Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club

All photos by Stephen Reid

Season Opening Dinner — Sailors & VolunteersTwenty 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

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Club Look-ahead ScheduleSaturday 5 September: Club Championships 1 & 21:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSeason Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)Saturday 12 September: Spring Point Score 1 & 2Learn to Race, 9:00am1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSaturday 19 September: Club Championships 3 & 41:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningBBQ on the deck after racing (~5:00pm)Saturday 26 September: Spring Point Score 3 & 4Learn to Race, 9:00am1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSpring & 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 SailToronto ASCWebsiteRegistration24-25 Oct: 2026 NSW & ACT Coast ChampionshipsSpeers Point ASCNOR14-15 Nov: 2026 NSW & ACT Open, Youth & Masters State ChampionshipsDouble Bay Sailing ClubNOR1-8 Jan: 2027 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth ChampionshipsSandringham YC (VIC)NOR. Entries open 01-Sep.10-17 Jan: 2027 Under 21 World Championships Sandringham YC (VIC)5-8 Feb: 2027 Australian MastersRQYS (QLD)20-21 Feb:

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All photos by Justine Scott

SPRINT RACINGReport by Alistair Sutherland, results from Justine Scott:The last day of winter sprints went ahead on Saturday 29th with a decent turn out of over 30 boats, split across a fleet of ILCA 7s and a combined ILCA 4&6 fleet.  With a large high parked off the southeast of Australia, conditions were a little light on with an 8 knot south-easterly materialising an hour or so before start time.  Conditions seemed no better in Rose Bay, which would have been a long commute, so we settled for a windward leeward in Double Bay.  The breeze tried to pull left all day, especially in the bottom half of the course where there

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Important Announcement: Celebration of Dene Bergman this SaturdayAs reported in June of this year, our wonderful Life Member, Dene Bergman, passed away. Dene contributed to our club extensively through his four decades of membership.

We want everyone to be at the Club BBQ this Saturday, soon after sailing.  Andrea Bergman and other members of the Bergman family will attend. If you can’t stay for long, please at least be there for the early part so you can show Andrea and her family our appreciation for Dene’s significant contribution to DBSC.Cheers,— Martin White

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Gosia Dziedzic Gosia answers questions from Tory Epworth:How old were you when you first stepped on a boat?I was in my 50s, so definitely a late starter.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.What is your sailing goal? Becoming a confident sailor.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.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.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.Describe

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Club Look-ahead ScheduleFriday 28 August: DBSC Sailors Season Opening DinnerSaturday 29 August: Winter Sprints12:00pm briefing, 1:00pm first warningSaturday 5 September: Club Championships 1 & 21:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSeason Opener BBQ after racing (~5:00pm)Saturday 12 September: Spring Point Score 1 & 2Learn to Race, 9:00am1:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSaturday 19 September: Club Championships 3 & 41:00pm briefing, 2:00pm first warningSeason 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 SailToronto ASCWebsiteRegistration24-25 Oct: 2026 NSW & ACT Coast ChampionshipsSpeers Point ASCNOR14-15 Nov: 2026 NSW & ACT Open, Youth & Masters State ChampionshipsDouble Bay Sailing ClubNOR1-8 Jan: 2027 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth ChampionshipsSandringham YC (VIC)NOR. Entries open 01-Sep.10-17 Jan: 2027 Under 21 World Championships Sandringham YC (VIC)5-8 Feb: 2027 Australian MastersRQYS (QLD)20-21 Feb: 2027

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SPRINT RACING RUN BY OUR YOUTH

All photos by James Tudball

Report by Zac HowellSaturday 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

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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

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Photos by Mike Dunne

Sprint RacingSaturday’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

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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

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