Marine services in Watsons Bay

Sailing club

"Sydney's best kept secret" is how Vaucluse Yacht Club bills itself, adding that it offers the perfect blend of competitive sailing and good vibes, and there is a fair argument the secret is out. From its 1939 clubhouse on Marine Parade, the club runs yacht and Laser racing on Sydney Harbour and hosts state, national and international regattas across a rotating range of classes, backed by a sponsorship deal with technical sailing wear brand Zhik. The annual Vaucluse Regatta, a fixture the club describes as historic, is planned again for early 2026. Membership figures today are not published, but the breadth of the regatta calendar suggests a healthy competitive core. What separates this club from every other harbour club is its claim on Australian sailing's family tree. The Vaucluse Junior, the VJ, was conceived for this stretch of water in 1930 and became, in the words of marine historian Graeme Andrews, a boat that changed Australia's sailing scene "radically and immediately", its effect felt for generations since. The VJ and its big sibling the Vee-Ess were both designed for the club's members by Charles Sparrow, and the club credits itself, not without cause, as having been "f