Race Report - Saturday 9 August 2025

Winter Sprints with a Championship Twist!

Last weekend we had volunteer PROs Dr Martin Gill and Gaye Rosen joining us on the start boat to run the racing, and so for this sprints day we ran a mini Champs course. A few showers around made for a gusty/shifty S to SSE course just off Double Bay, with blue sky breaking through on occasion. The course was set South and as the wind tended more to the SSE for the second race, we adjusted the course more to the SSE for the third.

Martin Gill our PRO had his wind instrument up on the Jazzman, and we made great use of his self-written app which showed the wind swinging from 20deg on one side of the course to 20 degrees on the other. Excellent information for deciding on course changes.

We look forward to welcoming new members Martin and Gaye as our PROs on our Club Championship Race days this Season. Please say hi to them and make them feel welcome at the next Championship Race day in Spring.

The short course we had set made for tight racing for the small ILCA 6 fleet, and in the First Race David Airey was 1st over the line, closely followed by Martin White in 2nd, and Brad Cox 3rd. Then it was Martin White winning with a clear lead in the Second Race with Andrew Cox 2nd, David Airey 3rd. Then Martin White again clear ahead in the Third Race was 1st, with Brad Cox (visiting us for the day) in 2nd, Andrew Cox 3rd.

In the larger ILCA7 fleet, the First Race saw Yves Stening 1st over the line (after James and Rod worked through a port vs starboard which slowed them somewhat), followed by Geoffrey Boscoe in 2nd, Patrick Black 3rd. Rod and James continued to compete for the front of the fleet in the second race, where Rod Barnes prevailed in 1st and James Tudball 2nd, Jason Wilkins 3rd. Then in the Final race James Tudball took 1st and Rod Barnes 2nd, Mike Dunne 3rd.

This week we only had one ILCA 4. We welcomed new member Ben Philips, who mixed in with the ILCA 6 fleet. Hopefully we will see more members return to racing this week as the weather returns to more sunshine and less rain!

Thank you to our on-water team lead by Dr Martin Gill and Gaye Rosen as PRO, Steven London as LtRaR, COTD Kerryn Smith and Quentin Burns. Thanks also to our canteen captain Paul Adam (assisted by Geofrey Bosce). Everyone should know that Toasties are now available every Saturday race day, so come and see Paul in the canteen!

by Steven London

Working Bee - Saturday 23rd August from 8am

Calling all Members!!! The annual working bee will be conducted on Saturday 23rd August from 8am. This is an annual event that takes considerable planning to ensure our club is ready to run smoothly for the summer season. All members are expected to attend – there is a large amount of work to be done. If you are unable to attend on the day, please contact the Commodore, Steven London, and arrange for a job to be undertaken at a time convenient to you.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Saturday 16 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 23 August:

  • Working Bee - All Members (8:00am start)

  • Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Friday 29 August: DBSC Sailors’ Season Opening Dinner

• Saturday 30 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First 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 - Saturday 2 August 2025

All photos by Ben Byford, Harper Spacey and James Tudball

Winter Sprint Racing

Harper Spacey reports

The first week of Saturday sprint racing got off to an exciting start with tricky conditions throughout the day.  A building sou’easterly of 15-25 knots made for shifty conditions and a gusty racecourse.

Double Bay's youth members constituted this week’s race management with Harper Spacey and Raphael McLachlan taking on the duty of PRO, Charles Byford and Tucker McKeon supporting sailors as COTD and Charlotte Jenkins on canteen duty (and assisting on the water).  Thanks to James Tudball and Ben Byford who assisted on both support RIBs. 

Although the conditions were challenging, a solid fleet of mostly ILCA 6’s and 7’s had some tight racing, with Martin White in a Radial and Healy Ryan in a Standard winning all five races! A shout out to new member, Ben Phillips, who persevered and got around the course in his 4.7.

Despite rain, wind and a couple of on-water rescues, the first week of sprint racing was competitive and exciting.

Report on ILCA 4 Youth Worlds - 19-26 July 2025

Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, Los Angeles

Charlotte Jenkins reports

During our winter holidays (plus the first week of school), four DBSC youth members were lucky enough to escape the cold, rainy weather and spend some time training and then racing at the ILCA 4 Youth World Championships, in Los Angeles, California. The regatta was hosted by Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, and we launched from the neighbouring Cabrillo Beach Youth Waterfront Sports Centre/Boy Scout Camp, which took about an hour to sail (or half an hour to tow) past the sea wall and out to the racecourse.

We spent four days training with SailCoach, where, as the ‘Down Under’ group, we would start the session with speed-testing lineups to correct our setup and posture, then later join the internationals in short practice races on a start line of 30-50 boats. Back on land, we had detailed video debriefs from Canadian ILCA 7 sailor and coach James Juhasz, who also shared examples from his training group to demonstrate the skills we needed to improve on. 

The regatta consisted of six intense days of racing, with two races completed to schedule each day (including one treacherous race which lasted almost 90 minutes with the first boat reaching the top mark within a minute of the time limit). The first two days were light-moderate while the others provided what I would describe as perfect hiking and surfing conditions (Zoe might disagree as she preferred the lighter air). The course also had painfully strong tide of up to 12 boat lengths a minute (= 1.6 kts), which created huge line sag at the starting line and chaos at the top mark with underlaid boats. Luckily we were only postponed out on the water a few times while waiting for the sea breeze to kick in a couple of hours after the morning smog cleared, or when the robot marks refused to cooperate and forced the race committee into a game of hide and seek. 

The Australian team consisted of 7 boys and 7 girls, of which 2 boys (Raphael McLachlan and Tucker McKeon) and 2 girls (Charlotte Jenkins and Zoe Allen) are from DBSC. The boys fleet had a total of 140 sailors, and the girls fleet had a total of 100 sailors. Both fleets were split into halves for qualifying and final races. 

After 12 races, the final results were:

Boys fleet (140):

91st Raphael McLachlan

118th Tucker McKeon

Girls fleet (100):

53rd Charlotte Jenkins

92nd Zoe Allen

Photos courtesy of SailCoach, or as marked

WHAT'S GOING ON

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Saturday 9 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 16 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 23 August:

  • Working Bee (8:00am start)

  • Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Friday 29 August: DBSC Sailors’ Season Opening Dinner (details to follow)

• Saturday 30 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First 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 - Sunday 27 July 2025

Winter Championships and Point Score

The last three heats of the Winter Championships and Point Score series were run on Sunday morning in beautiful conditions.

It was a cold morning with a nor’westerly blowing between 10-16 knots.  Thanks to the race crew of Rod Barnes, Ben Byford, Kate McHugh and Michelle Power who got the racing in on time, allowing all to soak up the sun on the front deck afterwards.

With many of the ILCA 4 fleet away competing in the ILCA 4 Worlds in Los Angeles, most of the fleet was made up by ILCA 6’s and 7’s.

Going into these last heats there were a few close battles to be decided, which made for exciting racing.

The winners for the winter season were:

FINAL OVERALL Results - Winter Championships:

ILCA 6:

1. Alistair Sutherland

2. Andrew Cox

3. Roberto Blum

ILCA 7:

1. Hadrian Bourley

2. James Tudball

3. Healy Ryan

ILCA 4:

1. Harper Spacey

2. Raphael McLachlan

3. Zoe Allen

FInal Overall Results - Winter Point Score:

ILCA 6:

1. Brendan Pollard

2. Pia Hattersley

3. Alistair Sutherland

ILCA 7:

1. David Da Costa Enes

2. Andrew Foote

3. Maxim Djura

ILCA 4:

1. Charlie Wait

2. Harper Spacey

3. Charlotte Jenkins

All photos by Rod Barnes

Working Bee

The annual working bee will be conducted on Saturday 23rd August from 8am. This is an annual event that takes considerable planning to ensure our club is ready to run smoothly for the summer season. All members are expected to attend – there is a large amount of work to be done. If you are unable to attend on the day, please contact the Commodore, Steven London, and arrange for a job to be undertaken at a time convenient to you.

(Members who do not participate are under the usual threat of having their laser torched in the park!)

WHAT'S GOING ON

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Saturday 2 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 9 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 16 August: Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First warning)

• Saturday 23 August:

  • Working Bee (8:00am start)

  • Winter Sprints (12pm Briefing, 1:00pm First 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.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Clubhouse Open Again

Repairs to the deck at the entrance have been completed, and we can now get our boats out again:

Big shout-out to Rod Barnes for superb handling of this tricky job.

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Sunday 20 July: NO CLUB RACING (SCHOOL HOLIDAYS)

• Sunday 27 July:

  • SUNDAY MORNING Racing - Winter Championship and Point Score series (last races of the Winter Series)

  • 7:20am Race Briefing, Start time: 8:00am

• Saturday 2 August: Winter Sprints (1:00pm 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.