News and other stories about real people, places, and events in Double Bay and nearby suburbs.
After a very physical day on the harbour (see previous article), sailors, partners, friends and family gathered for our annual Christmas Party. As the sun receded, the air cooled, and a lovely evening unfolded with great food, fine wine, cold beer and a little bit of dancing.
Thanks to all
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
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
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 SCSaturday 6-Jan: No Learn to Race Club Sprints (2PM Start)
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.
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 vangsDownhaulsRadial (ILCA 6) mast bottom sections. If you’d like to donate, please contact either Martin White or Scott Hunter.
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.”
Photo by Brad Cox
Last Saturday saw a glorious start to the 2024 Autumn Point Score series with magnificent sunshine, beautiful blue skies, and a ten to twelve knot east north easterly blowing, along with a strong run out tide. A fleet of thirty-six boats joined us on the harbour for the first race, along with a handful of visitors and perhaps one or two sailors that may have forgotten to sign on using the sailor app.In the first race, the Radial fleet were a little too keen, not helped perhaps by the run out tide which led to a general recall before a black flag restored order at the restart. As as for the
Photo by Thomas Beregi
Club Summer Championships – Races 5 & 6A large fleet of 60 boats, including visitors, was met with 8 to 15 knots shifting between SSW to SSE. A southerly course was laid, with the top mark set well into Double Bay.The wind seemed to build over the course of the afternoon, gusting up to 18 knots, making for quick racing and allowing for plenty of time to enjoy the Championship BBQ.Both fleets showed some exuberance at the start of the first race, but this was promptly subdued with the appearance of the black flag.There were lots of tight battles right across the fleets in both races. While Murray narrowly won out in
Wednesday SailingSeven of us took advantage of the building nor’easter to sharpen our skills in some challenging harbour chop. It was hard work (at least it was for me), so hopefully this will prove useful in this Saturday’s Vaucluse Invitational that, at press time, is forecast to be 18 kts from the northeast!- Chris Tatt.Thursday RacingEleven sailors had smiles last Thursday, as the wind freshened to a steady 20 knot Nor-easter. Paige Caldecott and James Tudball set a short windward leeward course (with the RIB then sometimes as the wing mark). It gusted up to 28 for a little while, and so some of us felt the need to go for a quick swim (including several swims from yours truly) – whilst visiting laser sailor Will Sargent, and local Campbell Patton showed us how to handle the laser with style in heavy wind.-Steven London
Many of us focus on our boat maintenance above the water, but when was the last time you looked at your rudder and center (dagger) board? Is it dinged? Scratched? Are the leading and trailing edges smooth or rough? Have you got a chip missing out of the back tip?Your foils are what keeps you going in a (mostly) straight line and pointing to where you want to be.A new set of foils will cost you upwards of $1,500, and repairing and fairing your board is an often overlooked part of boat maintenance. If you are someone who has overlooked your foils for the last few seasons, you might like to consider outsourcing!Brett Beyer is now repairing and painting boards for club members. Boards can be patched up, painted (in a colour of your choice) and faired to a near original condition. Under the class rules (Part Three 14(c) “Surface refinishing