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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Rubbish bins

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The rubbish collection services at the club are not council services, yet commercial collection paid for by the club. We aim to minimise waste to landfill and maximise recycling.

Members are reminded there are three bins for waste disposal.

The red top bin is for non-recyclable waste (to landfill).

The blue top bin is for refundable container deposit items. Refundable items in the blue top bin must have readable barcodes. Please do not crush cans and bottles as this renders the barcode unreadable and we do not get the container deposits returned to us.  Coffee cups, milk cartons should not go in the blue top. However Up and Go paper contains now attract the deposit refund, so can go in the blue top. Do not contaminate cans and bottles in the blue top by putting paper towels in them.

The yellow top bin is for other recyclable waste such as paper/cardboard, hard plastic items with a recyclable symbol on them and glass items which are not refundable (such as wine and spirit bottles, jam jars - and tins).

Recycling of soft plastic items is a problem nationally at present owing to the collapse of REDcycle. Soft plastics unfortunately need to be placed in the red top bin for the time being.

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Jason and Isabelle Wilkins donation

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From Commodore, Steven London:

Members of the Club and Committee would like to thank long time members Jason and Isabelle Wilkins for their generous donation of the ILCA Laser "Phinester" for use in the clubs Learn to Race program. The program allows prospective members to "try-out" racing with the club, and this helps us to keep an inflow of new active members out there on the start line every week!

Phinester is a Laser with a history, having started life in the UK and making the journey to Australia with Jason when he immigrated here (hey, it's what Laser sailors do!). It has served him very well over the years and was passed on to Isabel when she joined the club 5 years ago.

To Isabelle's relief, Jason recently upgraded to the famous ILCA 50th Anniversary "Golden Fleece", allowing Isabelle to upgrade also, and so the club is now honoured to look after Phinester in its twilight years, if not in twilight sprints.

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Race report 18 February 2023

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From our PRO Mark Lewkovitz:

A very pleasant day for sprint racing with champagne sailing conditions, clear blue skies, a 15 knot nor’easter and an ultra-low tide. Sail GP in the afternoon meant an early start just before 1pm and the course was setup deep in Double Bay to avoid the exclusion zone which brought Point Piper into play.

6 punchy races were completed by 2:15pm to allow the Sail GP viewers to get away by 3pm.

Early races favoured a windward end start and a left turn at the gate, but a tweak to the course for the later races then favoured the pin end and drove boats to the left side of the beat.

Some performances of note include Luke Parker with multiple wins in the Standard, Diana Chen leading the way with two 4.7s and multiple wins from Sylvie Stannage as well as Scott Hunter grabbing a win.

Lots of smiles out on the water on a classic Sydney summer day.

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

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Racing this weekend – Vaucluse regatta and an early start

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This Saturday 25th of February is the Vaucluse Regatta. DBSC members are invited to the event which is free.

You need to register here in order to sail in the regatta

The Sailing Instructions can be found here.

DBSC members will need to be ready to splash at 12:10 to sail to the course for a 13:20 start.

Some further 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.

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Rule 18.3 by Luke Parker

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There’s frequently “lively on water debate” (aka yelling) within our fleets at the top mark when port tackers try to navigate a parade of boats on starboard tack.

Here is a very good video on rule 18.3 which concerns entering the 3 boat length zone from port at the top mark.  It’s worth a viewing. 

Summary: A boat that was on port as it entered the 3 boat length zone at a windward mark must always, including AFTER it tacks onto starboard, stay clear.  The port entry boat (no matter if it’s subsequently tacks to starboard) must not inconvenience any boat that was already on starboard when it entered the zone.

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The thrill of the SailGP! By James Tudball

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Last week Double Bay Sailing Club members were invited to participate in a number of activities as part of the SailGP Adopt A Club program.  Our club was partnered with Team Canada, which saw nearly 30 members visit Team Canada's base in the lead up to the regatta.  On Wednesday we were lucky to see the (safe!) launch of Team Canada's brand new boat and we were taken on an in depth tour to see the boats and wings up close and learn about the physics of the F50s.  Phil Robertson, driver of Team Canada, also facilitated a Q&A with us and Alistair Sutherland asked the burning question of whether Phil would be as aggressive as always on the start line!  Phil didn't really answer the question, but judging by his laughter we assumed the answer to be 'yes'.

We were also treated to a VIP spectator flag for the regatta as part of the program and we extend a huge thank you to Luke Parker who hosted DBSC members on board his rib on Saturday with a prime position for the racing. 

Sadly, as we all know, the SailGP base (and Team Canada in particular) suffered catastrophic damage on Saturday afternoon post-racing, with guests of 45 knots hitting the fleet.  Team Canada's boat and wing were damaged terribly.  Click to view the carnage, but TRIGGER WARNING, it's quite painful to watch!!  The damage to the fleet resulted in racing being cancelled on the Sunday.  3 x races on the Saturday still constituted a series, so the French Team, driven by Quentin Delapierre, were the clear victors of SailGP Sydney, recording a hat trick of wins.

We would also like to congratulate Mina Ferguson and Evie Saunders, who competed as part of the SailGP Inspire Regatta, competing in the Waszps.  The Inspire program run by SailGP is designed to build pathways for youth sailors to transition through foiling classes, to hopefully sail on an F50 one day!

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ILCA Masters Worlds by Ian Tudball

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DBSC was represented by Martin White, Pat Levy and Ian Tudball in the ‘Great Grand Master’ (65-75yo) category.

The trio had all copped health issues just before departure, but Pat was king hit  the worst, with a bout of Aussie food poisoning, just hours before take off. Martin nursed him for the marathon journey, as Pat trimmed his 82kg down to a more competitive racing weight. It took Pat 3 days to purge his system and crack a few ‘plumber jokes’.

The Royal Varuna Yacht Club was a stunning venue, and all 120 charter boats were brand new.  Conditions were perfect for racing with consistent 12-15 knot breezes and rolling waves for downhill rides. 

Race 1 was a disaster for the DBSC trio as they were all black flagged in a strong tide, along with 9 other boats in the fleet of 32. Race 2 was a big improvement with Martin coming back with a strong win. Pat was still recovering from his food poisoning, and it was not a happy day for him as he reported to his wife he was last overall. Sailing conditions were perfect, but the 4 knot tide did cause many boats to regularly overlay the windward mark

In race 3, a grumpy Pat finally cracked a smile as he finished 5th, and Martin crafted a 3rd place, while in race 4 Martin jagged a 5th, and with the drop race calculated, Martin was shaping up as a potential regatta winner. Pat was dogged with Irish bad luck, which he blamed on the French, but in true grit, in race 8 he returned to form with a 3rd. 

On the lay day the boys went on a trip to the dinosaur park which was a 10/10 experience, and it was assumed the regular sea breezes would continue, but it wasn’t to be. Racing was cancelled on the 2nd last day due to lack of wind, with 3 races being scheduled for the last day in a very patchy wind.

In the final wrap, 10 races were sailed out of a possible 12, with a 1 race discard, and it was a fine overall win to Geoff Loosemore and a very consistent second by Lyndall Patterson. Martin White deserved his 4th overall place and a ‘cube’, as his regatta strategy was hampered by a black flag in race 1. 

The host Club, race management and all the volunteers did a brilliant job, and it was a truly memorable regatta in a beautiful, friendly location. 

Final results for the GGM fleet of 32 were :
1st.  Geoff Lismore 
2nd. Lyndall Patterson 
3rd   Steve Gunther
4th.  Martin White
17th. Pat Levy
24th Ian Tudball

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Clean Up Australia Day 4 March

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Calling all volunteers who enjoy a clean environment!

I’ve spent the past few weeks driving around the pristine Tasmanian Countryside enjoying the ‘freshest air’ on the planet, and so I’m inspired to clean up the environment surrounding our club.

On Saturday 4th March from 10am to 12pm, members (and guests) of Double Bay Sailing Club will be conducting a clean-up of the foreshore, park lands and local roadways near our club in Double Bay. 

Trevor Potts (member) will be at the club house at 10am with all the CUAD materials, sign-on sheet, and a short safety briefing. Please arrive by 10am. 

We are also asking volunteers to download the EyeSea app and use it to upload photos of rubbish on the day. It's simple to use. Take a photo and upload it to the app.

Download for android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mariapps.eyesea.eye_sea

Download for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/es/app/eyesea/id1667239428

We recommend you wear sun protective clothing, and bring protective gloves (if you don’t have any, we will have spares available).

Afterwards you can treat yourself to a well-earned toastie before sailing!

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