Sunday 16 June, 8:30am start – The Winter Championship Series is back. The forecast is looking promising for another spectacular day of winter racing. So, join us for some early morning fun.
Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club
Visit from Boat Ropes
Last Sunday Blake from Boatropes.com.au came by to introduce himself and his company. Boatropes.com.au is a mobile Rigging & Splicing service which has been established to help local dinghy sailors. They have a lot of experience working with the laser dinghy and have made systems for club level racers through to sailors representing Australia including Brett Beyer.They offer many options for Laser Control Systems or can assist with repairing, rebuilding or improving your current set up. Their most popular Laser service at the moment is the Allen High Load Vang Upgrade. They also stock products from PSA, Harken, Allen, Ronstan, Gottifredi Maffioli, Liros, Marlow, The Virus, GComposites, Rooster Mainsheets, Spinlock & Wichard.You can contact them on Blake@boatropes.com.au or www.boatropes.com.au.
Reflections on Retiring Dynamic Duo
At the AGP last week, Andrea and Dene Bergman announced their retirement from DBSC. It’s hard to imagine a club without their smiling faces. To say they will be missed is a huge understatement – they’ve been a vital part of the of the positive spirit and energy of DBSC for over 30 years. Their journey began in the mid 1980s, when, at age 45, Dene joined the Port Hacking Open Sailing Club and learnt sail on a Heron. Not so long after he became interested in a new design sail boat called the Leader. The only club to form a fleet was Double Bay. Thus, he joined and trailed his Leader from Gymea to DBSC for the Sunday races. The Leader did not grow in the numbers expected and the Laser became the class of choice on Sundays, with the slightly more numerous Herons racing on Saturdays. But the Laser
Another Glorious Winter Race
The forecast looked a bit ominous for heats 7-9 of the Winter Championship. But it turned out to be another spectacular morning of racing for the 28 boats who competed, with sunny skies and an 8 – 12 knot WSW breeze. (Quite a change from the 25 knot plus winds that dominated the previous few days.)Thanks to the on-water team of Ashley Deacon (PRO Instructor), Kirk Marcolina and Geoff Boscoe (Learn to Run a Race Candidates), and Kate McHugh, Campbell Patton and Emily Ball (COTD/Co-COTD). The winners were: Standards – Ian Alexander, David Newman, and Jules Hall; Radials – Sylvie Stannage, and Daniel Costandi (heats 8 & 9). We look forward to the next heats of the Winter Championship on Sunday, June 16.
Brett Beyer captures the fleet’s start. Photo by Emily Ball.
Upcoming Events
Sunday 2 June, 7:45 briefing / 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 7-9. Sunday 2 June, 1pm start – Big boat racing.Sunday 16 June, 8:30am start – Winter Series Heats 10-12.
Fun and Tears at AGP
Last Friday DBSC held its 2018/19 Annual General Meeting… sounds like a stuffy yawn fest, but we all know that at our club the meeting is really just an excuse for a good party. The evening began in a refined manner with cocktails and entrées on the deck followed by the AGM.
A beautiful evening (and a Laser filled with beer and champaign) greeted guests. Photo by Peter Collie.
The “official” portion of the evening saw Pat Levy win Club Person of the Year for his never-ending contributions to the club. Whether it be coaching Learn to Race, fixing dollies, or installing an extra hot-water heater, Pat seems to always be around to help bring our club to the next level. Pat is certainly a positive force and is a very worthy
St John’s Ambulance at DBSC
Last Sunday members of St. John’s Ambulance visited DBSC. Don’t worry, no one needed to go to hospital. Their visit was part of a first aid training course that was organized by our very own Dr Christine Linhart. Seventeen enthusiastic members toiled from 9am to 5pm and immersed themselves in first aid protocols and procedures. It’s part of the club’s initiative to provide a safer racing environment. One of the participants, Justin Davey was glad to learn how to better assist in a medical emergency, explaining, “a focus on first aid competency can only add to the safety of club activities in what can, at times, be a physically challenging sport that is prey to the whims of Neptune.” Don’t worry if you missed out, more first aid training courses will be scheduled next season.
Pained Members at Fist
Claim Your Missing Items
The change room is chockablock with clothing items, sails and other items that will be donated to charity if not claimed prior to this coming weekend. Please look at the pictures below. Are some of these prime goods yours? If so, make sure you collect your items now.
Reflections on a Retiring Life Member
On 5 May, Jonathan Stone, one of DBSC’s beloved Life Members, announced his retirement from competitive sailing. Jonathan has a record of 34 consecutive seasons of racing at our club – incredibly serving on the management committee for 33 of those. When Jonathan joined the club in the mid 1980s, most members were racing Herons, including Jonathan. But after several seasons of racing these older designed boats (including competing at Nationals around the country), he joined the burgeoning Laser fleet, and was one of the proponents of making that class the mainstay of the club. He was a Club champion in both dinghy classes; when injury meant he could not stay in dinghies he raced in his Hood 23 (Time & Tide), winning the State titles in 2011, with Chris Bowling. He and Chris went on to sail DBSC’s first entry in the Sydney-Hobart fleet (in Illusion, a 34ft Davidson) in 2010, finishing a respectable
Commodore Offers Free Rides
On Tuesday morning Andrew Cox was out for a morning training session with coach Brett Beyer. During one of Andrew’ roll tacks this creature was revealed on the bottom of his boat:
Look who’s hitching a ride on the bottom of Andrew’s boat.
It was a sucker fish and no matter how much Andrew and Brett pushed it off with their hands, it wouldn’t come off; it just slid to a different part of the hull. The fish didn’t release until the boat was lifted out of the water and onto the dolly. Andrew quipped on Facebook. “The super coach said he has seen plenty of strange things in roll tacks … But never this … Do I look like a whale?”