Making Sure the CCO Keeps Us COVIDSafe

We want to clarify the role of the COVID Compliance Officer (CCO), which is a critical role to ensure our regulatory compliance.  This is an on-land role that starts before the first person arrives and ends after the last person leaves.  The CCO should not undertake any COTD tasks unless there is no one yet at the club, in which case any COTD assistance is appreciated! 

In the pre-racing phase, the role is (a) to record the details of every person at the club, (b) to ensure no more than 10 people are in the club at any one time with no use of changerooms, (c) to ensure use of hand sanitiser and maintenance of social distancing and (d) to ensure no more than 20 boats are rigging in any one broad area of the park.  It is important that the CCO remains at or near the front entrance to the club at all times during this phase until after 2pm.

After 2pm, the CCO is encouraged to take the second RIB out to the race course area and to act as an on-water support resource (i.e. moving marks, providing rescue response).  Once racing ends, the CCO must return in that RIB as soon as possible, to be on land prior to the return of the first sailor.

In the post-racing phase, the role is (a) to ensure no more than 20 boats are de-rigging in any one broad area of the park, (b) to ensure use of hand sanitiser and maintenance of social distancing, (c) and to ensure no more than 10 people are in the club at any one time with no use of changerooms and no getting changed inside the club.

We also remind the PRO, COTD and CCO to read all the documentation on the website.  Thanks for helping us achieve our goal of excellent race management, as well as regulatory compliance!

Bulk Sails – Need Your Orders Now

Right now we have just 12 orders for new sails. That’s about 25% of the way to the minimum number required for our discounted bulk sail offer with NB Sailsports and PSA to go ahead. We’d appreciate it if everyone who wants a new sail could place their order now.  Here are the offer details: 

• 4.7 Hyde with no numbers = $709

• Radial Hyde with no numbers = $709

• Standard MkII North with no numbers = $910

• Standard MkII Pryde with no numbers = $910

• Sail numbers supplied and fitted = +$40 per sail

• Country letters supplied and fitted = +$22 per sail

• Delivery will occur in late September / early October

If you are interested, please place your order HERE.  No payment is required at this stage – instructions will be provided in due course. Thanks for supporting this initiative. 

BBSP – Sign up NOW for the New Sprint Format

We have restructured the format of the BBSP for the time being to take into account the fact that we have sprint racing only, and that it is limited to a sub-set of our members.

We are now offering a program of on-water coaching during sprint racing on Saturday afternoon.  The format will be similar to the Brett Beyer Twilight Program.  Brett will drive around the race course and provide coaching to subscribers during and in between the races, and will also provide to subscribers during the ensuing week a general fleet-level summary of the weekend’s racing.  He will endeavour to provide approximately equal on-water attention to all participants – see the terms and conditions HERE.

The maximum number of participants is 10 people – who will be accepted on a first-in basis.  (We will work to find a solution in the event there is a rostering conflict – please do not consider that an impediment to participation). 

We are offering an initial program of four sessions, comprising 12 Sep, 19 Sep, 26 Sep, and 3 Oct. The cost of the four sessions is $160 per person.  In the event we return to normal racing before the four sessions occur, the remaining sessions will be cancelled and refunded.  In the event it takes longer than expected to return to normal racing, we will consider a further program in the same format.

Given that the first session is this coming Saturday, 12 September, please fill in the form HERE ASAP.  We will follow up with successful participants to arrange payment prior to this weekend.

Keeping our RIBS Floating

We’re very excited about our new RIB, and we want to make sure both the new Paul Adam and the Dene Bergman remain in tip top shape for years to come. It’s come to our attention that there are two items that are continuously being overlooked / incorrectly used on the RIBs.

First, when transporting the race buoys, some members are attaching the buoys to the lines on the sides of the RIBs. This is damaging those lines and should not be happening. Instead, please attach the buoys to the davit straps at the FRONT of the boat. (Please note that in an earlier edition of the newsletter we said to place them on the straps at the back of the RIB, which is incorrect, and can cause the straps to get tangled in the prop.) 

Second, at the end of the day don’t forget to flush the motor and to reinstate the connection on the motor when finished!  At the start of the day, double check that this water coolant line has been connected before you start the engine. There have been several times when the line has been left disconnected, which can cause the engine to overheat to a point of ruining the engine. We have placed neon tape around the connection to make it more obvious what parts need to be connected. (See photos below.)

Coolant Line Disconnected. Put the hose into the part on the right to flush the engine at the end of the day.

Coolant Line Connected. Make sure this is connected before you start the engine.

60 Seconds With Bonnie Nixon…

Many of you probably haven’t heard that name before… that’s because Bonnie is one of DBSC’s newest members. Read below to find out more about this experienced sailor and make sure you say hi when you next see her at the club. 

With Kiwi parents, I had no choice but to love sailing! I got in an opti at 5 years old and have sailed various classes ever since. For the last 10 years, I have been enjoying sailing a Melges 24, competing both here and in the USA with my family. Your lovely club member, Christine Lindhart, was an excellent crew for us for a few years there including winning a USA corinitian national title! It's a bit too hard to take a Melges out by myself and I want to improve my skippering so I thought I would jump back into a radial after 14 years. I am a bit nervous but excited to join a club that has such a large laser fleet and is so supportive of women sailing.

Bonnie Nixon

Discounted Sails

We are pleased to announce a repeat of our popular annual discounted sails offer for a bulk order of at least 50 sails.

We are very grateful to Rob McMillan at NB Sailsports, as well as to PSA, for their continued support in making this offer to our members.

As in previous years, we are extending this offer to members of other sailing clubs.

The offer is priced more attractively than last year’s offer, and is as follows:

• 4.7 Hyde with no numbers = $709

• Radial Hyde with no numbers = $709

• Standard MkII North with no numbers = $910

• Standard MkII Pryde with no numbers = $910

• Sail numbers supplied and fitted = +$40 per sail

• Country letters supplied and fitted = +$22 per sail

• Delivery will occur in late September / early October

Note, there will be a separate offer next week for a 4.7 “starter kit”, comprising 4.7 sail AND mast bottom section.  If you are interested in this, please hold off on placing your 4.7 sail order until you have seen the offer next week.

Could you please place your orders here ASAP LINK.  No payment is required at this stage – instructions will be provided in due course.

NB Sailsports is very supportive of our activities at DBSC.  They are located just around the corner from us at Woollahra Sailing Club at Rose Bay.  You can contact them for all your Laser supplies by phone on (02) 9371 7475 or by email at nbsydney@gmail.com. You can visit their website at nbsailsports.com.au.  Please support them!

Spring Sprints – Now Starting an Hour Later

Normally the calendar flipping to September signifies the start to our main sailing season. But with COVID restrictions still in place, we will be continuing to run Sprint Racing on Saturdays through October 3rd. Because it is now spring, we will be starting an hour later, still using staggered class ringing times. That means the Radials will now rig and launch by 1:30pm with a 2pm start, with the Standards arriving at 1:30pm for a 2pm splash. Racing will continue for the Radials until 4pm and until 4:30pm for the Standards. 

All COVIDSafe regulations remain in place, including the regulation that only those members who are in the same region as DBSC may sail in the organised sprints. Please review our COVIDSafe Plan and maps that outline the DBSC region HERE. 

Those members who took part in last week’s Sprints, were greeted by a better than forecast 8-10 knot NE breeze and beautiful sunny, warm conditions. Congratulations to Jules Hall who managed to cross the line first in four out of the seven races run. Thanks to Simon Stone (COTD) and Tim Heath (CCO) for putting up with the author who was PRO. 

A stunning winter’s day of sailing.

The Women’s Regatta Cancelled

Late last week Commodore Andrew Cox announced the cancellation of The Women’s Regatta with this letter to participants:

It is with great regret that we have taken the decision to cancel The Women's Regatta for this year. 

Last week, the NSW Office of Sport published a recommendation that community sports organisations "cease activities that result in the mixing of participants and staff from different regions”, including participants from different regions within Greater Sydney. 

The Women's Regatta is intended to bring together sailors from all over Sydney and beyond, and we are pleased that this has been reflected again this year in the registrations received. However, we have come to the reluctant conclusion that, in order to comply with the new government recommendation, we have no choice but to cancel the regatta. 

This is disappointing on so many levels. It is disappointing for all the sailors who have registered to participate because we know this is an event you all enjoy so much. It is disappointing for our amazing volunteers who have put so much dedication and passion into organising the event. And it is disappointing for our club because we love the spirit that all of you bring to our club each year. 

In spite of all this, we are pleased to announce that The Women's Regatta will be back next year, scheduled to be held on 25-26 September 2021. We hope you will continue to be as excited about this as we are, and that this gives everyone something to look forward to. 

We thank you all for your understanding in these unfortunate circumstances, and we look forward to an even bigger and better event next year!

DBSC - Finalist for Club of the Year

Australian Sailing has just announced the announced the finalists of the 2020 New South Wales & ACT Sailing Awards.

We’re thrilled that DBSC was named a finalist for Club of the Year along with Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and Hunters Hill Sailing Club.

The winners will be announced virtually this year on the Australian Sailing NSW/ACT Facebook page over the week starting the 21st September 2020. Fingers crossed!

60 Seconds With Jim Dounis…

Jim can be a quiet guy, but he certainly comes into his own in the Pointscore, where this champion is always a threat. Find out more about what makes him tick…

1. How old were you when you first stepped on a boat? 
2013 when I bought my Laser, a few years before I was crewing as a foredeck on a 30ft Young 88.

2. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?
Any boat that could safely sail the Greek Islands.

3. What is your sailing goal?
Go the distance, keeping injuries to a minimum.

4. Tell us the back story to your laser's name?
To simply Go the Distance however my next boat will be called "Keep your Social Distance" ( and stay 1.5 metres behind this stern).

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?
A fried egg smothered in BBQ sauce.

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot)
Surfing any waves under 8 foot high.

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words?
Computer hardware service on IBM products to ensure we get our bills from the likes of Telstra, Energy Australia and the ATO. 

8. What’s the first international flight you are going to book post Covid-19? And why?
Central America, somewhere different and now a safer place due to the wall to keep the Yanks out.

9. What’s your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?
The footy but only when East are beating Souths and also when Swans are beating Hawthorne/Collingwood.

10. Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?
I have almost mastered Argentine BBQ but I'm still an apprentice after 25 years. Like my sailing !

We know who’s manning the grill at our next BBQ!