Sailing club
Newcastle Cruising Yacht ClubWickham, NSWAustralia's yacht clubs do not come much younger, or much more ambitious, than Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. Incorporated in April 1994, it describes itself as one of the newest clubs in the country and certainly the newest carrying significant club and marina assets — and it has spent three decades making up for lost time. Australian Sailing named it the NSW/ACT Club of the Year for 2019 and again for 2022, and by 2022 membership had passed 1,300, growing more than 30 per cent in a single year. The club wears a deliberate dual identity: a licensed hospitality venue and functions space on one hand, a serious sailing centre on the other. Executive chef Luke Carpenter framed it memorably — they don't have 180 poker machines, they have 180 marina berths. The sailing resume is formidable for so young a club. It is the home club of Will Ryan, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic 470 gold medallist, whose grandfather counted among the founders, and of Laser Radial world championship medallist Jacquie Ellis. It revived the Newcastle Regatta as SailFest in 2019, headlined by the TP52 Gold Cup, billed as the biggest gathering of TP52s in the country. It has twice hosted the Australian IRC Championships
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