The best way to find out about the club is to visit us and meet some members.
The club is open on Sundays during terms 4 and 1 from 8.30am until about 4pm.
Our club is run by volunteers, so if your query cannot answered by the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and you’ve had a good look through the website, then send us a message and we will get back to you, hopefully within a couple of days.
0410510420
Holiday camp places are booking fast. We recommend booking early to avoid disappointment, last year all camps sold out.
You can choose 3, 4 or 5 day camps this summer:
6 - 10 December 2021
13 - 17 December 2021
10 - 14 January 2022
17 - 21 January 2022
8:30am drop off - 4pm pickup
We facilitate all skill levels and accept Active Kids Vouchers.
No club membership is required to book holiday camps, just select the ‘non-member’ option when booking.
The annual Head of the Harbour Sabot invitational regatta is happening 5 December. It is the first regatta of the season and the only one in the Southern NSW zone prior to Nationals at Teralba.
This year we are inviting our PJ fleet to participate in the action.
Further details and event booking are available on trybooking.
Vaucluse Yacht Club is running a Powerboat Licence Course. Minimum age is 12 years old. If you are interested in enrolling, please contact Adele.
It was a grey, wet and windy Sunday for our Sailing School sailors this past weekend. Great effort to all who braved the conditions and got out there. The kids were rewarded with some exciting rides in the Pacers and PJs!
A quick reminder that our holiday camps are filling up fast, so if you’re around these holidays, book the kids in for some summer holiday sailing fun! Our holiday camps are drop and go, and last all day. Kids can be booked in for a couple of days or the whole week!
Term 1 2022 Sunday morning sailing school is also open for enrolments now. It’d be great to see our term 4 sailors back in the new year to advance their skills and think about joining the race fleet. So don’t forget to book!
See you Sunday!
It was a big 2 days of sailing at the VA12SC this past weekend, with the club hosting the first round of the Flying 11 State Championships. Racing was held over both Saturday and Sunday, and it was fantastic to see over 35 Flying 11s sailing on our part of the harbour.
With competitors coming from Middle Harbour, Manly, Gosford and Belmont, the standard was high and competition was tight. Winds were gusty from the south, providing exciting rides for our sailors and visiting boats.
All VA12SC sailors performed well, with Max and Zac in the top 10 on Saturday, and Sophia Ugarte, and Hugo Minnett, having a great race on the Sunday in tough conditions, both crews not far off the lead boats. Full results can be found here
Well done to our sailors and all involved. These events require a lot of work to organise and run, so thanks to everyone for the big effort.
Our Flying 11 fleet will be heading to the Belmont 16s sailing club on Lake Macquarie in late February for round two. Good luck team VA12SC!
On 17th & 18th December SailGP returns to Sydney Harbour. It is unquestionably the most spectacular sailing event on the calendar.
As part of SailGP’s ‘adopt a club’ program VA12SC has been teamed with the French SailGP team. They will be sporting our club burgee on their wing as they race. Even better we will be getting special access to meet the French team to hear first hand what it’s like to race one of the fastest sailing boats around. Our job is to make the French team feel welcome, at our home here on Sydney Harbour.
Alongside the grand prix racing on the foiling F50’s there is an inter-club youth event. Isabel Badger and Ben RIchards are the kids that will be representing VA12SC over a three day regatta racing on RS Feva’s out of Woollahra SC.
We will be organising social functions and viewing parties to make the most of the regatta. Details to follow.
In the meantime, Allez Les Bleus!!
The Rolex Sydney-Hobart yacht race is one of the most exciting sailing events in the nautical calendar. With the fleet charging past our balcony we are going to host a special family day at the club this year to enjoy the action.
We will have the live coverage on the big screen, the RIBs in the water to get up close to the race course and the BBQ and drinks keeping the troops fed and hydrated.
More details to follow!
SailGP returns to Sydney Harbour on 17th & 18th December with racing taking place from 16.00 - 18.00hrs on each day.
This year VA12SC is going to have a very close involvement with the event. Details to follow, but start getting excited!
If you aren’t familiar with SailGP, check out the highlights from last time the event was held on Sydney Harbour - 10 foiling cats, racing at 40+ knots!
As the boats travel so fast, and cover such large distances, the best viewing is often the TV coverage, so we will have the big screen set up at the club, the beers chilled and the BBQ warmed. Bring the kids down, get them excited and reward yourself with the drink you deserve!
Our annual Dick Winning Fun Day has been moved to the 19th of December 2021 to allow our sailing school participants to join in!
For those that haven’t attended previously this always a really fun day to round out Term 4 sailing. We start a little later (10am), Santa arrives (by boat!), there are tug of war and greasy pole games. And the parents find time for a quite drink on the deck!
See the program of events for the day
Sally Badger has kindly taken charge of the day. She’s after a couple of volunteers to assist on the day. If you’re already there it’s not a big commitment, think of it as captains of fun! Please contact Sally if you’re able to assist. Some of the jobs include
Master of Ceremonies - to keep the day running smoothly
Hosting each game
Set up - including for games and any boat rigging required
Coordinate food
Pack up (we’ll all help with this, but it happens better when someone holds us all to account!)
The annual Head of the Harbour Sabot invitational regatta is coming up 5 December. It is the first regatta of the season and the only one in the Southern NSW zone prior to Nationals at Teralba. We are expecting a good turnout from other clubs and some great competition. The HoH is a traditionally fun event and a great opportunity for kids to experience some racing, meet new families and have fun at the club level at home.
We are encouraging maximum participation at the club level this year and; in addition to the green fleet (2 ups) we have added a training PJ fleet, just for fun. If you wish to participate or enter the racing, the try booking site is now operational.
It takes a huge amount of effort to bring this together but it is worth the effort to build the community energy and fun. A great event in a community club requires enthusiastic volunteers , even if you are not participating, we have jobs whether it be part of the race committee, feeding the hoards, welcoming visitors, beach marshalling and safety among a number of roles. Please contact Sally Badger to indicate willingness to assist. We are very much in need of volunteers to make the day successful including:
Wayfinding , Marshalling and traffic management on Gibsons Beach
Welcome sign in and COVID compliance
Canteen - what we are able to offer is entirely dependant on helpers but as a minimum it will be manning the afternoon BBQ
Water safety - rescue boating race committee support
Beach safety and checks
Pack up and clean up ( the energy dies after boats come in and visitors have left)
It will be quite a busy day starting at 8AM, and ending at around 430PM.
The club will be hosting a training day for our Sabot sailors the day prior to Head of the Harbour. It would be a great opportunity for those who haven’t yet had the opportunity to hit the water to join us and do some training prior to the regatta.
The sabot is a training boat, fantastic precisely because it is not easy to sail. The class has a proud history, particularly in our club and includes current and past Olympic champions. It is claimed that if you can master a sabot you can master anything. Our kids age out at 16, if you are lucky enough to stay small and light it does promise a few seasons of fun.
The club has a reasonable collection of club boats that we will be rolling out into the sailing program but are also available to use by members. Alternatively we have a number of sabots available for sale, should you be interested. If you wish to understand more about the Sabot fleet or want to talk about using a cub boat please contact Sally Badger, the old friendly class rep.
We look forward to seeing you out there and don’t forget a little bit of volunteering goes a long way, whether it be on the beach, out on the water or even the canteen!
This week’s calendar was for Club Champ races 3 &4 but the weather got the better of the race committee, as did the fleet. Despite best efforts to chase the wind and shift courses all the way towards South Head, our little fleet of sabots found themselves no better than the Middle Harbour fleet sitting in irons off Lady Jane. Odd conditions, complaints of boredom, man and a resolution to protest the Race committee ended with smiles. We will take it as a win despite no results and hope for better conditions this coming week.
It’s that time of the year, the Dick Winning Fun Day is on Sunday 26 November, just in time for everyone to have fun and celebrate being back together again. This day is all about the FUN. Canteen takes a break (well mostly) we put on a spread of BYO plates of food and goodies, while we have games on the beach (treasure hunts and tug of war, swimming races, kids and adults, fun boat races (adults and kids). A day such as this is not possible without help.
A fun day highlight is the slippery pole and one can’t forget Santa - who will it be this year??
In order for the day to be successful we need volunteers to form an organising committee to make this a really successful fun day. Indicatively we
Master of Ceremonies - to keep the day running smoothly
Agenda setting and list of games - with lead for each game
Set up - including for games and any boat rigging required
Coordinate food
Pack up
We are running four holiday camps over the December/January school holidays. These are drop and go events running from 8.30am to 4pm and we cater for all skill levels.
We've had a big surge in bookings over the past ten days. Last year all the camps sold out so if you're thinking about registering, it's best to do it early to avoid missing out.
Dates:
6 - 10 December 2021
13 - 17 December 2021
10 - 14 January 2022
17 - 21 January 2022
Book here
Last weekend delivered light winds for the sailing school, building to a gentle sea breeze for the Sabot and Flying 11 sprint racing. Results here.
This week we have Club Championship races 3 & 4.
See you there!
The 58th Sabot Nationals and Paul Stivano Sabot Week are being held at Teralba Amateur Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie from 27th December 2021 to 3rd January 2022.
The registration link & Notice of Race can be found here.
This is always a great event for our Sabot fleet and we look forward to a strong representation from Team VA12SC.
After a long, long COVD winter it was particularly special to open the clubhouse last weekend and welcome back our sailors and families.
The Sailing School was busy from early doors. Our fleet of PJs looked particularly good with the new sails that we acquired and installed just before lockdown. The energy in the clubhouse and on the deck was fantastic. The BBQ team churned out huge numbers of bacon and egg rolls. And with a 12knot SE breeze the conditions were near perfect for the sailors.
The race fleets held races 3 & 4 of the club championships. Again, the sailing conditions were fantastic. Well done to all participants and congratulations to the winners.
Sailing School fleet rigged and ready to sail
The PJs and Pacers, now all equiped with high quality, highly visible, sails!
With the first two races abandoned due to COVID, we held races 3 & 4 of the Club Championships last weekend in near perfect conditions.
Isabelle Badger and Zac Golovsky were the two race winners in the Sabot fleet.
In the Flying Elevens, it was Jamie Bando and Ben RIchards winning race 1. Sophia Ugarte and Hugo Minnett were victorious in race 2.
Full results here
Well done to all the participants. This weekend we have the Spring Sprint Series races.
Finally, we are go and our season starts with a bang this Sunday!
Our Launch Committee have been busy preparing the flotilla and work will continue this Friday afternoon and Saturday for those who can lend a hand.
Sailing School begins at 0800 hours and Club Championships 1 and 2 start at 1100 hours for Sabots and PJs and at 1400 hours for Flying 11s and Cherubs.
The Canteen will be open from 0830 - 1100 hours serving bacon and egg rolls, toasties and drinks. Complimentary tea and coffee will be on offer. If you need lunch it will be BYO this week while we settle in to the season. We are looking for a volunteer coordinator to help with food ordering and rosters. Please come and have a chat if you are interested. Thanks to those who have offered to help this Sunday.
It has been a long wait and it is going to be a great summer. If you haven’t signed up, now is the time.
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
VA12SC Committee.