A new record was set last Wednesday, with 23 sailors attending Twilights. It was a beautiful night of sailing as Brett Beyer ran us though our paces. Brett is back tonight and Seabreeze is promising sunny skies and a perfect 15 knot SE breeze – so join us!
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State Masters Sign-Up
We have brilliant 23 members signed up to go to the Laser NSW/ACT Sate Masters Championship in Lake Macquarie the first weekend in March. If you’re one of them, please make sure you’ve officially registered for the event here. Also, make sure you’ve coordinated transportation and accommodation. You can check out the trailer assignments here.
Sailing Backward at the Vaucluse Regatta
It was a trying day on the water last Saturday at the Vaucluse Regatta. The day was looking promising. A decent N/NE breeze was building and the forecast thunderstorms looked like they would say away. But as race time approached it was clear our luck wouldn’t last; storms were building in all directions. On top of that, a strong outgoing tide and a short starting line forced 5 general recalls and a few postponements. By the time the first race started, it was clear the wind was dying, and before the end of the race the wind completely stopped. Much of the fleet began moving backward with the tide as we struggled to reach the finish line. Nick Pellow posted Brett Beyer’s GPS annimation of the final moments of the race on the Top Mark. It’s both painful and hilarious to watch. Steven Bradbury eat your heart out. Luckily, soon after the
Early Start on Saturday – Briefing 12pm for 1pm SPRINTS
The harbour will be a bit busier than normal this Saturday with F50 Catamarans taking up our normal racecourse for the inaugural SailGP event. Here’s the spin from their website: “SailGP is sailing redefined, combining awe-inspiring athleticism with top-flight tech. Bringing you the thrilling sight of supercharged F50 catamarans charging down Sydney Harbour, battling it out on the water for their countries in an all-new nation vs nation international competition.”They are racing on Saturday from 3pm to 5pm, with a huge exclusion zone starting at 2pm. The exclusion zone and the forecast Easterly breeze will make it very difficult (if not impossible) to sail between Vaucluse and Double Bay between 2 and 5pm. Because of this, VYC and DBSC have decided to cancel the second leg of this season’s Vaucluse Challenge which was scheduled for this Saturday. The scores of the first leg will stand and serve as the final result
The Week Ahead
Wednesday 6 February, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. Saturday 9 February, 12pm Briefing – Vaucluse Regatta. See important details above.
Big Boat Report
Written by Jonathan StoneAt last, a perfect afternoon for sailing – warm but not oppressively, a fresh, steady but not wild north easterly, a (relatively) empty Harbour, though the 18s were out later. And five well-prepared boats, with experienced skippersThe start was prompt on 2.00pm, thanks to the PRO Peter (Collie). There were 5 boats in from 23-34ft in length. At these lengths, a few feet in lengths matter. And when skippers are experienced, stealth and cunning come into play.In a nor-easter, the pin end of our line (just south of Clarke Is) is heavily favoured, but it is a bit tricky, for this end of the line is only just free of the lee of the Island. Maybe because the smaller boats are more manoeuvrable their skippers find it easier to avoid the lee, avoid being early and start at speed. In the event, Corinna (an Endeavour 24) won the start,
Twilight Sailing
We kicked off the second instalment for the season of the Brett Beyer Twilight Program last week, with a near-record number of boats on the water – 19 sailors reminded their bosses of the importance of work-life balance and fronted for some gruelling long and short course training in ~20 knots. Come on down tonight for the next instalment!
RIB Help Needed for the 18s
John Vasey graciously helps DBSC fulfil our affiliation agreement with the 18s by supplying support to their fleet every Sunday in the Paul Adam. John is unavailable to so from the 24th of February till the end of the 18s’ season (on March 17th) and we need volunteer(s) to fill in. If you are interested, please let Andrew Cox know ASAP. The day goes from about 1pm to 5pm and we have detailed instructions from John on what’s involved. We really need your help with this, which will be greatly appreciated!
Bumper Fleet for Club Champs
The Competency Training and an agreeable 7-12 knot E/NE breeze ensured the biggest fleet of the season competed on Saturday for Club Championship Heats 9 and 10. 58 boats faced a gradient breeze that was patchy at times; looking for the pressure and avoiding the lulls was key. The winners were: Standards: Rod Barnes (heat 9) and Mark Bethwaite (heat 10); Radials: Jack Littlechild (heat 9) and Daniel Costandi (heat 10); 4.7s Kim Ketelbey (heats 9 and 10). Thanks to this week’s race volunteers — Jonathan Stone (PRO) and Clare Alexander on the Jazzman, and Craig Sheers and Marty Trembath on the Paul Adam. David Devlin joined Paul, Shirley and Andrea to cook the plethora of toasties needed after the intellectual workout of the Competency Training. Thanks to the Canteen Crew and the BBQ-masters, the day ended with a scrumptious BBQ on the deck and a debrief with our coach Brett Beyer, along with DBSC’s
Competency Success
DBSC was busting at the seams early on Saturday morning, with over 70 members attending our first ever Competency Training. The members visited 5 stations to be trained on a variety of duties. Along the way we learned to set courses, run races, record results, launch and drive our boats, rescue lasers, use the radios and deal with life-threatening emergencies.Special thanks to all the trainers including, Pippa Batchelor, Dene Bergman, Mark Bethwaite, Andrew Cox, Gerry Donohue, David Huber, David Murphy and last minute ring in, Pat Levy. Their diligent preparation translated into engaging and insightful presentations. If you missed any of the training, or would like to review the presentations again, they are now available to view online via the following links:Deliberator Use / CPRCourse Setting and Race ManagementRIB LaunchEmergency Response and Incident Management PlanOff-water COTD ResponsibilitiesRadio Operation