Last Wednesday was a momentous evening at DBSC. The clubhouse was packed with members intently listening to Olympic Gold Medallist Tom Slingsby recount highlights of his illustrious sailing career. During the evening Tom shared rare insights on his journey to become one of Australia’s best sailors, including the highs and lows on the way to success and the mind-set and dedication it takes to win. Tom admitted that he wasn’t the best youth sailor, preferring tennis at an early age. However, after giving up tennis, his love for sailing quickly blossomed. Winning the 2007 Laser World Championships he was ranked number one going into the 2008 Olympics. Tom shared the many reasons for his crushing 22nd place in those Olympic Games, and the resilience it took to keep going and eventually win Laser gold in the 2012 Olympics. Tom also revealed how Oracle Team USA made their incredible comeback against Team New Zealand
Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club
Rule of the Month — The Top Mark
By Brett BeyerEditor’s note:We were excited to receive an email via our website from the International Laser Class Association, which is a subscriber to our newsletter. ILCA saw Brett Beyer’s last Rule of the Month article, and asked for permission to re-publish it in their global newsletter. With Brett’s kind permission, this has now occurred, along with a blurb about Brett and DBSC. You can read it HERE. It is worth another read to get the start rules down pat!This month, we have another excellent article from Brett, this time about that next great source of contention — the top mark. Here it is …The top mark is a hotspot for rule infringements.While most of the yelling and bumping rarely results in a penalty turn (even with a jury present), care needs to be taken because the consequences of a penalty turn or two during a chaotic rounding situation can be a massive distance penalty.The
RSVP Now for DBSC's Christmas Party – December 14
Ho Ho Ho! Come on down to join in DBSC’s annual Christmas Party – Saturday, December 14 from 5pm to 9pm! The day features the end of Spring Season awards, the highly coveted Tyrell and Roussos races – and to top it off a marvellous spread. This year we will be having Baked Potato’s from Happy As Larry so that our Canteen Crew can join in the fun. For the traditionalists, they’ll still throw out a bit of a spread for us as well, so don’t fear!Partners and families are welcome to join us for the merriment. Please RSVP HERE.
Pay Your Regatta Kit Invoice
For those who have ordered regatta kit, if you haven’t done so already, please pay your invoice now. Thanks for your prompt attention to this.
Metros are Coming to DBSC in February
DBSC is hosting the Metros on 1st and 2nd February 2020. More information on our website, which includes the links to enter, HERE. We will share more information as it becomes available.
DBSC Victorious in Vaucluse Challenge
It was a good day on the water for DBSC in the first leg of the 2019/20 Vaucluse Challenge. We fielded a fleet of 31 boats to VYC’s 8.After applying the complex scoring formulas, scores for Standards were DBSC 24 vs VYC 60 and for Radials / 4.7s were DBSC 47 vs VYC 103, for an overall score of DBSC 71 vs VYC 163.Thanks to VYC for their good sportspersonship and for hosting a terrific BBQ on the deck of their club with to-die-for views of the harbour and the city skyline!Thanks to Luke Parker, Andrew Craker, Clare Alexander on the Jazzman, and John Vasey, Marlena Berzins, Alvaro Manzanares-Bertran, Julian van Aalst on the water. And thanks to Geoff Kirk, Craig Sheers, Christine Patton and Shirley Roach in the canteen.
The victorious DBSC Team.
Up Next at DBSC
Wednesday, 27 November, 4:30pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTP (early start)Saturday, 30 November, 2pm Start – Vaucluse Challenge (early splash, see above)Sunday, 1 December, 2pm Start – Big Boat RaceWednesday, 4 December, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTPSaturday, 7 December, 2pm Start – Final Heats of Spring Pointscore & Club ChampsSaturday, 14 December, 7pm – Christmas Party
We are Competent
Thanks to the 43 members who attended competency training on Saturday. The feedback was that it was a very informative day, and pretty much everyone said they learned something new. Thanks also to our five volunteer trainers: Dene Bergman, Gerry Donohoe, Andrew Cox, Matt Knight, and David Murphy for imparting their skills and knowledge. For the 50% of our masters members who did not attend or only attended for part of the training, we strongly encourage you to watch the videos of last Saturday’s sessions which are available HERE. This training is an important safety and competency requirement for all members, and it’s imperative that everyone is up to speed. We have also posted on the website the refreshed Sailing Instructions (which include clarification as to how various events are scored, including the award and calculation of average points), as well as the new Summer Race Management Guide, PRO Guidelines, COTD Guidelines, Course Management Guide and Race Record Sheets. We suggest that
Early Twilights Tonight
Twilight sailing this week will be half an hour earlier, with splash at 4.30 for a 5pm start and 7pm finish. Brett Beyer will be conducting the twilight sailing session again – let’s see if we can set a new record of >25 boats! There is a function that night at the club, starting at 7pm for 7.30pm, so please pack up your boats and shower quickly upon returning to shore after twilight sailing. Boats will need to remain on the lawn until after the function.
Vaucluse Challenge This Saturday
The first of the two legs in this season’s Vaucluse Challenge races will be held this coming Saturday, 30 November. This is a seminal event in our calendar, where we do battle with our friends from the French Enclave to defend the honour of the title of champions of the main harbour! The racing will be held in “neutral waters”, somewhere up near Nielsen Park / Rose Bay – note, it will take much longer to sail to the course area, so we are encouraging all boats to launch immediately after the 1pm briefing – get rigged and dressed before 1pm.Vaucluse Yacht Club will be hosting a BBQ after racing. Could all sailors please plan to attend this? We will be driving two RIBs to Vaucluse, and will also take several cars.This leg of the Vaucluse Challenge will comprise two ~45min races, with separate fleet starts for Radials / 4.7s and