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,
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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
Early Start This Saturday for Vaucluse Regatta
Instead of our usual club racing, this Saturday we’ll be participating in The Vaucluse Regatta. It’s the 87th running of this grand regatta, and is a great opportunity for racing in a big fleet, and to get tuned up for the part two of the VYC/DBSC challenge which in scheduled for the following Saturday. Racing starts at Vaucluse at 1.45pm which means they day will start earlier than normal for us. We’ll have a briefing at DBSC at 12 noon where we will review the format of the racing (it is still being finalised). It should be a good day on the water with Laser sailors from around the harbour. There is no cost to participate and all are encouraged to attend – think of it as a normal Saturday on the water for us, just at the other end of the harbour.
2019 Brett Beyer Programs
We’re still working on the exact details of the BBSP and BBTP for 2019… costs and timings will be announced soon. Please stay tuned!
DBSC Represents at Nationals
Fifteen of our amazing sailors headed south to Devonport, Tasmania for the Australian and Oceania Laser National Championships from 1st to 8th January 2019. The weather was strong early — up to 30+ knots and 3m waves. It’s been a tough field as expected at the open nationals, including extensive representation from the Australian Sailing Team. The final results have DBSC’s top performers as: 4.7s — Brooke Wilson, a stellar result with 3rd overall, and 1st female youth, followed by Daniel Costandi in 5th overall and 2nd male youth – bringing home 2nd and 1st in the final race between them; Radials — Otto Henry in 5th and 2nd male youth, Sylvie Stannage 26th overall and 2nd Youth Female, our first master, Pat Levy, in 45th overall and 4th Grand Master; Standards — Finn Alexander in 5th, with our first master, Brett Beyer, in 7th overall and 1st Master.You can check out the results here.
Masters Weekend Away to Break Record
It’s great to see that 20 members have already signed up to join our contingent headed North for the State Masters at Lake Macquarie over the weekend of 2-3 March. It’s set to be a record number of traveling DBSC sailors and is sure to be a great weekend away. If you haven’t done so already, please let us know here if you can join in the fun as we need to lock down numbers and start planning transport and accommodation.
Post-Christmas Sailing Report
Written by Luke ParkerEight hearty souls went sailing on December 29th. It was champagne racing. We enjoyed a building nor’easter, not a cloud in the sky, and very very few boats on the harbour. As I write, a couple of blokes in the cheap seats are telling me it was the best sailing of the year. Multiple sprint races were held. Ashley Deacon won the ironman award. On arrival at the club, Dean Bergman was caught installing what go down in history as the greatest improvement to the club yet. Photo below:



