2026 Sailors' Dinner

All photos by Stephen Reid

Season Opening Dinner — Sailors & Volunteers

Twenty of us gathered at the Lord Dudley in Woollahra on Friday 28 August for the DBSC Sailors Season Opening Dinner, marking the start of the season. The food was excellent, the conversation better, and the evening ran a bit later than several people had planned. Not too late, mind you — plenty of the same faces were back at the club the next day for the Winter Sprints.

Peter Collie deserves a round of thanks. He transformed the room with sails for tablecloths, personalised boat-shaped place cards, and a generous supply of thimbles — enabling us to re-litigate various alleged sailing incidents over main course and settle them once and for all. Or not.

Nick Pellow then ran a cracking trivia night, with a set of questions good enough that the contest refused to resolve itself and had to be decided by a paper aeroplane fly-off. Nick has ruled that correspondence cannot be entered into. Nick, I have the pen. The scrunched-up paper ball was a valid entry as a paper aeroplane, and on further review it remains a valid entry as a paper aeroplane.  Congratulations to The Thankers team, led by Andrew Cox, who (allegedly) won.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and to Peter and Nick for the setup and the entertainment. It was a fitting way to open the season. Bring on 2026/27!

Stephen Reid

What's Going On

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Saturday 5 September: Club Championships 1 & 2

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

  • Season Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)

• Saturday 12 September: Spring Point Score 1 & 2

  • Learn to Race, 9:00am

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

• Saturday 19 September: Club Championships 3 & 4

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

  • BBQ on the deck after racing (~5:00pm)

• Saturday 26 September: Spring Point Score 3 & 4

  • Learn to Race, 9:00am

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

Spring & Autumn Fixtures Calendar

The calendar for next year has been published here. Please use this to plan your campaigns!

Highlights:

• 30 Sep - 5 Oct: 2026 Australian Sailing’s Zhik NSW Youth Sail

  • Toronto ASC

  • Website

  • Registration

• 24-25 Oct: 2026 NSW & ACT Coast Championships

  • Speers Point ASC

  • NOR

• 14-15 Nov: 2026 NSW & ACT Open, Youth & Masters State Championships

  • Double Bay Sailing Club

  • NOR

• 1-8 Jan: 2027 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

  • NOR. Entries open 01-Sep.

• 10-17 Jan: 2027 Under 21 World Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

• 5-8 Feb: 2027 Australian Masters

  • RQYS (QLD)

• 20-21 Feb: 2027 NSW & ACT Metro Championships

  • Yarra Bay SC

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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 22 August 2026

SPRINT RACING RUN BY OUR YOUTH

All photos by James Tudball

Report by Zac Howell

Saturday 22nd of August sprint racing was highly successful, with a great westerly breeze of 7-10 knots, a fleet of 30+ boats, and 7 x races completed!

In the ILCA 6 fleet, Sylvie Stannage won all but one of the races, with Rupert Henry hot on her heels – battling with her and often crossing her upwind, just to be pipped on the last downwind.  We note that Rupert did not attempt his infamous port tack starting strategy across any of the 7 x races! Rupert and Sylvie were always followed closely by Geoff Kirk, Martin White and Ian Tudball, who won the last race.

In the 7 fleet, Quentin Burns had a great day, finishing high in most of the races. Luke Parker, Jason Wilkins, new member Laszlo Horvath, and many others also had great moments, from centimetre-perfect starts to taking race wins.

A shout out to Gosia Dziedzic who repped the 4.7 and finished every race.

Also, a special mention to Geoff Boscoe (and several others) for following the rules around the course, and doing spins whenever they were in the wrong. 

In regard to the course, we were extremely lucky that the wind stayed around long enough to finish the last race (albeit slowly). The island blocking the tide in combination with occasional right phases (which is where the wind would fill in from) made for exciting racing.

Thank you to my youth sailing colleagues Sara Bruce, Patty McLachlan, Issy Taylor and Charlie Wait for their work as part of our on-water race management team. Thanks also to James Tudball and all the other volunteers on land for letting us have this opportunity to learn about the other side of racing, which was an insightful experience. And thank you to everybody who thanked us onshore for our efforts. Hopefully it was a great day of racing for those who competed.

2026 DBSC Buzzy Working Bee Done

Thank you to the tremendous efforts of 43 members who came down early last Saturday from 8 am to lend a hand and get DBSC ship-shape for the Summer Season. We were blessed with beautiful sunshine, with Peter Collie on the BBQ providing bacon & egg sandwiches, and with Paul and Shirley in the canteen making toasties to feed the workers.

Stations were setup and the Busy Bees put into action:

• James Tudball and the youth team reviving our dollies with new foam and plastic protection;

• Geoff Kirk and co. replacing rotten boards out on the deck;

• a team replacing carpet and steel bars in our storage racks that had rusted;

• Tim Heath and Martin White led a team cleaning and fixing the club’s LTR boats;

• club sails were sorted and repacked;

• a full clean and sweep-out of the bottom racks, and

• a clean-out of the workshop led by Jim Dounis and Stephen Reid.

Meanwhile, Luke Parker and another team were over on the Jazzman giving it much needed cabin cleanup, flag stock-take and TLC wash-and-polish. The Jazzman has also had its annual service and antifoul — thank you Pat Levy and John Vasey for organising that.

Mastermind of the day: Vice Commodore Rod Barnes made repairs to the weatherboards, and many other parts of the club house, and we managed to completely fill his trailer with rubbish.

Well Done ALL!

60 Seconds with ...

Gosia Dziedzic

Gosia answers questions from Tory Epworth:

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

   I was in my 50s, so definitely a late starter.

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

   Honestly, I’m very happy with my dinghy. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d probably put it towards producing a film.

3. What is your sailing goal?

   Becoming a confident sailor.

4. Tell us the back story to your Laser's name?

   8siem: “Osiem” means eight in Polish, and the 8 is also a little nod to the way the name sounds and looks.

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?

   The toasties are already perfect and made with love.

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot).

   Swimming, bushwalking and travelling. I love being in the water, especially early in the morning.

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words?

   Keeping everything running smoothly daily.

8. What's the dream destination for your next trip? And why?

   I’d love to travel through the Scandinavian countries by car, including the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

9. What’s your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?

   Favourite TV Show: How I Met Your Mother. Favourite Film: Daisies. Favourite Book: Maus.

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

    I have swum from Little Bay to Malabar beach. It was beautiful and challenging.

What's Going On

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Friday 28 August: DBSC Sailors Season Opening Dinner

• Saturday 29 August: Winter Sprints
  12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warning

• Saturday 5 September: Club Championships 1 & 2

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

  • Season Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)

• Saturday 12 September: Spring Point Score 1 & 2

  • Learn to Race, 9:00am

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

• Saturday 19 September: Club Championships 3 & 4

  • 1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warning

  • Season Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)

Spring & Autumn Fixtures Calendar

The calendar for next year has been published here. Please use this to plan your campaigns!

Highlights:

• 30 Sep - 5 Oct: 2026 Australian Sailings Zhik NSW Youth Sail

  • Toronto ASC

  • Website

  • Registration

• 24-25 Oct: 2026 NSW & ACT Coast Championships

  • Speers Point ASC

  • NOR

• 14-15 Nov: 2026 NSW & ACT Open, Youth & Masters State Championships

  • Double Bay Sailing Club

  • NOR

• 1-8 Jan: 2027 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

  • NOR. Entries open 01-Sep.

• 10-17 Jan: 2027 Under 21 World Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

• 5-8 Feb: 2027 Australian Masters

  • RQYS (QLD)

• 20-21 Feb: 2027 NSW & ACT Metro Championships

  • Yarra Bay SC

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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 15 August 2026

Photos by Mike Dunne

Sprint Racing

Saturday’s fleet was greeted by a timely reminder of sailing’s first rule: never trust the forecast.

While competitors arrived expecting a healthy 15-20 knot southerly, Sydney Harbour had other ideas, delivering an oscillating SE to SW breeze of 5-10 knots that kept sailors, race officials and wind apps equally confused throughout the afternoon.

A strong fleet of 25 boats took to the water, including approximately 16 ILCA 7s, with the remainder comprising ILCA 6s and ILCA 4s. Despite the lighter conditions, the racing was highly competitive, with sailors quickly discovering that today’s winning strategy involved looking up the course rather than at the morning forecast.

The shifting breeze produced plenty of tactical opportunities and a few moments where competitors were convinced the opposite side of the course had more wind. Sometimes they were right. Big call out to Kerryn for the herculean top mark rounding in the last race. Well done with not jumping off the boat and just swimming home.

Five races were successfully completed, providing an excellent afternoon of racing and ensuring no one could claim they “just needed one more race” to move up the leaderboard.

Consistent pressure changes and wind oscillations rewarded sailors who kept their heads out of the boat and remained adaptable as conditions evolved throughout the day.

The race management team kept the programme moving efficiently despite the challenging conditions. The on-water team was led by Mike Dunne (PRO), supported by Craig Ryan, while Jason and Jasper aboard the RIB handled course mark management and adjustments. Their efforts ensured the course remained aligned with a breeze that seemed determined to explore every point of the compass except the one that had been forecast. With five races completed and plenty of close racing throughout the fleet, it was a great day for competitors to shake off the winter cobwebs. Some sailors successfully removed theirs, while others may have simply redistributed them around the boat.

A big thank you to all competitors and volunteers who contributed to another successful day of racing. Strong participation, close competition and a good dose of harbour unpredictability combined to make for an enjoyable afternoon on the water.

- Mike Dunne, PRO

Working Bee: 8am this Saturday 22 August - All Members

The annual working bee is this Saturday 22nd August from 8am. There is plenty of critical work to be done to ensure the club is in pristine shape for the upcoming season.

All members are required to attend. 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.

- Rod Barnes, Vice-Commodore

60 Seconds with ...

Amy Hargrave

Women’s Squad participant Amy answers questions from Tory Epworth:

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

   6 months old

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

   Waszp

3. What is your sailing goal?

   Just getting out on the water at every opportunity.

4. Tell us the back story to your Laser's name?

   I'm not sure, I've been sailing the club boat Rough Draft and I feel like it's fitting for me as a new laser sailor!

5. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?

   Truffle oil

6. What are your second/ third favourite hobbies (obviously assuming sailing holds the #1 spot).

   Swimming, drawing and camping

7. Describe what you do for work in less than 5 words?

   Look after sick people

8. What's the dream destination for your next trip? And why?

   Japan, I want to go skiing and eat lots of delicious ramen

9. What’s your favourite TV show, movie, and or book?

   Favourite movie: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

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

    I've got 2 younger brothers and all 3 of us are super keen sailors

Amy Hargrave in action. Photo provided by Amy.

What's Going On

Club Look-ahead Schedule

• Saturday 22 August:

  • Working Bee: 8:00am - all members

  • Winter Sprints: 12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warning

• Friday 28 August: DBSC Sailors Season Opening Dinner

• Saturday 29 August: Winter Sprints
  12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warning

• Saturday 5 September: Club Championships 1 & 2

  • 12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warning

  • Season Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)

• Saturday 12 September: Spring Point Score 1 & 2

  • Learn to Race, 9:00am

  • 12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warning

Spring & Autumn Fixtures Calendar

The calendar for next year has been published here. Please use this to plan your campaigns!

Highlights:

• 24-25 Oct: 2026 NSW & ACT Coast Championships

  • Speers Point ASC

• 14-15 Nov: 2026 NSW & ACT Open & Youth Championships

  • Double Bay Sailing Club

• 1-8 Jan: 2027 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

  • NOR. Entries open 01-Sep.

• 10-17 Jan: 2027 Under 21 World Championships

  • Sandringham YC (VIC)

• 5-8 Feb: 2027 Australian Masters

  • RQYS (QLD)

• 20-21 Feb: 2027 NSW & ACT Metro Championships

  • Yarra Bay SC

---

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.