6 sailors from DBSC and 1 from Vaucluse braved the rain and blustery southerlies with 6 short & sharp sprints and some nice fast hiking when the gusts hit. All boats started at the same time and despite some valiant efforts by the Radial sailors, Jason Wilkins and Geoff Boscoe in Standards dominated the races, splitting the bullets between them. Jason pipped Geoff in the decider with some America’s Cup style tactical match racing. Thanks to Simon Stone for running the show, canteen helpers, and those who were at the club early to sweep out the shed and sort through a large number of used sails.
Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club
Sign Ups Live for Brett Beyer Programs
Links to sign up and pay for Brett Beyer’s Twilight and Saturday Programs are now live. As both programs start next week, it’s important to register now to save your spot. Find out all of the details and sign up for the Twilight program HERE, and for the Saturday program HERE. Brett’s also running a one day ad hoc session this Saturday, 23 January. It’s a great way to give Brett’s program a try. Find out more and sign up for this Saturday’s session HERE.Please note, even if you’ve already emailed Andrew Cox to register your interest in these programs, you must now please pay your fees using the links above. Thanks!
Fun Sail and Picnic – Update and Action Required
Due to Watson Bay Hotel booking limitations we’ve decided to make our Fun Sail and Picnic slightly more adventurous…..On Sunday 31 January, instead of sailing down to the Watson Bay Hotel, we are going to sail down to a beach in Watson’s Bay (exact landing spot TBC), accompanied by a RIB laden with picnic goodies, to set up our own picnic. Beers and soft drinks will be available using the standard club tab system and we’re asking for $10 / head in advance for food. Even if you’ve already RSVPed earlier for this event, we need you to please sign up and pay for the food HERE now. Splash remains midday. We’re looking forward to it!
Frank Bethwaite Remembered
Editor’s Note:A few months ago Frank Bethwaite was inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame. (You can read more about that and watch a video HERE.) We asked Frank’s son and long-time DBSC member Mark Bethwaite to write a biographical piece about his father as we felt a snapshot of Frank’s life as it relates to sailing would be a fascinating read for our members. We’re grateful to Mark for taking the time to pen the following remembrance.Frank Bethwaite DFC OAM was born in1920 and in his 92 years on this earth he excelled in fields as varied as Military and civil aviationModel aeronauticsCloud physicsSailing and yacht designMeteorology, particularly wind behaviour and prediction andAuthorship of three outstanding books on high performance sailing.Frank’s school years and early sailing were in Wanganui. He enlisted in 1939 at the outbreak of WW2His tertiary education was at the sharp end of a fighter bomber over the Pacific. As in
Coming Up…
Wednesday 20 January, 5pm Splash – Twilight SailingSaturday 23 January, 2pm Start – Autumn Pointscore, Heats 5 & 6Wednesday 27 January, 5pm Splash – Twilight SailingSaturday 30 January, 2pm Start – Club Championships, Heats 9 & 10 Sunday 31 January, 12noon Splash – Fun Sail and Picnic (see info above)
Another Stunning Saturday
A huge fleet of over 55 boats competed under a beautiful sunny Summer sky. It was a bit of déjà vu for those competitors who raced last weekend, as the fleet again faced a very fickle Southerly, that often changed direction and intensity. The winners of heats 3-4 of the Autumn Pointscore were (after handicapping): Standards – Murray Stone (Heat 3) and Michael Osborne (Heat 4), Radials – Jack Sywak (Heat 3) and Les Katz (Heat 4).Thanks to this week’s race management volunteers: Geoff Kirk (PRO), assisted by Diana Chen, Nick Alexander and Quinn Pierson, and also to Paul, Shirley, Ian Alexander, Clare Alexander and David Huber in the canteen.
An iconic day of laser sailing on the harbour. Photo by Diana Chen.
Christmas – DBSC Style
DBSC members celebrated the festive season on the harbour in style, donning Santa hats as they sailed the annual Tyrell and Rousso races last Saturday. In the Tyrell, the handicapped chase saw Hadrien Bourely winning in a very close finish, besting Mike Dunne and Craig Sheers by just centimetres.In the Rousso (a scratch race with a massed start) the finish saw Rob Barnes finish first in the standards and Andrew Cox first in the radials, with Andrew taking the trophy after application of the yardstick (which had Andrew besting Craig by just 0.7 seconds). Thanks to the on-water crew: Josh Kirton, Justin Davey, Conor Roche, and Ben Wirtz. Thanks also to the canteen crew who were assisted this week by Jim Dounis and Michael Osborne. After some competitive racing, the day ended with a chilled out cocktail hour and al fresco dining on the deck. As always, DBSC put on a fabulous show of
RIB Launch Video
We know it can be difficult to remember all of the steps to launch the RIB. To help out, Diana Chen, Pat Levy and Kirk Marcolina made an instructional video that explains the process. You can check it out HERE, and while you’re at it, please subscribe to our new YouTube Channel to get notifications of when new videos are added. We’re sure you agree that Pat is deserving of the Oscar for Best Actor, and won’t want to miss his next video on putting away the RIB at the end of the day. As this is the first of a series of instructional videos, we’d like to know what you think, and how we can improve future videos. Please let us know HERE.
Radial Bulk Sail Update
Thanks for your ongoing patience as we await delivery of the Radial sails ordered via our bulk sail program. The latest update from NB is that they are working on numbering the sails now, and all will be delivered to the club before Christmas. Maybe Santa is bringing them on his sleigh? Hope we’ve all been nice.
Orders for Canteen Now Inside
Good news. With the relaxation of COVID regulations, the outside canteen ordering station is being abandoned. You can now order food and pay for drinks directly at the canteen.