Author: admin

Written by Tim Heath I’m not sure if this is a sailing tip or a confession. Probably both. While learning to sail I have developed an interest, ok a bit of an obsession, with learning how to tie knots and splice ropes. I find myself practising them when daydreaming or watching Netflix?! In the process of furnishing my habit, I have come a across a couple of cheap, excellent e-resources that I think would be useful to normal people who sail dinghies:1. Animated Knots (by Grog) is a phone app which costs $8 and is a pretty comprehensive compendium of knot videos, including notes on usage, and pros and cons for each knot. There are also splicing videos. You can watch some of them online but this app stores them all offline on your smartphone.

2. Rope splicing

See Full Post >>

Wednesday, 23 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTPSaturday, 26 October, 2pm Start – Spring Pointscore, Heats 7 & 8  Wednesday, 30 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTPSaturday, 2 November, 9am – Learn to RaceSaturday, 2 November, 2pm Start – Club Championship, Heats 5 & 6, followed by a BBQSunday, 3 November, 2pm Start – Big Boat Race

See Full Post >>

The forecast is looking perfect for twilight sailing tonight (Wednesday)… 26 degrees and an 18 knot NE breeze. Join us for a beautiful evening on the harbour, with organised sprints with Brett Beyer. Everyone’s welcome. Splash is at 5pm for a 5:30 start! 

See Full Post >>

As part of our ongoing focus on safety and quality of racing, we are again conducting competency training this year for all our members.No matter how competent you think you are, you will learn something important from this training – so please come along. We are asking all members please to block out the morning of Saturday, 23 November, and plan to be at the club then.The topics that will be covered are:·       Davits / RIBs / Jazzman·       Onshore PRO/COTD tasks / radio use·       On-water PRO/COTD instructions / course laying·       Incident management plan·       First aid / CPR / defibrillatorThe course will be taught by fellow members – please confirm your attendance via the form HERE and come and support this critical initiative for the club.

Pippa and David explain the defibrillator at Last Season’s Competency Training.

See Full Post >>

The first batch of sails has arrived from NB and they are available for collection from the club. These include sails for several members of other clubs — if you are in that category, we have already emailed you to let you know. When you collect your sail, please sign and fill in your name and sail number on the sheet that is located on a clipboard kept with the boxes of sails. The next instalment of sails is in progress and we will let you know when it’s delivered. 

See Full Post >>

Fifteen DBSC members hit the road last weekend to compete in the Coast Championships at Gosford Sailing Club. There were of 71 Lasers are competing, and the DBSC contingent didn’t let us down. Representing over 20% of the fleet, the awards presentation saw DBSCers victorious in all classes. The winds tested both the sailors and the race officials however in the end five of the scheduled six races were completed with some great tight racing in all three fleets.In the 4.7′s DBSC sailor Xavier McLachlan and Kane Sablatnig finished level on 8 points with Xavier winning on a count back. It was almost as close in the Radials with our very own Otto Henry beating Jordon Makin from Belmont 16′s by just one point. With DBSCers Daniel Costandi and Mark Louis taking third and fourth respectively. Marlena Berzins and Sylvie Stannage and Evie Saudnders finished in a tight race, earning sixth, seventh and eighth place. DBSC Coach,

See Full Post >>

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, 20+ boats saw some extremely tight sprint racing, in a shifty 8-12 knot South Easterly. The course was laid bang in the middle of ‘The Dardanelles’ (aka the passage between Point Piper and Shark Island) to make the most of the constant pressure coming out of Rose Bay. There was quite a lot of Big Boat traffic on the harbour, which kept the laser racers alert and on their toes. Check out the close call on ‘The Top Mark’.Speaking of top Marks… the Standard rig sailors had the pleasure of being schooled by Mark Bethwaite another week in these conditions, while the Radial sailors escaped at least another week before Mark dominates their fleet…Thanks to this week’s race volunteers — Nick Pellow (PRO), Josh Kirton (COTD), and Daryl Lawrence and James Tudball in the canteen.

Top

See Full Post >>

We had notified the RMS of our intention to host the Metros on 28 & 29 February 2020.Subsequently, SailGP has decided to host their event on this day, meaning we must move the date of Metros as the SailGP exclusion zone is effectively the entire sailable harbour. Unfortunately, the only date we can now host the Metros is on the 1st and 2nd of February – as a result, we have to move the Club Champs originally on that day to the 15th February. We apologise to members for the inconvenience. The Club’s Online Calendar has been updated accordingly.The Sailing Schedule for February 2020 is now the following:

See Full Post >>

Continuing with more tips on boots, Mark Crowhurst provides us with a cautionary tale: On Saturday as I came back to land I stepped off my boat onto a broken bottle. My foot is fine, but the bottom of my shoe was maimed quite a bit. So, remember you aren’t just wearing shoes because of the increased hiking capacity they provide – you’re wearing them to protect against monsters in the shallows.Anyone who has done Clean Up Australia Day will know what hides in these shallows! So, make sure you’re wearing your shoes/boots when you venture out into the harbour. 

See Full Post >>

Wednesday, 16 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTPSaturday, 19 October, 9am – Learn to RaceSaturday, 19 October, 2pm Start – Club Championship, Heats 3 & 4 AND Spring Pointscore, Heats 5 & 6.  Followed by a BBQWednesday, 23 October, 5pm Splash – Twilight Sailing / BBTPSaturday, 26 October, 2pm Start – Spring Pointscore, Heats 7 & 8.  

See Full Post >>