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Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club

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GOOLWA REGATTA YACHT CLUB

112 Barrage Road, Goolwa 5214

Welcome to the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club

The Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club is located in South Australia’s historic river port of Goolwa, near the mouth of the River Murray. The club is the home of Goolwa’s sailing community with modern clubhouse facilities including a licenced bar, lounge, shower, dining and barbecue facilities. Casual functions for over 200 guests can be arranged while the dining room caters for up to 70 seated guests.

The club is open most Friday nights, with meals offered during the summer racing season. The club’s facilities are also open on any other days when sailing events are scheduled. The Christmas Twilight race series held between Christmas and New Year is a fabulous opportunity to chill out after a hectic Christmas lead up and enjoy a relaxing meal and drink while overlooking the beautiful Goolwa South Lake.

Phone:    8555 2617

Email:      [email protected]

Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club

• About About About Committee Club Constitution / Club Rules Club History
• Function Hire / Facilities
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• Goolwa Regatta Weekend Goolwa Regatta Weekend Goolwa Regatta Weekend Program NoR & SI Race Entry Race History Results 2023 Results 2024
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• Sailability
• Sailing, Powerboat, Radio Training
• Secondary School Team Sailing

Club History

Extended history.

The Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club was formed as the “Goolwa Regatta Club” some time prior to August 1854, and less than 18 years after European settlement of the then Province of South Australia. Its original object was to organise an annual regatta featuring various types of water sports between members of the fishing fleet based at Goolwa and those of the whaling fleet at nearby Victor Harbor. It is believed to be Australia's oldest such club.

The Goolwa Regatta grew into a leading event on the South Australian sporting and social calendar. At its peak it included sailing, power boat racing, paddle steamer races, rowing, swimming and novelty events, and attracted thousands of spectators from other parts of South Australia. The Goolwa Regatta fell into steady decline in the years following the Second World War, but the Club was revived and renamed the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club in 1969 in order to cater for the booming interest in sailing in the area. The GRYC is now South Australia’s leading club for trailer-sailers and other shallow-draft yachts. Most of the vessels on the Club's register are trailer-sailers or other lifting-keel yachts, which are well suited to the relatively shallow waters of the adjacent Lower Murray Lakes and Coorong areas, although traditional wooden riverboats and various sizes of power boats are also well represented.

"The First 150 Years"

In 1854, Australia was made up of five colonies, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Van Diemen’s Land and South Australia. It was the 17th year of the reign of Queen Victoria and on the night of the 16th August, eight gentlemen sat around a table at the Goolwa Hotel to plan a celebration to mark the first anniversary of the launching of the first cargo vessel built in a local shipyard. Unbeknown to them they were creating an entity that would, in 150 years time, be one of Australia’s most successful and acclaimed freshwater yacht clubs, the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club.                                                (Extract from "The First 150 Years - A history of the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club" by R.G.S. Carless Past Commodore and Life Member)

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From friendly wager to iconic regatta week – Goolwa’s rich sailing history

Posted by Down Under Sail | Jan 18, 2018 | All News , Sailing , Uncategorized | 0 |

It all started out with two of the more colourful characters of the Goolwa community, Bill Appleby and Bill Ballard, who owned the yachts ‘Esther’ and ‘Edith’ and were constantly arguing about whose yacht was the fastest on the river.

In order to settle the argument a ‘decent’ race was planned and sailed on 27 December 1966 – originally raced from Goolwa to Milang, it was destined to become Australia’s biggest freshwater race.

The two yachts were very evenly matched in those days and for the first three years the biggest winning margin was only three and a half minutes, while the closest margin was just 12 seconds.

‘Esther’ won the first two, while ‘Edith’ the third.

As the race went on, more and more sailors joined in and eventually the schedule was changed to allow for the race to finish in it’s original home of Goolwa.

Race start in Milang.

It has since established itself as a South Australian yachting classic, the Milang-Goolwa Freshwater Classic in fact, which will this year be held on Saturday 27 January.

Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club vice commodore Louise Edwards said the race had a tremendous amount of history, however in recent years the regatta week that precedes it had become increasingly popular.

“It’s a prestigious event that club racers want to win, however for casual sailors it’s also a happy go lucky and friendly event,” she said.

“Goolwa has a great and inclusive club atmosphere with plenty of local rivalries and strong support between other clubs on the lakes and Murray River such as Milang Regatta Club, Meningie Sailing Club, Clayton Bay Boat Club and the Goolwa Vintage Boat Club.”

While there are a number of top contenders for the big race across several divisions, Louise said the highlight of this event will most definitely be the boats arriving in Milang on Australia Day ahead of the start the next day.

“Pre-start at Milang is always a great sight with a plethora of different boats buried in reeds, kept on the lawn and even moored to beaches,” she said.

The Restricted 21s will also be reintroduced this year, racing in Division 1A, a new introduction for Goolwa Regatta Week 2018.

Boats racking up at the start in Milang.

Milang-Goolwa predictions

While it will be extremely hard to pick a vintage boat as they work on performance handicap with changing ratings, the one to keep an eye on will be Randal Cooper’s ‘Wylo’ (pronounced Willow), a vintage river boat racing in Division 1.

Divisions 2, 3, 4 and 5 will also be difficult to pick and the close field could mean that it is anyone’s race. How the wind conditions fall on the day could be the difference in these tightly-fought fleets.

Heading into Division 6 there’s a number of boats that could take the chocolates with Todd Bartlett’s Boatspeed 23 ‘Bohica’, Harry Cooper’s Spider ‘Sea Bomb’ and Drew Stevens’ Elliot 7 ‘Envy’ all around the mark this season in local racing.

Rob Remilton’s Diam 24 ‘Wilparina III’ will be very fast and tough to beat in Division 7 after a successful few years.

Boats finishing in front of the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club.

And lastly in Division 8 a number of off-the-beach catamarans will be vying for the overall win.

Steve Thomas’ Mosquito ‘Cat-titude’, Peter Dunk’s Mosquito Sloop ‘Sixth Element’, and the two Taipan 5.7 Spinnakers, Tim Wright’s ‘Two Dogs’ and Michael Crouch’s ‘Too Easy’ will all be competing closely.

It’s going to be a race for the ages and a week of festivities that will keep everyone smiling, so be sure not to miss out on a great event run by the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club.

Stay tuned to Down Under Sail’s Facebook page throughout the week for all your live regatta updates.

For more information head to www.goolwaregattaweek.com.au

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Down Under Sail

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AVAILABLE MEMBERSHIP CLASSES

In addition, the following sub-classes of Associate membership is approved under the Constitution Part II Clause 9 (3):

All GRYC memberships automatically provide you with Australian Sailing membership and their Personal Injury Insurance cover.

Australian Sailing Insurance Information

FAMILY DISCOUNT PACKAGE

Family discount package - a payment of  $665  provides membership for 1 x Senior/Veteran, 1 x Associate and any Juniors and Students of the immediate family. Available upon application to [email protected]

FAMILY PLUS DISCOUNT PACKAGE

Ideal for a family with two persons who would like to race in their own right as persons in charge, for a payment of $ the Family Plus discount package provides membership for 2 x Senior/Veteran and any Juniors and Students of the immediate family. Available upon application to [email protected]

• The membership year covers 1 July - 30 June.
• Fees are payable by 30 September.
• Fees can be paid monthly via direct debit, with full payment by 31 March.
• Members in financial hardship may request to pay by instalments. Please refer to  Hardship Payment Plan Requirements and Application Form

NEW MEMBERS

Pro-rata  fees apply to new members joining after 1 January of any subscription year: January – 50%, February – 40%, March – 30%, April – 20%, May – 10%, June – No charge

APPLICATION

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (08) 8555 2617 

Postal address:  PO Box 321, Goolwa SA 5214

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