Marine services in Cairns

Sailing club

A foundation date of 1908 sets Cairns Yacht Club apart in tropical Australia, and reinvention has kept it relevant ever since. One of Queensland's oldest sailing bodies, it operates from premises at Marlin Marina overlooking Trinity Inlet in central Cairns, with a second dinghy base at Ellis Beach some thirty kilometres up the coast, and a membership of about 110 spanning ages from six to past eighty. The club-owned equipment inventory reveals an organisation built equally for teaching and competition: three keelboats, 32 dinghies across the Optimist, Pacer, Laser and Quest classes, a pair of Nacra 350 catamarans, three rescue power boats and eight outrigger canoes. Racing is arranged in Green Fleet, WAGS, Keelboat and Multihull, and Off-the-Beach divisions, and the club holds accredited Discover Sailing Centre status with Australian Sailing. Its honour roll includes world champions Adam Beattie and Jamie Leitner among title-winners across classes as diverse as Nacra, Tornado and A-Class catamarans, Cobra, skiffs, 125s, Laser and Sabot. The contemporary club is deliberately outward-looking: after its century-old Wharf Street home fell to waterfront redevelopment in 2008 and members