It’s looking like another perfect evening for twilights tonight. A warm and sunny 12 knots are predicted. Last Wednesday we had 19 boats participate. It was an awesome afternoon with a series of mini races run by Brett, and individual coaching tailored to each of the participants in the BBTP and their development stage. Everyone participated in some very exciting close racing in a brisk 15-20kt breeze. Let’s keep the big numbers rolling as we get further into those long warm evenings!
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Competency Reminder
We are asking ALL members to plan to attend our annual Competency Training on the morning of Saturday, 23 November. No matter how experienced you are, your attendance is required. Most weeks our race management is falling short of the standards we are seeking, and the competency training is an important element of our strategy to address that for the benefit of the club and all our members — so we need everyone to commit to this. Please confirm your attendance HERE. Thanks!
State Open Championships
On 9-10 November the 2019 NSW/ACT Laster State Championships will take place at George’s River Sailing Club in Sandringham. Please email Ian Alexander HERE if you plan to attend, and stick around after sailing on Saturday to white board trailer solutions. This is important — if you want to attend the regatta, but cannot attend the white board session, please speak to someone else and ask them to represent your interests at the white board session.
DBSC Kit Arriving Soon
Next week we will unveil the final designs of our regatta kit, and move forward with taking orders. This is very exciting!If you are attending an ILCA regatta this season, you will be offered one T-shirt / cap / bib combo for FREE. If you are not attending an ILCA regatta (or you want more than one combo set), you can also buy whatever you want.There will be a form in next week’s newsletter to indicate what you want to order – quantities and sizes. We will include price details then. In the meantime, in preparation for this, we will have size samples of the T-shirts and bibs at the club on Saturday so you can select your sizing. If you’re interested in one of the DBSC branded Musto sailing jackets, check out the sizing details HERE (and you can see the unbranded jacket in person at Sturrocks). So, don’t miss out, come on down to
Race Report
The wind forecasts were all over the place for last Saturday afternoon. From some models, it looked like there might not be enough wind to race… Boy was that prediction wrong! What eventuated was a strong, shifty 22 knot WSW breeze with some 30+ knot bullets that saw much of the fleet in the drink. It was surely a day you needed to keep your wits about you and your downhaul cranked on. Those who managed to keep their boats upright and took advantage of high port tacks won the day. The day was so challenging that several boats did not finish within 15 minutes of the lead boat, giving them a DNF (S.I. 18.3). The Afternoon was a combined Club Champs and Spring Pontscore; congratulations to the hardy victors. The results were: Championship – Full Rigs: Campbell Patton (Championship Heat 3) and Luke Parker (Championship Heat 4); Radials: Otto Henry (Championship Heats 3 & 4). Pointscore (after
Top Tip – Knots and splicing. Do you know a hitch from a bend?
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
Up Next…
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
Tonight’s Twilights Looking Golden
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!
Competency Training
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.
Arrival of New Sails
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.