PORT STEPHENS YACHT CLUB

Port Stephens Yacht Club is the focus for sailing activities on and around Port Stephens. The  clubhouse is in Ridgeway Avenue, Soldiers Point, adjacent to marina and launching ramp facilities. The clubhouse overlooks a sandy beach ideal for rigging and launching trailerable boats. Ample parking is available in Ridgeway Avenue.

The Club offers bar facilities, kitchen, bathroom, and function space for members, guests, and crews of visiting yachts.

Bar hours are Wednesday 1700 to close

                   Saturday 1530 to close

Visitors are always welcome during open hours. The club’s function room is available for hire. And several moorings adjacent to the club are available for short-term hire.

The Club provides a year-round program of racing, cruising, and social events, divided between winter and summer seasons. The racing program includes inshore races, around courses within the confines or each arm of Port Stephens, and offshore races, around nearby islands and coastal marks. The inshore program includes a Wednesday twilight series, Friday moonlight series, Sprint series, and the regular Inshore Championship series. Sprints, Marathons and Championship series are raced on Saturday afternoons, with starts from the Club flagpole adjacent to the Soldiers Point boat ramp. The offshore program includes short and overnight ocean races, with short and overnight cruises in company. The cruising program provides the opportunity for less-experienced cruisers to sail, in the company of other yachts; to anchorages they may not be confident in visiting on their own. All races are scored on a performance-based handicap system, initially calculated on results from the first three races.

The Club actively supports a junior sailing program, to introduce new young sailors to our sport. The juniors train and race in Pelican dinghies, with a regular Sunday program. A handicap system caters for all skill levels. New juniors are welcome, and parental involvement is strongly encouraged.

Our social program includes regular Friday evening Forums, with presentations on a wide range of topics. These include updates on racing rules, safety, search and rescue, seamanship, aquaculture, and briefings on other water-based activities. Members gather for Friday night barbeque, and presentation night dinners at season’s end, and for less formal parties.

The Club publishes a quarterly magazine, the Quadrant, with reports on club activities, items of yachting interest, our social calendar, and the dreaded "What the Seagull Saw"

The Club holds an annual regatta, usually on the October long weekend, which hosts the opening of the Trailer Yacht Association season. We have also hosted State, National, and World Championships, for various classes, and the 2000 Pacific Rim Yachting Challenge.

We have an active Crewlink program, which connects crew and helms people with vacancies on board boats. No experience is needed to become involved, and non-boat owners are welcome.

The Club offers several classes of membership, including Social, Junior and Full, with racing and non-racing, boat owner and non-boat owner options. Associate membership is required for participation in Wednesday racing, and cruises. Crew participation in point score races require a minimum of Associate membership plus Bronze membership of the Australian Yachting Federation, and Full Club membership is strongly encouraged for regular participants. Full details are available from the Membership Secretary, and application forms are available in the clubhouse.

Port Stephens Yacht Club welcomes new members and visitors. Come and join us for fun on and off the water!

By car: Follow Soldiers Point Road to its end with a T-junction at Ridgeway Avenue, opposite Soldiers Point Hall, turn left into Ridgeway Avenue and proceed to the parking area at the end or Ridgeway Avenue, outside the clubhouse.

By Boat: Port Stephens and approaches are detailed on Chart Aus 209.

GPS coordinates are: S 32 degrees 42.1 minutes,

   E 152 degrees 03.6 minutes.

Club mooring buoys are orange and marked "PSYC". Buoys are located to the North, and Northwest of Soldiers Point Marina, and on the Western side of Soldiers Point.

By Phone: (02) 4982 0919 .. answering machine if unattended

By E-mail: psys@nelsonbay.com