79 Bay St
Double Bay NSW 2028
Australia

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

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Race report 11 February 2023

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From our PRO Andrew Cox:

Saturday showed us how life was meant to be -- a beautiful sunny Sydney summer afternoon with a honking "north-easter". Of course, with Pat Levy away at the Worlds, it was never going to be anything else.

It blew 19-26 knots, oscillating between the dominant left gradient and the right sea breeze. An outgoing tide cooperated to ensure plenty of exciting wave action. 

Despite the conditions, we had a reduced fleet (people were probably planning their Valentine's Day). There were 8 ILCA 7s, 21 ILCA 6s, and 2 ILCA 4s, for a respectable fleet of 30+ boats, before a swag of retirements in the second race. 

Brett Beyer made a guest appearance, putting in his one-and-only day of training before the Masters Worlds. One sailor quipped, "Imagine all the things that would go wrong if we only sailed once a year". However, Brett did not seem to have too much trouble with that. 

Having said that, Geoff Kirk put in a credible effort, finishing within reach of Brett in both races. 

The results for ILCA 7 were R7: Geoff Kirk, Yves Stening, Steven London (with scratch placings of Geoff Kirk, Craig Sheers, Yves Stening); R8: Geoff Kirk, Craig Sheers, Steven London (with scratch placings the same). 

The results for ILCA 6 were R7: Scott Finlayson, Jim Dounis = James Tudball (with scratch placings of James Tudball, Quentin Burns, Alistair Sutherland); R8: Quentin Burns, Alistair Sutherland, Ian Alexander (with scratch placings reversing Ian and Alistair - less than a metre apart). 

The results for ILCA 4 were R7: Sara Bruce (Diana and Julian also sailed ILCA 4 but are handicapped in ILCA 6); R8: no competitors. 

Thanks to our race management team for a well-managed day of racing, coordinated by Andrew Cox (PRO) and Ryan Aldrich (LTRaR), with assistance from the handicappers, Daryl Lawrence, and Geoff Boscoe, who generously continue to forego their own racing to train our race management teams in the use of the new scoring app. 

On-water safety was provided by John Chesterman (COTD), Ben Byford (Co-COTD), and Robert Bruce (RIB reserve). It was an active day for them, with multiple capsizes, fatigued sailors needing assistance, a couple of tows back to shore, and a concerning collision from a Farr 30 competing at SASC that failed to keep clear of a capsized ILCA 7, resulting in the ILCA 7 rig being sheered off at the deck - very dangerous and irresponsible!

One postscript from the race management team -- the new scoring app relies on sailors signing on with correct sail numbers and in the correct class. Please remember to sign on. It makes a huge difference to our volunteers. 

Volly of the week!

Guest User

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 administration and management of racing.

This week, we’re saying a big thank you to James Tudball who has joined the DBDC Committee as Youth Coordinator. James is implementing plans to build a culture and program of youth initiatives to encourage the next generation of ILCA sailors and expand youth and ILCA 4 representation in our fleet. James has also been busy coordinating our SailGP “Adopt a Club participation” including the Tech Base tour with Team Canada and VIP spectator boat for the race days.

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

Racing this weekend impacted by SailGP

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With SailGP on the harbour this weekend, our regular club racing is impacted.

The club will hold sprint races from 1pm. These are most likely to be conducted in Rushcutters Bay. Further information will be provided in the briefing, which will be held at 12pm.

Learn to race this weekend

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The next Learn to Race (LTR) a Laser at Double Bay Sailing Club is on again this Saturday morning 18 February.  It must start early at 8.30AM on that day as we have limitations with harbour zones owing to SailGP.

We’ll meet at 8.30am ready to rig boats. The aim is to be on the water well before 10am and back to the shore by 11.30pm.

LTR is for prospective new members – a ‘try before you join’ arrangement.  It’s also for DBSC members wishing to improve their sailing skills.

Participants must have basic helming capability as we are squad based and it’s sometimes difficult to provide a lot of one-on-one assistance for those without experience. It’s also a safety measure.

Vaucluse Regatta 25 February 2022

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Saturday 25th of February - DBSC members are invited to sail in the Vaucluse Regatta.

This year the event celebrates its 91st year. As is the case each year, there will be no club racing at DBSC and we will sail up the harbour to join the event which is free however you need to register as soon as possible here.

The Sailing Instructions can be found here.

DBCS members will need to be ready to splash at 12:10 to sail to the course for a 13:20 start.
Members should read the sailing instructions before the event. Here are some salient points to note:

  • Lasers will have the first warning signal class flag at 1320, with a combined radial and 4.7 fleet starting first

  • There will be up to 3 races, with all races counting

  • The course will be 2 laps of windward-leeward legs with an offset mark at the top and rounding to port.

  • Code flag “I” us likely to be used at the start – boats that are over in the last minute must round the ENDS of the line and come back through it

  • Boats must keep at least 50m clear of the start line when not in sequence. Please watch out for yachts using the same start line!

  • The one penalty turn rule (not two) applies.


BE AWARE OF FERRIES and COMMERCIAL SHIPPING in this end of the harbour. They are dangerous and have right of way.

After racing, we are invited to return to VYC for a BBQ. We will take 2 RIBs down to VYC as on-water transport for those members who do not wish to drive.

Race report 4 February 2023

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From our PRO Peter Collie:

This was an unusual day for summer racing. We had a westerly wind forecast all day. Usually, the westerly runs in the winter, and only in the morning, in this case it was all day and often exceeded the forecast 10 knots with the gusts and shifts we are used to with a westerly. Sailors said that the top mark approaches were where this was felt the most. 

Fortunately, the BBQ was already sizzling when sailors returned to enjoy the rest of a brilliant summer day.

In race 9:
ILCA 7 Zander Bijkerk was 1st with Rod Barnes 2nd and Ryan Aldrich 3rd
ILCA 6 Kate McHugh was 1st followed by Quentin Burns in 2nd and Charles Byford in 3rd place.
ILCA 4 Sara Bruce 1st and Ben Costandi 2nd (there were 2 competitors)

In race 10 
ILCA 7 Rod and Zander split the first two places with 1.5 each and David Newman was 3rd.
ILCA 6 Quentin Burns moved up to 1st followed by Andrew Cox in second place and Ian Alexander in 3rd.
ILCA 4 Sara Bruce 1st and Ben Costandi 2nd (there were 2 competitors)

The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here (highly recommended).

Volly of the week!

Guest User

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 administration and management of racing.

This week, we’re saying a big thank you to Tory Epworth. As the club secretary does an enormous amount of invisible work at the club, managing our membership as well as coordinating and corresponding on behalf of the club committee and membership. She has also organised and catered (with the help of her family) our annual Adventure Day Picnic which took place on Sunday, with CWA style sandwiches, gluten free zucchini slice and watermelon slices under the DBSC cabana on Gibbons Beach. What a Treat!

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

Annual Adventure Day Picnic

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On Sunday, the club held its third, and largest yet, adventure day picnic.

On a picture perfect day, 16 lasers departed DBSC shortly after noon, chaperoned by a support RIB to meet friends and family at Gibbons Beach. In all 33 sailors, family and friends attended, enjoying a magnificent picnic catered by Tory under the DBSC cabana.

After much swimming, socialising, eating, playing and laughter, sailors returned to DBSC while others took more conventional routes home. This was our best picnic so far!

There is an album on the Top Mark (Facebook) where more photos of the day have been, and can be, shared.

Important information on using the club RIBs

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The Dean Bergman RIB is currently out of service being repaired due to an accident during the 18 footers race day last week. Luckily no one was hurt, but the RIB suffered two punctures in the bow and the stern. Pat Levy has already swung into action and repairs are underway this week, and we hope it is back in action soon.

Meanwhile the Paul Adam RIB is still in action this weekend, even though the bung system has been broken. Once again Pat has the parts on order, but for the moment PROs and COTDs need to leave the bungs IN, and instead use the bilge pump switch on the console to empty any water from the RIB both before and after racing.