RACE REPORT 6 January 2024

Photo by the editor

A very respectable 18 Laser sailors rocked up to the start line for an afternoon of Sprint Racing, including a couple of overseas masters taking advantage of our lovely harbour to hone their racing skills in advance of next month’s Worlds in Adelaide. The weather gods were kind, turning a light and fickle easterly into a decent 16-knot nor-easter over the course of the afternoon. It was also nice to have the Clark-to-Shark racecourse area mostly uncontested and the harbour relatively traffic-free.

Our American visitor showed some impressive speed (once he sorted out the start timing), finishing three of the five short races with 100+ metre leads. The racing was close, with some of the mark roundings inspiring spirited discussions on topics such as how much room a Laser actually needs for a seaman-like rounding. All starts were clean (helped no doubt by the incoming tide).

Photos by Andrew Foote and the editor

Many thanks to the on-water team of Jim Dounis and Chris Tattersall (PRO & LTRaR, respectively), and Andrew Foote and Mike Morris (COTD & CCOTD) on mark-setting duty. Shirley and Paul assisted by James Tudball provided on-shore care and feeding.

Reminder: Learn-to-Race Still Looking for Spares

Perhaps you have recently replaced some of you Laser bits, but the old ones are still serviceable. Just a reminder that our Learn-To-Race team are still needing spares, in particular:

• Boom vangs

• Downhauls

• Radial (ILCA 6) mast bottom sections.

 If you’d like to donate, please contact either Martin White or Scott Hunter.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Wednesday 10-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 11-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 13-Jan:
Autumn Point Score Races 1 & 2 (2PM Warning)

Wednesday 17-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 18-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash) (including on-water coaching — see previous article)

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A quick note from your editor on housekeeping at the club: our membership is quite full, so the facilities are getting a lot of use. This is starting to show, in terms of clutter and debris. If everyone both picks-up after themselves and also goes a bit out of their way to tidy up anything else they spot, our club will remain the sanctuary we all want it to be.

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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 racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

ILCA Masters Worlds Training

Further to our recent article in the newsletter, DBSC will be hosting a group of sailors from overseas (ITA FRA GBR & USA), in preparation for the ILCA Masters Worlds in Adelaide.

Mark Bethwaite will be running sprint races on the afternoons of Sun 28, Mon 29, Tues 30, and Wed 31 Jan. Overseas Masters may also join our racing on Sat 27 Jan, subject to boats being available.

Photo courtesy of NSW ACT Laser Association

We are still looking for more people interested in chartering their hull, spars and foils to overseas Masters sailors.  The fee would be AUD50 per day.  Mark will allocate boats between DBSC charterers and overseas visitors and ensure boats are returned in original condition to owners.

Mark will also need a couple of volunteers, one to join him on the Adam and another to drive the Bergman for mark laying and safety requirements.

Please email rodbarnes@dbsc.com.au if you or your boat are available.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Happy New Year to all sailors. There is no racing to report but our racing program resumes on Saturday. Meantime, here’s what’s coming up:

Saturday 6-Jan:
No Learn to Race
Club Sprints (2PM Start)

Wednesday 10-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 11-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 13-Jan:
Autumn Point Score Races 1 & 2 (2PM Warning)

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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 racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

RACE REPORT 16 December 2023

PRO Andrew Cox reports:

It was a tough day for the last races in our Spring Point Score Series. During the day, the BOM readings hit all but one of the 16 points on the compass, miraculously only missing SE. Fortunately, during the race period, the official recordings only showed a 45-degree shift range from ESE to ENE. However, as those sailors who were backwinded into the water shortly after the first radial start will attest, we felt shifts on the course throughout the afternoon all the way from NE to the “missing” SE.

 As if that did not make course-setting (and racing) hard enough, we had the Sail Sydney ILCA 6 fleet monopolizing the Dardanelles, leaving us to set an almost due-east “average-wind” course from somewhere north of Clark Island to somewhere north of the Point Piper YA Mark. After a couple of adjustments to the start line, we were off. The fleets were well-behaved on the start lines during the afternoon, but for a general recall in the second Radials race that resulted less from over-exuberance than from a significant right shift towards the end of the sequence that compounded the outgoing tide.

 Congratulations to Kate McHugh who maintained a large winning margin in the first Radial race, followed by a commanding lead in the second until pipped somewhere in the middle by Martin White, who (as those who have the pleasure of competing somewhere near him each week will attest) has Terminator-like tenacity and effectiveness.  Meanwhile, in the Standards, Quentin Burns exhibited a dominating performance for two first-place finishes across the line. Special mention to Jasper Kinsman who pulled a 3rd and 2nd across the line in his first two outings after graduating from 4.7 to Radial.

 On handicap, winners were ILCA 6: Mike Morris and Daryl Lawrence and ILCA 7: Joshua Dorey and Maxim Djura.  Overall series winners are Peter Collie in the ILCA 6 and Maxim Djura in the ILCA 7 – nice one to them both!  Coincidentally, the PRO and Co-PRO each snagged second place in their respective series, some distance behind the winners.

Photo by Grant Lovelady

Thanks to the on-water team of Andrew Cox, Grant Lovelady, Jason Wilkins, and Jacqui Winship – particularly to Jason, whose tired arms and sore hands were evidence that he must have pulled up close to 15 mark-anchors during the day. Thanks also for the super-tasty sandwiches from the canteen team of Paul and Shirley, assisted by Isabelle Wilkins and Geoff Kirk. And congratulations to lucky Scott Hunter who received from Shirley what she declared to be her “best-ever” toastie. Jealous!

Photo by Andrew Cox

Sail Sydney 2023

Photo by Beau Outteridge

Last week we had 24 DBSC members compete at Sail Sydney across all three ILCA classes. Nine sailors were in the Olympic classes section, and Fifteen sailors competed in ILCA 4’s and 6’s across the Open section.  There were some brilliant results, some key learnings and positive improvements, and above all…some highly competitive and enjoyable racing on Sydney Harbour. 

Photos by Sara Bruce and Dan Costandi

Special thanks to Josh Becker and Daniel Costandi, who were our on-water coaches. And a shout out to Healy Ryan who won the ILCA 6 Open Regatta!

Daniel Costandi gives a brief recap of the regatta:

Sail Sydney saw a wide range of conditions, however no day stayed under 30 degrees with one day almost cracking 40, which added to the challenge of decision-making in the extremely shifty Harbour conditions. It required the sailors to really think about their race plans and how they would attack the course.

For the 4.7 and Open Radial classes, the race committee one day set a course right under Shark Island which had the sailors going to either side of the island. The few sailors that went the riskier way made gains on the upwind, something I have never seen happen in DBSC club racing.

In the Olympic 7’s it was great to see Hamish and Quentin mixing it up with the top boys in the full rigs, sadly just falling short of making it to the medal race. In the Olympic 6’s we saw Sara Bruce make the medal race and finish 10th overall. This experience of sailing in a medal race is rare and to finish 7th in that race was a credit to her performance throughout the event. Ali Braden also sailed very well during this event and finished behind Sara in 11th. In the 4.7’s we saw a large group of sailors represent DBSC. It was good to see them all sail very well in such tricky conditions.

Sara Bruce also gives us her account of the regatta:

Sail Sydney 2023 done!!! This was my first experience in an Olympic, female-only fleet and the racing was amazing. I was surprised by how close and competitive it was. I learned so much from the experience, and it was a great chance to test my skills and knowledge amongst high performance athletes. The top 10 sailors at the end of the qualifying series competed in an extra medal race of ~20 mins. Sitting in 10th at the end of the series, I qualified for the medal race. With lots on the line and double points, the top athletes were really going for it. The vibe was so professional the whole regatta, both on and off the water.

I finished 10th overall in the medal race fleet after getting a 7th in the medal race. I’m super proud of how I sailed this regatta!! Big congrats to DBSC sailors Brooke Wilson and Sylvie Stannage in 4th and 5th also in the medal race fleet who finished one point apart, and Ali Braden in 11th, who took out 1st in the qualifying fleet.  In the Olympic ILCA 7s, Campbell Patton was 3rd overall, Alexander Bijkerk was 4th, and Quentin Burns and Hamish Crabb came 16th and 17th respectively.

For the full results for Sail Sydney CLICK HERE

Learn-to-Race Looking for Spares

Have you recently replaced some of you Laser bits, but the old ones are still serviceable? The Learn-To-Race team are needing spares, in particular:

• Boom vangs

• Downhauls

• Radial (ILCA 6) mast bottom sections.

 If you’d like to donate, please contact either Martin White or Scott Hunter.

Casual Boat Maintenance

Maxim Djura will be working on his Laser over the holidays and is hoping for some company:

“I will be doing maintenance on my boat in the morning and early afternoon of 30th and 31st of December. Anyone who has boat repairs to do, is welcome to join me. I have epoxy, flow coat, a polish solution, degreaser and masking tape to share. Please note that I don't give any professional advice on repair, just the materials.”

WHAT'S GOING ON

Wednesday 20-Dec: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)

Thursday 21-Dec: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)

Saturday 23-Dec: Informal Sprint Racing (1:30PM splash).

Monday 1 Jan - Monday 8 Jan: Oceania & Aust. Open & Youth Titles - Adelaide SC

Saturday 6-Jan:
No Learn to Race
Club Sprints (2PM Start)

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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 racing results here.
The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.
Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.