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.

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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!

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RIB Help Needed for the 18s

John Vasey graciously helps DBSC fulfil our affiliation agreement with the 18s by supplying support to their fleet every Sunday in the Paul Adam. John is unavailable to so from the 24th of February till the end of the 18s’ season (on March 17th) and we need volunteer(s) to fill in. If you are interested, please let Andrew Cox know ASAP. The day goes from about 1pm to 5pm and we have detailed instructions from John on what’s involved. We really need your help with this, which will be greatly appreciated!

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Twilight Sailing

We kicked off the second instalment for the season of the Brett Beyer Twilight Program last week, with a near-record number of boats on the water – 19 sailors reminded their bosses of the importance of work-life balance and fronted for some gruelling long and short course training in ~20 knots.  Come on down tonight for the next instalment!

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Big Boat Report

Written by Jonathan StoneAt last, a perfect afternoon for sailing – warm but not oppressively, a fresh, steady but not wild north easterly, a (relatively) empty Harbour, though the 18s were out later. And five well-prepared boats, with experienced skippersThe start was prompt on 2.00pm, thanks to the PRO Peter (Collie). There were 5 boats in from 23-34ft in length. At these lengths, a few feet in lengths matter. And when skippers are experienced, stealth and cunning come into play.In a nor-easter, the pin end of our line (just south of Clarke Is) is heavily favoured, but it is a bit tricky, for this end of the line is only just free of the lee of the Island. Maybe because the smaller boats are more manoeuvrable their skippers find it easier to avoid the lee, avoid being early and start at speed. In the event, Corinna (an Endeavour 24) won the start,

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Competency Success

DBSC was busting at the seams early on Saturday morning, with over 70 members attending our first ever Competency Training. The members visited 5 stations to be trained on a variety of duties. Along the way we learned to set courses, run races, record results, launch and drive our boats, rescue lasers, use the radios and deal with life-threatening emergencies.Special thanks to all the trainers including, Pippa Batchelor, Dene Bergman, Mark Bethwaite, Andrew Cox, Gerry Donohue, David Huber, David Murphy and last minute ring in, Pat Levy. Their diligent preparation translated into engaging and insightful presentations.  If you missed any of the training, or would like to review the presentations again, they are now available to view online via the following links:Deliberator Use / CPRCourse Setting and Race ManagementRIB LaunchEmergency Response and Incident Management PlanOff-water COTD ResponsibilitiesRadio Operation

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Bumper Fleet for Club Champs

The Competency Training and an agreeable 7-12 knot E/NE breeze ensured the biggest fleet of the season competed on Saturday for Club Championship Heats 9 and 10. 58 boats faced a gradient breeze that was patchy at times; looking for the pressure and avoiding the lulls was key. The winners were: Standards: Rod Barnes (heat 9) and Mark Bethwaite (heat 10); Radials: Jack Littlechild (heat 9) and Daniel Costandi (heat 10); 4.7s Kim Ketelbey (heats 9 and 10).  Thanks to this week’s race volunteers — Jonathan Stone (PRO) and Clare Alexander on the Jazzman, and Craig Sheers and Marty Trembath on the Paul Adam. David Devlin joined Paul, Shirley and Andrea to cook the plethora of toasties needed after the intellectual workout of the Competency Training. Thanks to the Canteen Crew and the BBQ-masters, the day ended with a scrumptious BBQ on the deck and a debrief with our coach Brett Beyer, along with DBSC’s

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