Marine services in Cremorne

Sailing club

Ask anyone on Sydney Harbour about "the Amateurs" and they will know exactly which club you mean. The Sydney Amateur Sailing Club has carried that nickname since 1872, when a dozen owners of small yachts — boats the grand clubs of the day would not have — gathered at Tom Keary's Hotel — the O'Malley's of today, at William and Brougham Streets — and started their own outfit. The word "amateur" in the name is not a shrug; it is a founding principle, formalised in an 1883 rule that barred fishermen, oystermen, boatbuilders, sailmakers and anyone else who earned a living around boats from membership. What grew out of that rule is a member-run keelboat club with an egalitarian streak a century and a half deep. The fleet tells the story. On any summer weekend the Amateurs' start lines take in everything from sharp offshore racers to lovingly restored timber classics, and the club has long said it welcomes "yachts of almost every age, type and size". It likes to call itself "Sydney's best kept secret", which is a cheeky line for one of the oldest yacht clubs in the country, but it captures something true: this is a clubhouse on Mosman Bay rather than a grand marina complex, run on volunt