Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club

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.

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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.  

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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

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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.

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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

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The club has implemented a Learn To Run A Race program over winter in an effort to increase the number of members at the club who are competent to run races, and thus to improve the quality of our race management year round.  Thanks to all the participants and instructors who have volunteered to make this possible!  We plan to continue this program year round.Matt Knight has designed an easy-to-use guide for PROs, covering course setting, race management and results recording – this is available in separate documents here.  It is important that all LTRAR participants (and instructors) read this guide and learn it BEFORE they turn up for their rostered training session.  We encourage all members to read these documents and learn them, whether you are experienced or not.  Thank you for your commitment to this – it is an important initiative for the club.The PRO Instructor and LTRAR participants need

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It was feared the RS Aero would replace the Laser for one-person dinghy events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In fact, the Equipment Committee recommended this change. However, the World Sailing’s ruling Council rejected the change in equipment, citing the lack of large RS Aero fleets outside of the UK. So, for now, the Laser looks safe as an Olympic class boat. For more on the decision you can read an article HERE. 

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The SPLM is on again at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly between 12th and 15th July. This is always a great winter event and a chance to escape to the warmer, beautiful one day perfect the next, Queensland weather. There will be charter boats available so you can be a fly in – fly out Laser sailor.The Notice of Race for the event is HERE. Entries can be placed online HERE. Entry prior to 5 July $195 and $245 if later. The event is preceded by a Laser Forum on Thursday evening 11 July at the club. The flyer for the event is HERE.

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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

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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?”

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