Drummoyne Sailing Club

Drummoyne Sailing Club is a dinghy and skiff club on the Parramatta River at Drummoyne, in Sydney's inner west. Founded in 1913 as a home for 16ft Skiffs, it is one of the oldest sailing clubs on the harbour and still runs skiffs today, alongside a wide fleet of one-design dinghies, junior classes and yachts. If you are learning the harbour, our Sydney and Sydney Harbour venue guide sets out the wind, tide and traffic that shape sailing here.

The club

Drummoyne Sailing Club is a member-run club focused on grassroots and club-level racing rather than the blue-water bluster of the larger squadrons. Its clubhouse stands at 2 St Georges Crescent on the Drummoyne foreshore, looking out over Cockatoo Island, North Sydney, Balmain and Woolwich. The club moved to its current clubhouse in 2001 and the building has since been refurbished.

The racing fleet is genuinely broad for a club of this size. Alongside the 16ft Skiffs that gave the club its start, you will find Hartley TS16s, OK Dinghies and a keelboat contingent, while the junior ranks run Sabots, Cherubs and Flying 11s. That mix — a fast, physical skiff class at one end and entry-level trainers at the other — is characteristic of a club that treats pathway sailing seriously.

That pathway is backed by a formal learn-to-sail academy. The club runs Start Sailing courses and school-holiday camps with all sailing and safety equipment supplied, using RS Feva, RS Vision, PJ and Sabot dinghies. The sheltered upper-harbour water off Drummoyne is well suited to beginners, and the academy fleet is designed to move sailors from first lesson through to club racing without needing to own a boat straight away.

History

The club was formed in 1913, and it is thought a mixed sporting group had been operating in the area from around 1911. From the outset it was built around the 16ft Skiff — the big, open, heavily crewed development skiffs that were the spectator sport of Sydney Harbour in the early twentieth century. Over more than a century the club has broadened its fleet to suit changing tastes, but the skiff heritage remains central to its identity.

Drummoyne has produced a long line of talented sailors who have gone on to state, national and Olympic competition. Among the best known is Olivia Price, who — with her crew — won a silver medal in Women's Match Racing at the 2012 London Olympic Games. That an inner-west club with strong grassroots roots has fed sailors to that level says something about the depth of its junior and skiff programs.

The club has also hosted championship-level racing for its home classes, including the Australian 16ft Skiff National Titles, which returned the skiff class to the water that helped shape it.

Where it sails

Racing takes place on the Parramatta River where it widens into the upper reaches of Sydney Harbour, west of the Harbour Bridge. Courses are typically set off Drummoyne, in the stretch between Cockatoo Island, Balmain and Woolwich. This is protected water compared with the open harbour east of the bridge — the surrounding land takes the edge off the breeze and the fetch is short — which makes it forgiving for junior fleets while still offering plenty of tactical complexity.

The trade-off is that the wind here is shifty and heavily influenced by the terrain. Buildings, points and the islands that fill the upper harbour bend and lift the breeze, so local knowledge counts for a great deal. Tide matters too: the river carries a meaningful current, and reading it around the islands and moored boats is part of racing well at Drummoyne. Our Sydney and Sydney Harbour guide covers the prevailing sea breeze and the harbour's tidal behaviour in more depth.

Access is straightforward by road, with the clubhouse on the foreshore at St Georges Crescent, and Parramatta River ferry services run nearby.

Racing

Club racing is the heart of Drummoyne, run across its dinghy, skiff and yacht fleets through the season. The junior classes — Sabots, Cherubs and Flying 11s — sail their own program, feeding sailors up into the senior fleets and, for some, into the 16ft Skiffs that are the club's signature class. For anyone chasing high-adrenaline dinghy sailing close to the city, the skiff fleet is the obvious draw; for families and newcomers, the learn-to-sail academy and junior classes are the natural entry point.

If you are weighing up where to sail on Sydney Harbour, it is worth contrasting Drummoyne's dinghy-and-skiff focus with the keelboat and offshore programs of the harbour's larger clubs, such as the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron at Kirribilli. For sailing south of the harbour toward Botany Bay and beyond, Cronulla Sailing Club offers a different stretch of water again. For current racing calendars, membership and academy details, the club's official website is the best source.