Bulk Sail Orders Closing Soon

Now that the season’s set to begin, you don’t want to miss out on your chance of getting a new sail at a great price. NB Sailsports and PSA are giving us a deal on new sails that will be delivered by late September / early October. Find out the details and place your order HERE.

Sunny Sprints

A classic 15-18 knot NE breeze matched with a mild, sunny day created perfect conditions for the 25 boats that competed in a series of enjoyable and competitive sprints. Thanks to the race management team of PRO Mark Bethwaite, COTD Diana Chen, and CCO Christine Patton for a great day on the Harbour.

A beautiful day on the Harbour. Photo by Diana Chen.

Sydney’s Loss is Bermuda’s Gain

DBSC’s has been missing one of our young guns recently – Campbell Patten. Campbell is living back in Bermuda, where he is working full time for his father in marine construction and studying online full time at Sydney Uni (with lectures sometimes happening at 3am). He is enjoying spending time with his mates surfing, hanging out, and riding his bike around the Island, which is the common form of travel in Bermuda.

But he hasn’t forgotten how to sail. He participated in the Bermuda Laser Nationals on August 29 and 30.  He sailed in the Radial class because there weren’t enough Standard entries. Despite fears he might be too big for the smaller sail, Campbell won all seven of the races held and thus easily won the event. 

Campbell’s mum Christine reports, “He really enjoyed getting back in his Laser and competing but he misses Double Bay racing”.

Congratulations Campbell! We look forward to seeing you back at DBSC soon. 

Campbell Patten killing it at the Bermuda Laser Nationals.

60 Seconds with John Conroy…

Thanks to everyone who has written a 60 Seconds Profile. We’ve received quite a few responses and we’ll be publishing one every week. There’s lots of interesting and surprising titbits, so it should make for some good Wednesday morning reading in the weeks and months to come.  

Today we learn about another one of our new DBSC members, John Conroy. He’s getting set to move his laser into the club in the next few weeks. Welcome aboard John!

1. How old were you when you first stepped on a boat? 
I was 4 when my father ,who had never sailed, bought an old 22 foot timber yacht from Boy Messenger at Double Bay.

2. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?
A yacht that my wife , Jillian and I can comfortably cruise the Mediterranean in. 

3. What is your sailing goal?
To reach my best potential in the Laser. 

4. Tell us the back story to your laser's name?
We have had a series of yachts named ' Star Ferry', so 'Stardust' just seemed like a nice junior version. 

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?
Yet to sample one. 

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot)
Sailing fills all bills. Not necessarily in order:  Racing the Laser. Racing the Cruising Adam10. Cruising with Jillian.

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words? 
Director Property Services, Reliant Healthcare. 

8. What’s the first international flight you are going to book post Covid-19? And why?
To Los Angeles to see our younger daughter and family.

9. What’s your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?
Fawlty Towers. 

10. Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?
I only started sailing a Laser about 20 years ago because I got bored watching my daughter racing them at Regattas and thought it looked so simple and easy. Wrong! but fun.

New DBSC Member, John Conroy

Change to Sprint Starting Time

Given the decreased number of sailors due to the current unfortunate restrictions on participation in our weekend racing, we are removing the need to stagger rigging times for the different fleets. All sailors who are permitted to attend the club during racing times are now permitted to launch and rig at the same time – racing for everyone will start at 2pm and finish at ~4pm.  

The same restrictions on attendance still apply – “Area B” only, no travel interstate to Victoria or overseas, no “hotspots” attendance, no contact with cases, no symptoms. (You can review all of our COVIDSafe regulations HERE.)

All other details of racing will remain the same. Sprint racing, three-minute starts, standards start after 2 minutes, radials / 4.7s start after 3 minutes.  We ask the PRO / COTD to use an offset mark as set out in the Sailing Instructions – this has not occurred in the past few weeks.

This Saturday looks set be another glorious spring day, similar to last weekend when 20 boats competed.  It was a beautiful afternoon, with a 5-10kt southerly, turning easterly during the course of the afternoon which required a change of course from Double Bay to the Rose Bay channel.  It was a well set up course and well-run racing – thanks to PRO, Nick Pellow, helped by COTD Richard George and CCO Mark Lewkovitz.  Nice to see Charlie Alexander back in a laser and racing with us!  It’s been a while.

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