Marine services in Kanahooka

Sailing club

Few sailing clubs have reinvented themselves as completely as Koonawarra Bay. Founded in the 1950s as a conventional dinghy and catamaran club on the western shore of Lake Illawarra, it now centres its sailing on two very modern niches: radio-controlled yachts and foiling windsurfers. The radio fleet is the heartbeat — International One Metres racing on Saturdays and Tuesdays, the big A Class boats on Thursdays, everything starting at midday — while the windsurfers bring speed and spectacle when the westerly gets up. The club is quick to note that all classes remain welcome, a holdover from decades in which its members sailed just about everything that floats, from dinghies to the small catamarans the club once owned for members to use. The character is small-scale and welcoming rather than corporate. Commodore Ralph Skea and Secretary Jon Pinkerton head a club affiliated with the NSW Radio Yachting Association, and the membership count isn't published — but the activity level speaks clearly enough, with organised sailing three days a week all year. Midday starts leave the morning free for boat preparation and tuning on the club's big grassed rigging areas, and the elevated point