Race report 8 April 2023

On Saturday the club held the annual 'Easter race around the harbour'.  The Easter Bunny cooked up a gusty 20 - 25 knot westerly, which made conditions tricky (and fun!) for the 12 sailors who competed.  

The race was a handicapped start and some enthusiastic betting was placed by the on-water team of Tim Heath, Tory Epworth, Katie McHugh, James Tudball and David Airey. 

Due to the wind strength, the course was slightly condensed, but we still had two great laps beating upwind towards Garden Island, round Clark Island, a screaming reach over to the YA buoy in Taylors Bay and another screaming reach down to Shark Island as the bottom mark.  

Taylors Bay proved to be the biggest challenge of the day, with the wind coming from every single direction and ranging from 2 knots to 20 knots while the “Easter Bunny” dished out chocolate.  On the first lap, nearly every sailor suffered at least one capsize in the Taylors Bay trap.

With the chocolate egg supplies running low, the decision was made to shorten the course slightly and finish in Taylors Bay on the second lap.   

Congratulations to Andrew Cox (who always relishes these 'chase down races') who was the overall winner of the race by just a few boat lengths, winning a bottle of fizz and a chocolate bunny.  Andrew (in a radial) pipped Luke "Bunny" Parker (in a standard) by just three boat lengths.  Healy Ryan was 4th over the line and first of the 4.7s.

Honourable mentions to Healy Ryan, Cormac Johnston and Jack Restuccia who sailed down from HHSC to race.  Another honourable mention goes to Craig Sheers, for rocking a beautiful shiny prototype carbon boom...and for achieving the most capsizes in Taylors Bay.  

This coming weekend the club will hold Learn to Race and Pointscore heats 13 and 14.

Learn to race this weekend

This season’s final Learn to Race (LTR) a Laser is on this Saturday morning April 15, 2023.  

Please be there at 9.00am ready to rig boats. The aim is to be on the water by 10.15 am approx. and back to shore by 12.00 noon.

LTR is for prospective new members and current DBSC members wishing to improve their sailing skills.

Contact Martin White at mwhite@umco.com.au or 04106 27743 if keen to attend.   It’s free for members.  $30 boat hire for non-members.

Upcoming events and more information

Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.

View all results here.

The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.

Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

Race report 1 April 2023

On Saturday the club held races 13 and 14 of the club championships. It was a tricky, shifty, up and down southerly, with the top mark set at the top of Double Bay..

Our volunteers were Craig Sheers (PRO), Justin Davey (LTRAR), Kerryn Smith (COTD), Andrea Kraus (coCOTD), with Andrew Simpson and Yves Stening assisting Paul and Shirley in the canteen and Luke Parker on duty for the club championship bbq clean up.

Results are available in the Sailor app and online.

Easter Saturday race around the harbour

This weekend we have our annual Easter Saturday race around the harbour.

Please see the course map attached.

Further details will be provided at the briefing on Saturday.

60 seconds with Otto Henry

The club welcomes Otto Henry back to our membership. Read a little about him with our Q and A.

How old were you when you first stepped on a boat?

A few months old

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

AC75

What is your ultimate sailing goal?

Olympic class world champion and America's Cup sailor

Tell us the story behind the name of your Laser?

Falcon - it is the fastest bird in the world.

If you could add any ingredient to DBSC's world’s best toasties – what would it be?

Beef mince

What are your second/third favourite hobbies (assuming sailing is #1)?

Surfing and fitness

Describe what you do for work in less than five words? 

Mining company office worker

What is your next holiday destination and why?

Weymouth, UK - Moth Worlds!

What is your favourite TV show, movie, and/or book?

Yellowstone

Tell us something interesting about yourself that members of the club don’t know?

I grew up in the Blue Mountains

Upcoming events and more information

Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.

View all results here.

The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.

Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

ILCA Metropolitan Championships

Over the weekend the club hosted the ILCA Metropolitan Championships with Rod Barnes taking the lead in organising and assisting the ILCA NSW PRO Andrew McLachlan.

Over the two days, six races were held in tricky conditions predominately from the east, trending from the south east on Saturday to the north east on Sunday. Sailors were treated to a bbq on the deck after racing on Saturday and bacon and egg sandwiches on Sunday morning thanks to Peter Collie manning the bbq, as well as the usual Double Bay special – toasties a la Paul and Shirley…

Many volunteers rolled up their sleeves to assist with the regatta, whether they were sailing or not, from boat park management, canteen assistance, on water support, general around the clubhouse facilitation and the full rig launch and trolley dolly squad. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this a special and well run event.

DBSC was well represented in all fleets across all age groups by men and women, boys and girls.

The final results were as follows:

ILCA 4
1st Healy Ryan (HHSC/DBSC)
2nd Harry Pilkington (RYCT)
3rd Breanne Wadley (Tinaroo SC)

ILCA 6
1st Evie Saunders (Manly ILCAs/DBSC)
2nd Brooke Wilson (RSYS/DBSC)
3rd Connor Kellett (DBSC)

ILCA 7
1st Alexander Bijkerk (RPAYC/DBSC)
2nd Otto Henry (WSC/RSYS/DBSC)
3rd Julian Taylor (WSC/RSYS/DBSC)

Full results are available online.

Volly of the week

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 Rod Barnes. Rod Barnes is the sailing captain at DBSC and in recent weeks has planned and executed the “metros” as a regatta par excellence, coordinating volunteers and forsaking his own racing to oversee the on water management over the weekend. We are very grateful for the excellent job he has done.

Rod Barnes kicks off the briefing at the ILCA Metropolitan Championships at DBSC

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

Winter sailing

At Double Bay Sailing Club we race all year round! 

The 2023 Winter series will commence on Sunday 14 May and run weekly until 30 July (except during NSW school holidays). It’s a great way to maintain your sailing fitness and the early morning sail means you have the rest of the day to chill out or cook a Sunday roast! 

We are currently setting up the Roster and need all members who are NOT sailing in Winter to email Tim at roster@dbsc.com.au to let him know.