WHAT'S GOING ON

Happy New Year to all sailors. There is no racing to report but our racing program resumes on Saturday. Meantime, here’s what’s coming up:Saturday 6-Jan: No Learn to Race Club Sprints (2PM Start)Wednesday 10-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)Thursday 11-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)Saturday 13-Jan: Autumn Point Score Races 1 & 2 (2PM Warning)

Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.View all racing results here.The club’s calendar can be viewed and subscribed to here.Make a tax deductible donation to DBSC here.

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Sail Sydney 2023

Photo by Beau Outteridge

Last week we had 24 DBSC members compete at Sail Sydney across all three ILCA classes. Nine sailors were in the Olympic classes section, and Fifteen sailors competed in ILCA 4’s and 6’s across the Open section.  There were some brilliant results, some key learnings and positive improvements, and above all…some highly competitive and enjoyable racing on Sydney Harbour. 

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RACE REPORT 9 December 2023

TyRrell & Rousso Race Day

PRO Ian Alexander reports:The Double Bay Sailing Club’s annual Tyrrell and Rousso event was held last weekend. The two races – the Richard Tyrrell handicap race and the Mano Rousso yardstick race allow all three classes to be pitted against each other in novel formats that pay homage to two of our great former members of DBSC.Conditions were challenging, with Sydney Harbour turning on a full NE’er gusting up to 25 knots. Despite the tough conditions, the sailors put on an impressive display of skill and determination weathering many capsizes and near misses, but were impressively well-behaved on the start line and around the race track.In

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Casual Boat Maintenance

Maxim Djura will be working on his Laser over the holidays and is hoping for some company: “I will be doing maintenance on my boat in the morning and early afternoon of 30th and 31st of December. Anyone who has boat repairs to do, is welcome to join me. I have epoxy, flow coat, a polish solution, degreaser and masking tape to share. Please note that I don’t give any professional advice on repair, just the materials.”

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ILCA Masters Worlds Training

Further to our recent article in the newsletter, DBSC will be hosting a group of sailors from overseas (ITA FRA GBR & USA), in preparation for the ILCA Masters Worlds in Adelaide.Mark Bethwaite will be running sprint races on the afternoons of Sun 28, Mon 29, Tues 30, and Wed 31 Jan. Overseas Masters may also join our racing on Sat 27 Jan, subject to boats being available.

Photo courtesy of NSW ACT Laser Association

We are still looking for more people interested in chartering their hull, spars and foils to overseas Masters sailors.  The fee would be AUD50 per day.  Mark will allocate boats between DBSC

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RACE REPORT 6 January 2024

Photo by the editor

A very respectable 18 Laser sailors rocked up to the start line for an afternoon of Sprint Racing, including a couple of overseas masters taking advantage of our lovely harbour to hone their racing skills in advance of next month’s Worlds in Adelaide. The weather gods were kind, turning a light and fickle easterly into a decent 16-knot nor-easter over the course of the afternoon. It was also nice to have the Clark-to-Shark racecourse area mostly uncontested and the harbour relatively traffic-free.Our American visitor showed some impressive speed (once he sorted out the start timing), finishing three of the five short races with 100+ metre leads. The racing was close, with

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WHAT'S GOING ON

Wednesday 10-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)Thursday 11-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash)Saturday 13-Jan: Autumn Point Score Races 1 & 2 (2PM Warning)Wednesday 17-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)Thursday 18-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash) (including on-water coaching — see previous article)

A quick note from your editor on housekeeping at the club: our membership is quite full, so the facilities are getting a lot of use. This is starting to show, in terms of clutter and debris. If everyone both picks-up after themselves and also goes a bit out of their way to tidy up anything else they spot, our club will remain the sanctuary we all want it to be.

Thank you to the members who are sending through information for the newsletter. If you have content for the newsletter, please email it to newsletter@dbsc.com.au by Monday evening.View all racing results here.The club’s calendar can be viewed and

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2024 ILCA Australian Open: From the coal face

We thought we would get some insights from our sailors (and parents!) who travelled down to participate at the Nationals.  These shared experiences could be particularly useful for our contingent of masters sailors competing in Adelaide next month.Interview with Brooke Wilson (Australian ILCA6 National Champion):What was your best race, and why?I was really happy with my strategy execution in Race 4 of the qualifying. The wind had shifted left and therefore was coming off the land. I made a plan to start at the pin and go hard left, I was able to get a good start and I stuck to my plan and won that race! Given that the left side of the course was advantageous throughout the regatta, the pin end was quite crowded, so I was happy with how I managed my gap on the start line and my acceleration! What were some of the most challenging things

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