Marine services in Harwood Island

Sailing club

Half a century on the Clarence River has given Big River Sailing Club an unshakeable sense of what it is: a small, volunteer-run country club where the welcome extends, in the words of its own anniversary coverage, to all regardless of age or skill. Based on Harwood Island in the Northern Rivers, the club takes its name from the local nickname for the Clarence, one of Australia's largest river systems, and its sailing calendar is built around that broad, working waterway. Regatta weekends here draw divisions for NS14s and other monohulls, quicker monohull divisions, one- and two-up catamarans, trailable yachts and a growing Weta fleet — six Wetas lined up at the 2025 Bridge to Breakers — a genuinely mixed fleet that mirrors the club's come-one-come-all character. The signature event is November's Bridge to Breakers Regatta, a long river race from Harwood down to Iluka near the mouth and back, which pulls visiting sailors from as far afield as Southport Yacht Club across the Queensland border. Visitors camp at the club, dine at the Harwood Hotel and talk for months afterwards about the club's famed Big River evening meal. The regatta now doubles as a memorial to Malcolm Eggins, the