Every year, we have a shortage of people we can roster on as PRO for our races. We have now developed a “learn to run a race” program to address this.This program, which follows on from our club-wide competency training, is intended to provide the practical experience needed to act as PRO for our main competition races (i.e. Club Championships, Point Scores and Winter Championships). For those who have acted as a PRO before, it will be a refresher course; and for those who have not, it will be an opportunity to learn. The program will run in conjunction with Learn to Race, which is generally held on every first and third Saturday of the month from September to April. We will initially be asking selected club members to “volunteer” to participate in this program, and be rostered on for training, where you will revise / learn how to run races
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Marlena Berzins Pathway Program
One of the club’s strategic objectives is to get more members to the start line each weekend. We know that our start lines can be quite intimidating for new-ish sailors (and even some experienced sailors), as boats jostle for position, rules are yelled back and forth, and the occasional bump or scrape occurs!We have consulted with some of our LTR participants, and have developed a new pathway program to transition our sailors from the Learn to Race program onto the start line each week. Marlena Berzins has agreed to coach this program, and we are inviting six of our female sailors to trial the program in three sessions that will be held during the remainder of this season.Our plan is to run this program in small groups on an ongoing basis starting next season, with all our “pathway” sailors being provided an opportunity to participate over time. We will communicate
Coming Up
Wednesday 13 February, 5pm – Twilight Sailing. Looks like it will be a wonderful 15-knot SE breeze under warm sunny skies… so join us!Saturday 16 February, 9am – Learn to Race. Come along if you want to learn more about Laser boat handling, balance, boat posture, trim, starts, tacks, gybes, boat set-up and any other race management fundamentals. Please email Martin White at mwhite@universalmagazines.com.auif you are planning on attending.Saturday 16 February, 12pm Briefing / 1pm Start – Sprints (see above for important details).
Early Start on Saturday – Briefing 12pm for 1pm SPRINTS
The harbour will be a bit busier than normal this Saturday with F50 Catamarans taking up our normal racecourse for the inaugural SailGP event. Here’s the spin from their website: “SailGP is sailing redefined, combining awe-inspiring athleticism with top-flight tech. Bringing you the thrilling sight of supercharged F50 catamarans charging down Sydney Harbour, battling it out on the water for their countries in an all-new nation vs nation international competition.”They are racing on Saturday from 3pm to 5pm, with a huge exclusion zone starting at 2pm. The exclusion zone and the forecast Easterly breeze will make it very difficult (if not impossible) to sail between Vaucluse and Double Bay between 2 and 5pm. Because of this, VYC and DBSC have decided to cancel the second leg of this season’s Vaucluse Challenge which was scheduled for this Saturday. The scores of the first leg will stand and serve as the final result
Sailing Backward at the Vaucluse Regatta
It was a trying day on the water last Saturday at the Vaucluse Regatta. The day was looking promising. A decent N/NE breeze was building and the forecast thunderstorms looked like they would say away. But as race time approached it was clear our luck wouldn’t last; storms were building in all directions. On top of that, a strong outgoing tide and a short starting line forced 5 general recalls and a few postponements. By the time the first race started, it was clear the wind was dying, and before the end of the race the wind completely stopped. Much of the fleet began moving backward with the tide as we struggled to reach the finish line. Nick Pellow posted Brett Beyer’s GPS annimation of the final moments of the race on the Top Mark. It’s both painful and hilarious to watch. Steven Bradbury eat your heart out. Luckily, soon after the
State Masters Sign-Up
We have brilliant 23 members signed up to go to the Laser NSW/ACT Sate Masters Championship in Lake Macquarie the first weekend in March. If you’re one of them, please make sure you’ve officially registered for the event here. Also, make sure you’ve coordinated transportation and accommodation. You can check out the trailer assignments here.
Twilight Record
A new record was set last Wednesday, with 23 sailors attending Twilights. It was a beautiful night of sailing as Brett Beyer ran us though our paces. Brett is back tonight and Seabreeze is promising sunny skies and a perfect 15 knot SE breeze – so join us!
New PRO / COTD and Incident Guides
In conjunction with our recent Competency Training we have updated our PRO Instructions, COTD Instructions, and Incident Management Plan. Thanks for familiarising yourself with these updated guidelines to help us ensure our club continues to provide a safe sailing environment. You can also review videos from all of the Competency Training here.
Help Needed for JJs
The 18 footers will be holding their world championship event, the JJ Giltinan, on 1-10 March. DBSC commits each year to provide a response boat driver for each day of the event from 1:45 to 5pm. Could you please let Mark Crowhurst (treasurer@dbsc.com.au) know if you can assist with driving the Paul Adam on one or more of the days?
Since the first regatta on Sydney Harbour in 1938, the JJ Giltinan Championship has always been regarded as the world’s premier 18 Footer championship and many of its competitors have become world, Olympic and national champions in a variety of yachting classes.
Dolly Etiquette
In recent weeks, after sailing, several members have hung their dollies in front of racks which were not yet full with all 5 boats. This makes it very inconvenient for the sailors who have yet to place their boats back into their rack. When coming in from sailing, please be mindful to only hang your dolly in front of racks that are completely full (i.e. have all 5 boats already in place). If there are no racks that are completely full, please leave your dolly outside or in the front of the clubhouse. Thanks for your help with this.
Let’s Avoid Dolly Mayhem!