Category: Latest from Double Bay Sailing Club

Photo by Brad Cox

Last Saturday saw a glorious start to the 2024 Autumn Point Score series with magnificent sunshine, beautiful blue skies, and a ten to twelve knot east north easterly blowing, along with a strong run out tide. A fleet of thirty-six boats joined us on the harbour for the first race, along with a handful of visitors and perhaps one or two sailors that may have forgotten to sign on using the sailor app.In the first race, the Radial fleet were a little too keen, not helped perhaps by the run out tide which led to a general recall before a black flag restored order at the restart. As as for the

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26 Double Bay Sailing Club members recently competed at the Nationals, held at Adelaide Sailing Club on January 2 – 8. We had the strongest representation of any club in the country and our on-water success across all three rig sizes is incredibly exciting.  It is also testament to the depth and quality of Laser sailing at our club.The majority of our sailors who travelled down to the regatta were our youth members, led by our Reach Youth coaches Josh Becker and Daniel Costandi.  Josh and Dan did a superb job preparing our sailors in the lead up, and then assisting with the logistics and on-water coaching throughout the regatta.  A big thanks to Josh and Dan for their expertise and efforts.With any regatta, the goal is to have successful and enjoyable experiences both on and off the water.  From all reports this was certainly achieved, so congratulations to all

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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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Develop strength and flexibility, while soothing your nerves and calming your mind. Photo courtesy Peter Collie.

A new series of morning Yoga classes started this week. The one-hour classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30AM and finish in time to catch the ferry and get to work. These are listed in the club calendar including a booking link. Members of DBSC can have 2 free trial classes.

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Wednesday 17-Jan: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)Thursday 18-Jan: Twilight Racing (5PM splash) (including on-water coaching )Saturday 20-Jan: Learn-to-race (9AM start)Autumn Point Score Races 3 & 4 (2PM warning signal)

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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Spring Point Score 9 & 10PRO Luke Parker’s report:Drizzly weather and gradient NNE of 10-16 knots greeted the fleet on Saturday. Numbers were a little down with the gun younger sailors away in Victoria and some softer older sailors scared off by the rain. With the wind to the left of a traditional Nor-Easter, and a run-in tide, and no ferries, we elected to set the course deeper in Double Bay than usual. The bonus was much less traffic for the fleet to contend with.Starts were well- behaved, although the full rigs did test their luck in the second start. They got lucky.A number of sailors took the opportunity of gusts and some great waves to rehearse capsizing and righting their boats. On the basis that “practice makes perfect”, some members should be getting rather good at it.From the vantage of the start boat, it seemed upwind tactics were about

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As a new feature in this newsletter, we are going to introduce new members to the club by asking them a few questions. This week, DBSC’s secretary Tory Epsworth caught up with new member John Sweeney:How old were you when you first stepped on a boat? I think I was seven, crewing on a Sabot called Nitro. If money (& sailing ability) were no limit, what boat would you buy?oneAustraliaWhat is your sailing goal?Have fun, be part of the community and enjoy this great sport. Tell us the back story to your Laser’s name?I’m still boat-less, but when it arrives, I’m thinking Rage Against the Machine – I love the band from the 90’s and it plays on the simplicity of the ILCA’s set up that I’m sure we all love. If you could add any ingredient to our already world’s best toasties – what would it be?Even more cheese

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by James Tudball, Youth EngagementA large contingent of DBSC members headed south down the Hume Highway last week for the VIC State Titles, held at Port Melbourne Yacht Club on November 25 + 26. There were some impressive trailer set ups to go along with very impressive on-water results, too!

The highly competitive fleets encountered varying conditions across the weekend, with patchy oscillations and generally choppy seas with 15 knot wind strengths. Congratulations to all members for a job well done, and a thank you to our Youth Coach, Josh Becker, who helped facilitate some tricky regatta logistics.DBSC member results:ILCA 47th Ben Costandi16th Charlotte Jenkins23rd Elouise MorganILCA 63rd Sylvie Stannage4th Brooke Wilson14th Healy Ryan23rd Cormac JohnsonILCA

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Reminder from ILCA NSW & ACT (Kevin Phillips):Regular price entries for the Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships 1-8 January close on 30-Nov. Entries after that date will incur an additional $75 charge. Enter here. The Notice of Race is here. Organisers are expecting about 200 boats.The ILCA 6 Women’s Worlds 3-10 January in Mar del Plata, Argentina, has a few places unfilled. Six Australian sailors are entered. Late entry here is closing on 12-Dec.There are also a few places available in the ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds 24-31 January in Adelaide where a record 26 Australians are entered. The late entry closing date is 27-Dec. Application can be placed here.The ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 World Masters 2-10 February in Adelaide has 134 Australians entered so far and 220 total. Late entry closing date is 27-Dec. Entry applications can be placed here.Upcoming DBSC activities:Wednesday 29-Nov: Twilight Sailing (5PM splash)Thursday

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Photo by Quinn Pierson

SPRINT RACINGPRO David Airey reports:Saturday was another glorious day to be out on Sydney harbour although the conditions were at times challenging for the approximately 25 sailors and race management team. Before the briefing, the buoys were set out for a nice 10 knot Westerly. However, by the time racing got under way at 2pm the wind was dying, and the first sprint race took longer than planned. The marks were moved to shorten the course and Race 2 proceeded smoothly, albeit with big variations in wind speed and direction across the course. Then, while the crew on the Jazzman were focused on flags and timing for Race 3, it was pointed

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