.  It was actually a beautiful boat built in Lake Garda (the theme of this interview!) by a legendary boat builder in Italy, called Andrea Bonezzi.  Bonezzi boats were widely known as the best Contenders, so I sold the boat very easily.  I then had 13 long years off from sailing in pretty much all capacities.  I instead focussed on university and my music and to be honest I really didn't miss the sport much at all.  Fast forward a long chapter of my life to a couple of years ago, when I was walking in Steyne Park and I saw a bunch of lasers rigging up.  I'd never sailed a laser before but I knew they were a physical boat which I liked the idea of, so I walked across to the club to suss things out.  I was greeted warmly by two members (Pete Collie and David Huber) who gave me some great info.  Within two weeks I'd bought Barnsey's boat, purchased new sailing gear and was out racing.  And as I sit here writing now, I have to say that one of the most enjoyable things I have in my life now is the Double Bay Sailing Club.  I love the competitive racing, the camaraderie and mateship, the social hangs at the club and all of the life lessons which the club and sport provides.  It seems strange now that I took 13 years off from sailing.  I certainly don't take it for granted these days.  I feel very lucky that I know how to sail and can enjoy all that it offers.

Thanks to James for taking the time to share a bit about himself. Even though he exceeded the 20 word per question rule, I think you’ll agree, learning about James’ bidet habits was worth the extra space!  We’d love it if you too could enlighten us with your responses. Please send your answers and photos to newsletter@dbsc.com.au. 

Chris Bowling Retires from Racing in Big Boat Fleet

Chris Bowling – skipper of the Endeavour 24 Corinna in DBSC’s big boat fleet – has announced his retirement from racing, after 64 seasons, the last 10 based at DBSC. He started sailing aged 9, at Dover in the south of Tasmania, in flat-bottomed dinghies called Rainbows, and is especially proud of his first trophy, in the Esperance Dinghy Club’s forward hand race, in 1956. At boarding school in Hobart 6 years later Chris maintained his own Rainbow, on the Derwent, helped by a family friend, Jim Hickman, whose son Roger, 6 years younger than Chris, was also destined for a distinguished sailing career (and membership of DBSC).

Presentation of IRC division 3 winner's flag to Redrock Communications, Hobart 2002.

Chris gained his qualifications as an adventurer in Tasmania, canoeing the Huon River with wilderness legends Peter Dombrovskis and Olegas Truchanas, wandering southwest Tasmania and climbing most of its mountains, mostly in winter and often alone. At one stage he hitch-hiked around Australia, and worked as a diamond drill operator on the Gordon river dam site. In New Zealand he climbed Mt Cook; Chris remembers that climb as ‘iconic’, the sort of climb that qualifies one as a mountaineer. He backpacked through the Himalayas, reaching Everest base camp, and, in the winter of 1978, pioneered the Annapurma trek, in Nepal. And he met more extraordinary people. He recalls one such:  

…….. a young American hippie in Manali in northwest India.  He said “I’ve got some fresh rubbed charas from up on the hill.  How about we have a smoke?”  We got very seriously high – something I never repeated or wanted to repeat.  A week later he went home and started playing with computers in his mum’s garage.  His name was Steve Jobs. 

Around the turn of the century, still adventuring, Chris four-wheel-drove the Canning stock route solo and completed a circumnavigation of the continent via the Anne Beadell highway and the Maralinga test site, at one stage following wheel tracks in sand for 1,100km, just south of the SA/NT border.

But his most enduring love was sailing, and I asked him for memories. In no particular order, Chris spent 25 years in the OK dinghy class and made the cut for the OK Worlds in Adelaide in 1990; he owned or skippered boats in 15 Sydney-Hobarts and crewed in another 3; he recalls his boat in the 1986 S2H losing her mast in heavy weather in Storm Bay, Chris and crew jury-rigging a sail on a spinnaker pole, and inching her up the Derwent estuary, still the only jury-rigged finish in that race; he skippered an Etchell in the 1991 Worlds in Perth, finishing just behind Jim Hardy; and survived the worst of the worst in the storm-decimated 1998 S2H, with his boat and rig undamaged. In 2002, as skipper-owner of a Hick 30 he broke the 9 metre Hobart record and won the small boat division on IRC. The next year, without a boat for Hobart, he shipped aboard the 60-foot Spirit of Sydney for a month in Antarctica, working out of Ushuaia, and got to steer her around Cape Horn.

Illusion with Tasman Island in background 2010. taken from plane by Richard Bennett.

The boat Chris owned longest was the Endeavour 24, in which he won 14 State and 5 National class titles. Corinna (Aboriginal for Tasmanian tiger) is also the boat he raced for the last decade in the DBSC’s fleet, winning the fleet trophy several times.

Chris also had a life between adventures. He graduated from Newcastle University, and sang in the Sydney Philharmonia choir. This led to teaching music and mathematics at Ascham School, and from there to his on-going work in distance education. In his late 50s, Chris finally got married to Sharon, and five years later they became parents to a daughter (Krisha) and later a son (Russell). In family life, as in many of Chris’ races, he succeeded with a decisive late run.

All the above is a catalogue of events, but it tells the story of a resourceful, tough adventurer, qualities that earned him enormous respect from fellow skippers. Chris would sail Corinna in blinding westerlies or howling southerlies, when the rest of us had headed for home, and he took her for long passages at sea. He could fly a kite solo, and gybe it solo, while other skippers were shouting at the deckie. There seemed to be no mishap of rigging or running gear that could stop Corinna finishing.

I met Chris when, with Don Roach’s encouragement, he joined the big boat fleet in 2009. Much came of that meeting, including ten years’ racing around the Harbour but we also formed a team of two and set our sights on Hobart. We moved quickly and prepared a Davidson 34 half-tonner Illusion for the 2010 big race. Every S2H is a long story; but, long story short, it was a heavy race with a huge southerly on the first afternoon and knock-downs and intimidating seas in the Strait. Chris led us through it all and we finished halfway up the 87 boat fleet. For me that was a dream that Chris had helped bring to reality. Illusion raced to Hobart that year under the DBSC flag, the first yacht to do so. Soon after, in 2011, we sailed my Hood 23 Time & Tide to the narrowest of victories in the Hood 23 States, another highlight for me. 

Illusion crew in Hobart after 2010 race finish.

So Chris has now retired. All sailing careers end, often – as with myself – because the body becomes less willing than the spirit. Chris has also felt the responsibility of his still-young family; his kids still need much parenting.

One lasting memory for me of Chris will be of him instructing crew as they put a third reef in Illusion’s main, somewhere in Bass Strait, in pitch darkness, with the bow slamming and green water streaming over the deck threatening to sweep all on watch into a pile against the pushpit rails. I remember that water as warm, but – when it drained away – the wind left me wet and cold, hour after hour on long watches. I coped and played my part; but Chris led us until we were in the lee of Flinders Island, sailing flat and dry under a spinnaker, with dolphins escorting us. Powerful memories.

Illusion after the start of 2010 Hobart race.

Chris has been a resourceful adventurer and mountaineer; a highly successful sailor at the club, state and national levels; and a loyal and thoughtful friend. He will sail more seasons – we hope many more – as crew. But the fleet will miss Corinna and her skipper, and we salute him. 

Jonathan Stone

For the Big Boat skippers.

Virtual AGM - Save the Date

This year, due to Coronavirus restrictions, the DBSC AGM will be a virtual gathering on the evening of Friday 22 May. More details on how to join the meeting and the formalities of nominations and prize giving will be emailed to members in the coming weeks.  

Membership Subscription Update

We hope you are holding up well and you've found a way to maintain some balance through these difficult times, whether on the harbour, or otherwise.  

Each year in April, DBSC issues Membership Subscription Invoices for the upcoming season. We depend in significant part on the April subscription income to maintain prudential balances and meet our annual expenses, the majority of which occur over the winter season (even during lock-down).

However, we are very aware of the financial difficulties many across the country are currently facing. In light of this, we have made the decision to delay the collection of subscriptions until later in the season. However, we ask that those who are comfortable paying, to volunteer early payment to support the club’s financial requirements.

You will soon receive your Membership Subscription Invoice, which will show an extended due date. We reiterate that early payment is voluntary at this stage.

60 Seconds With...

We're missing sailing with all of you, but as we all know, DBSC isn’t just about the on water competition (say the authors who never win…), our onshore friendships are equally as important. The Saturday DBSC Zoom cocktails are a testament to this (watch The Top Mark for more of these sessions).

As a way to continue to get to know our fellow sailors during the Coronavirus lockdown, we thought it would be fun to run a Covid-19 "60 seconds with..." special in our Newsletter. 

12 questions are listed below (although feel free to skip any you're not comfortable answering). No more than 20 words / question are allowed. 

So….. Ready. Steady. Go.

1. How old were you when you first stepped on a boat? 
2. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy? 
3. What is your sailing goal? 
4. Tell us the back story to your laser's name? 
5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?
6. What are your second/third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot)
7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words? 
8. What’s the first international flight you are going to book post Covid-19? And why? 
9. What’s the maximum number of toilet rolls you’ve held in your household post 01 March 2020?
10. What’s your go to Covid-19 dish?  
11. What life skill are you committing to learning whilst in lock-down? 
12. Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?

And finally, please attach both your first sailing photo (no matter how bad the lifejacket looks) and a more recent photo of yourself.

Please send your answers to newsletter@dbsc.com.au where we will share on a regular basis. Thanks for playing!

Rubbish In, Rubbish Out

Please note that our rubbish bins are not being collected while official club activities are cancelled due to COVID-19. If you are in the clubhouse to retrieve your boat for individual sailing, please do not put anything in any of the bins. We want to avoid insect and rodent infestations. Thanks for your help with this. 

Miss Being on the Water?

Check out Vela, an epic YouTube sailing series, that was recommended to The Top Mark by Finn Alexander. Enjoy!

Important Restrictions on Club Use

Last week, we published rules permitting people to access the club to retrieve and return boats for sailing for the sole purpose of exercise. You can see these rules HERE. 

These rules were formulated specifically by the club for the benefit of our members – they are not generic rules that we have merely adopted.

The rules are intended to ensure the club and its members act within both the letter and the spirit of the law, as reflected in the Public Health Orders related to COVID-19, interpreted in accordance with guidance set out by the Office of Sport and by Maritime.

There has been some discussion about the meaning of the rules and, in particular, the meaning of the rule that “no more than two people are allowed to sail together on the water”. For the avoidance of any doubt, please note that this means no more than two boats are permitted to sail in any proximity with each other.

If you are planning to go for a sail, you should coordinate that with no more than one other person.  If you see other boats from the club (or from another club) on the water, you should avoid them by sailing somewhere else.  Don’t sail over to say “hi”.

This is very important.  The harbour is a highly visible arena where a group of sails really stands out, particularly with the nearly zero activity occurring on the water at present.  It is important not only that we do the required thing, but also that we are SEEN to be doing the required thing.

There has been some debate as to whether or not more than two boats is in fact an illegal gathering.  This is a moot point.  The fact is that, as a community club that occupies public land and a public building, and that benefits from public funding, we must avoid any adverse perception.

We appreciate your cooperation with the club’s position.  We hope we are all able to continue to enjoy sailing for exercise on an individual basis or a two-boat basis throughout this period of lockdown.

If you have any queries about this, please contact the Commodore to clarify.

Australian Sailing Online Race Officer Course

Australian Sailing is running free, online, Club Race Officer courses. (See below for all the details from AS’s regional manager, Carl Webster). Mark Crowhurst has also enquired about Sailing Australia putting on a DBSC specific course, open to our members only. If you are interested in a DBSC course please let Mark know HERE. 

In light of the current Covid-19 situation, I have been looking at ways to further engage members during this time. To assist Australian Sailing are putting on five Club Race Officer Courses, to be run as an online interactive video conference via the Microsoft Teams platform. This course would usually be $65.00 per person, however we are offering these at nil cost to the participant at this time. We are encouraging those who might be keen to join us for this 3-hour course to register online.

April 15th – 1500 – 1800 - https://www.sailing.org.au/events/65049/

April 18th – 0900 – 1200 - https://www.sailing.org.au/events/64938/

April 29th – 1400 – 1700 - https://www.sailing.org.au/events/65093/

May 16th – 0900 – 1200 - https://www.sailing.org.au/events/65039/

June 20th – 0900 – 1200 - https://www.sailing.org.au/events/65040/