Congratulations to Clare Alexander Winner of SheSails Award

We are thrilled to announce our very own Clare Alexander has won the Australian Sailing’s NSW/ACT SheSails Award for 2020 for her work on The Women’s Regatta hosted by DBSC.  

Here’s some of what Australian Sailing had to say about Clare’s achievements:

Clare’s vision was to engage females of all ages and abilities, including youth moving up the dinghy classes, women wanting to try their hand at dinghy sailing, women who had stopped sailing but wanted a way back in, regular weekend sailors wanting a special experience, and some of Australia’s elite sailors. 

In her research, Clare found that women and girls are so often overlooked when attending regattas. For example, change rooms are often inadequate, and regatta clothing often has a male aesthetic and is not suited for women. The male-oriented environment was often daunting and had the potential to discourage participation. A unique experience tailored towards women was much needed. At The Women’s Regatta, participants could feel comfortable to ask questions during coaching and not be embarrassed to do so. The small group coaching allowed individual attention tailored to each participant, and encouraged camaraderie and support among the sailors.

We are so proud of Clare, who worked with an incredible team of DBSC volunteers in creating and organising The Women’s Regatta including Christine Patton, Christine Linhart, and Diana Valia Chen.  But Clare doesn’t only roll up her sleeves for the big events, she also helps around the club in a huge number of ways. Just this week she and Diana tackled cleaning up the canteen… and both remained glamorous while doing this dirty duty. Thanks Clare and Diana! And congratulations once again to Clare on her well deserved award.

Full House on Saturday

It was great to see so many members return to sailing last Saturday. Around 35 boats competed in two full unscored races under ideal conditions – sunny skies and a gradient 15-knot NE’er. Thanks to the fantastic race management team of PRO Mark Bethwaite and COTD John Chesterman and to CCO Christine Patton for keeping us COVIDSafe.

We’ll do the same thing this Saturday, so we look forward to seeing everyone then. 

A classic spring day on the Harbour. Photo by John Chesterman.

60 Seconds With Martin White…

The club just wasn’t the same without our members from outside “Area B”. We were thrilled to welcome them back last Saturday, and that included long-time member, Learn to Race Coach and Masters Champ Martin White. Now Martin has been around for a bit, so you might think you know everything about him, but read on, because you probably haven’t heard what happed to Martin in the loo the other day. Plus check out some of his great vintage photos. 

1. How old were you when you first stepped on a boat?
11 years young.

2. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?
Perhaps a WASZP but I'd need more spare time. Think I've done my time with sailing complexity and expense after 10 years racing carbon built 505's. Lasers have four main adjustable ropes; 505's have about 44 adjustments.

3. What is your sailing goal?
Keep learning & enjoy the challenge. 

4. Tell us the back story to your laser's name?
White House.  My father always answers the phone at his home with, 'you have called the White House'.  Also, the White House (Washington and my boat) is where good and bad strategic decisions are made.

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world's best toasties - what would it be?
Smoked Salmon

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot).
Mountain biking - was Tennis until knees wore out.

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words?
Sort out publishing challenges.

8. What's the first international flight you are going to book post Covid-19? And why?
Barcelona 2021 Masters Worlds (if we are lucky)

9. What's your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?
Grand Designs, Pretty Women, Tim Winton's Breath

10. Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don't know?
Recently holidayed at Byron Bay and bumped into Chris Hemsworth in the men's toilets at the surf beach. 

Martin and younger brother - early 70’s.

Martin and younger brother after winning the Mirror Nationals 1974.

White family scooped the pool, circa 1972. Martin far right at 15 yrs of age.

Club Re-opens to All Members This Saturday

We are excited to announce that the club has decided to re-open participation to members who reside outside “Area B”.  As of this coming Saturday, 19 September, all members will be welcome at the club during official racing on Saturdays, subject to satisfying the critical requirements set out in this article.

The club has reached this view following further advice from Australian Sailing that was based on further discussions with the Office of Sport.  Australian Sailing has advised that the “department stressed that:  1. These restrictions are recommendations only  2. Regional boundaries can be taken as a guide, not a definitive barrier  3. Avoid travel across regions where possible.”

We note that the sport of sailing is one which requires (a) access to water and (b) access to specialist equipment that is stored at the sailing club and is not readily transportable. We also note that there has been recognition by the NSW Government since the commencement of COVID-19 that exercise is important for both physical and mental health.  In this context, the important words in the latest advice from Australian Sailing are the words “where possible”.  As it is not possible for our members to continue their exercise without access to the clubhouse and the water, we believe it is not possible to “avoid travel across regions”. For these reasons, the club will re-open to members from outside “Area B”.

Importantly, we note that the club has maintained, and continues to maintain, rigorous compliance with all Public Health Orders.  (The current “zones” are recommendations and are not Public Health Orders.) In order to ensure our ongoing compliance with the Public Health Orders, as well as to minimise the risk of an outbreak associated with our club, we reiterate the following critical requirements related to attendance at the club.  It is important that all members must read and understand these, and commit to observing them.

Critical COVIDSafe requirements:

• You may not attend the clubhouse if you have been overseas or interstate to Victoria, unless you have received a negative COVID-19 test result after waiting at least 14 days since returning

• You may not attend the clubhouse if you have attended any of the reported case locations on the NSW Health website HERE during the indicated times, unless you have followed the requirements in respect of that case location as set out on the NSW Health website 

• You may not attend the clubhouse if you have any of the following symptoms, however mild: fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, fatigue, runny nose, muscle pain, joint pain, headache, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, or loss of appetite, unless you have received a negative COVID-19 test result since the symptoms appeared

• You may not attend the clubhouse if you have been in contact with anyone with COVID-19, unless you have received a negative COVID-19 test result after waiting at least 14 days since your contact

• The sailing instructions will provide scoring relief for non-attendance due to complying with these COVIDSafe requirements – more information to come

• We request you avoid the use of public transport to and from the club, where possible

• Before entering the clubhouse, you must sign in with an active mobile number to allow us to maintain contact tracing records         

• Hand sanitiser will be provided at the club and must be used prior to entry and prior to and after touching any surfaces or equipment at the club

• You must maintain social distancing of 1.5m both inside the club and in the park

• No more than 10 people are allowed in the clubhouse at any one time and no more than 20 people are allowed in a single broad grouping in the park at any one time. If there are already more than 20 boats in a group, please take your boat to the other end of the park

• You may not get changed inside the clubhouse or on the northern deck.  You may not socialise inside the clubhouse or on the northern deck

• The clubhouse is to be used only for boat retrieval or race management purposes and you must remain inside for as short a period as possible – “get in, get out”

• There will be no use of toilets, showers or changerooms (the accessible bathroom will be available for toilet purposes only, if absolutely necessary)

• If the canteen is operational, no one (other than canteen volunteers) is permitted inside the clubhouse to access the canteen.  All orders must be placed at the canteen station in the park and all food must be collected from the canteen station in the park – more information to come

• Each week, there will be a rostered COVID Compliance Officer (CCO) to make sure everyone is complying with these restrictions

• We encourage all members to download the COVIDSafe App and to make sure it is active when you come to the club

These COVIDSafe requirements are the way we make sure we comply with current Public Health Orders and keep our community safe. Thanks to the many members who have been abiding by these rules. However, in the past few weeks complacency has slipped in and the rules have begun to be bent. We understand some of these requirements can be a bit of a pain at times – who doesn’t want to take a hot shower after sailing or hang out with their mates on the front deck. But unfortunately the reality of the current situation requires all of us to do our part, and stick to our plan which allows us to keep sailing. 

Thank you for taking these regulations seriously. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to the club this Saturday!

New Racing Format and Schedule Update

Now that all members of the club are permitted to attend organised racing, and because we’ve had so many weeks of sprints, for the next two Saturdays we’ll be running our regular summer season format of racing, but without scoring. That means running two “triangle sausage sausage” unscored races on both the 19th and 26th of September. Racing will be run with normal 5-miunte starting sequences with Radials and Standards having separate starts, and Radials starting first. Splash will be at 1:30pm for a 2pm Radial start.

Sprints will then be run on 3 October (the long weekend), leading up to the start to our official season on 10 October with the first two heats of the Club Championships.

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.