79 Bay St
Double Bay NSW 2028
Australia

The best ILCA / Laser sailing club in the world, located in Double Bay on Sydney Harbour.

News

Race Report 02 April 2022

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Our LTRAR volunteer, John Chesterman, has provided the following report from racing on Saturday.

Multiple opinions were considered whilst setting up a relatively unusual, for DBSC, WSW course which appeared to exhibit a slight southward directional shift toward the top end and was more westerly at the start boat end near the Shark Island bottom mark. The experience of the PRO won out and once final adjustments were made the racing got underway on time. A strong outgoing tide, estimated at 2 knots, assisted clean starts to both races by keeping all boats a safe distance back from the start line.

The Etchells were mostly uninterested in our DBSC triangle and there were only a couple of vague intruding yachts thinking it might be a good idea to mix it with a racing laser fleet rounding the bottom mark whilst themselves on a downwind setting.

A relatively steady 12-15 Knot breeze, with little chop, kept both fleets tight and some great racing was observed from the Jazzman with position changes continuing right up to the finish line.

One important LTRaR lesson was learned which all club members can benefit from for the future - remember blue flag to replace orange on the Jazzman as the boats are finishing!!

PRO Matt Wenke and John Chesterman on the Jazzman were skilfully assisted on the water by COTD David Huber and last minute stand-in CoCOTD (a role which included swimming) David Airey. Special Guest Pavlina, mother and #1 fan of visiting Adela from the 4.7 Czech National team, was on the finishing horn and otherwise there to enjoy what our harbour has to offer. On the sandwich presses with Shirley and Paul were David Murphy and Julian van Aalst.

For the club championship heats, Daniel Costandi won both races in the standard rigs, while James Tudball won both races in the radial rigs. 

In the autumn pointscore, Craig Sheers and Geoff Boscoe each had a win in the standard rigs, while Finn Kirk and Andrew Cox each won a race in the radial rigs.

Full results are available on the website.

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Volly of the week!

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Double Bay Sailing Club is managed and run entirely by volunteers. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work. There is always work to be done in the upkeep of our shed and the ongoing running of dinghy racing.

This week we’d like to thank Mark Crowhurst for his contributions to the club. 

Mark has been a key volunteer at the club for seven years, since joining the club and volunteering for the club committee in 2016. Before taking on his current role as Vice Commodore, he was also Treasurer.

Among Mark’s many contributions are his creative thinking, his fundraising skills, and his rostering efforts.

Creative thinking – for example, Mark conceptualised, fundraised, and implemented our DBSC power station – which has made us a significant net contributor to the grid, creating annuity income for the club of per annum, and furthering our sustainability goals.

Fundraising skills – Mark has led our grant funding efforts, which have facilitated replacement of the piles that support the club house, installation of solar panels on the roof, forthcoming replacement of the boat ramps, the new Paul Adam RIB, The Women’s Regatta, DBSC-branded regatta clothing, various subsidised training programs, and several other initiatives.

Rostering efforts – Mark manages the time-consuming and difficult task of rostering up to eight volunteers each week, year round. In an effort to reduce the load on individual volunteers, we are dividing tasks up into smaller chunks and are seeking to share them around. Tim Heath has kindly offered to take over the volunteer rostering from now – which is much appreciated.  A big thanks to Mark for his work on this, and to Tim for taking over!

Mark’s volunteering efforts even almost make up for his dubious sailing skills! Thanks again to Mark for everything he does around the club.

Mark (pictured right) with Pat and Craig at the Christmas party

The club is full of people making wonderful contributions around the place, and sometimes behind the scenes. Let us know who deserves a mention!

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Congratulations!

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Congrats to DBSC members, Evie Saunders and Zander Bijkerk, who won the Qld Open State Championships in Radial and Standard rigs respectively last weekend.

Evie and Zander are pictured with NSWIS coach, Tristan Brown.

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Easter Hunt

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On Easter Saturday (16 April) the club will host an Easter hunt with a difference.

The course will be:

1 = DBSC mark
2 = Wedding Cake east
3 = Yellow YA mark off Washaway Beach (Nudist Beach)
4 = Wedding Cake east
5 = Yellow YA mark to east of Bradleys Head
6 = Yellow YA mark at the Shark Island (south)
7 = DBSC finish line

 There will be support boats accompanying the fleet crossing the sound.

The intention is to run a handicapped start, with your handicap provided on the day.

There may, or may not, be chocolates at each mark. Probably not…

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Planning ahead

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The NSW and ACT Laser association update this week points to events hopefully getting back on track for enthusiastic travelling sailors. 

The Australian Championships (open and youth) will be at Georges River Sailing Club. GRSC are seeking the assistance of volunteers in hosting this event.
If you are available on race days 2-8 January it would be much appreciated. Please contact GRSC Laser Class Captain David Early.
If you have less time to spare but can help with measurement checks on 1st and 2nd January, please contact Kevin Phillips .

For the masters there will also be the South Pacific Masters in Brisbane at RQYS, Oceania Masters at Darwin Sailing Club and World Masters at the fabulous  Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya, Thailand.

A full list of events including Australian Sailing and ILCA World Championships is available HERE.

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60 seconds with Andrea Kraus

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We are welcoming another new member this week – Andrew Krause. Be sure to give him a friendly welcome when you see him!

How old were you when you first stepped on a boat?
I was 8 years old

 If money (and sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?
Wally 145

What is your ultimate sailing goal?
Have fun and try to be in the group when racing

Tell us the story behind the name of your Laser?
I just bought PEB, but if possible I would like to change the name to something a bit more Italian…was thinking of Picciottina.

If you could add any ingredient to DBSC's world’s best toasties – what would it be?
Less ingredient better, love just a cheese on toast. Simple and good.

What are your second/third favourite hobbies (assuming sailing is #1)?
Love to play tennis, and go to camp cove for a swim in the morning.

Describe what you do for work in less than five words?
CFO of a cable manufacturer. Calls calls and decisions…..

What is the first international destination you will travel to (once we're allowed) and why?
Italy in July to visit family

What is your favourite TV show, movie, and/or book?
Movie the godfather, love to read a good biography, TV show anything with a bit of adrenaline.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know? 
My wife is pregnant with due date 5 June

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And another new member!

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Former club secretary Emily Ball and her partner Robbie have recently added to the club’s membership waiting list! They have welcomed baby William Perry into the world on Fri 25 March. At 3.7kg they are hopeful he’ll become a standard rig sailor!

Emily, William and Robbie are all well and everyone is enjoying getting to know each other and the many cuddles.

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