Cronulla Sailing Club

About Cronulla Sailing Club

Port Hacking has been home to organised dinghy racing since 1934, and Cronulla Sailing Club is where that whole tradition now lives — under one roof, right on the Gunnamatta Bay waterfront. The modern club is the product of three mergers of circumstance and logic: the old VJ and VS clubs combined in 1963, and in December 1991 the Port Hacking Ocean Yacht Club folded in, giving Port Hacking, for the first time, one club catering for all classes and, as the club history puts it, sailors aged from 8 to 80.

The weekly program reflects that full spectrum. Friday twilight sailing runs at 6pm through daylight saving, October to April, deliberately open to every yacht in the district as a way of tempting guests into the sport. Saturdays belong to yacht racing; Sundays to dinghies, with the strong MG14 fleet putting 10 to 15 boats on Figure-8 and Triangle courses in the estuary from 1400 hours, a Laser division sharing the course. Yacht sailors can choose from an Offshore Series, a Short Ocean Series of up to about 20 nautical miles, Estuary, Passage and Triangle Series in Bate Bay, a one-design Sprint Series for J24s and Etchells, and winter pursuit and short ocean racing.

There's a stated philosophy underpinning it all, articulated by then-Commodore Peter McLachlan in 1994: the club "has always sought members who are actively engaged in some aspect of sailing" and, in his words, "does not seek to be just another social club". That said, Friday nights at the clubhouse have their own social program — the distinction is that here, the sailing always comes first.

Services and expertise

• Sailing club

Service area: Cronulla, NSW

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A closer look