About
Yamba Marina at a glance
Private marina 800m from Yamba town centre, operating over 30 years with 95 berths (approved expansion to 145). Sells BP Ultimate diesel and 98 fuel seven days, with a cafe and fresh seafood outlet on site; International Clean Marina accredited. Deep-water access to the ocean and upriver to Grafton.
Service area: Clarence Valley
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Yamba Marina Pty Ltd (Peter Sutton & Kay Cottee)
- Region
- Clarence Valley
- Water body
- Clarence River
- Wet berths
- 95
- Maximum vessel
- 25 m
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- repairs & maintenance
- power & water
- boat ramp
- restaurant/cafe
- swing moorings (15)
- slipway/hardstand
- travel lift
- laundry
- showers
- approved expansion to 145 berths
- Clean Marina accredited
- Marine Rescue free berths
- seafood co-op outlet
- wine bar
About Yamba Marina
Yamba Marina has one of the more colourful ownership stories in Australian boating. The marina, on 6.5 hectares of leased Crown land on the Clarence River about eight hundred metres from the Yamba town centre, was developed from scratch by local entrepreneur Kevin Harris, and in 2004 it was bought by boat builder Peter Sutton and his wife Kay Cottee, who in 1988 became the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world after 189 days at sea. The couple launched their own big boat at the marina in 2003, struck a deal with Harris over a chat at his kitchen table, and moved their boat-building operation into one of the marina sheds. Under their stewardship occupancy has climbed from around half full to above ninety per cent, and the marina now operates 95 berths with an approved development application to add another fifty, taking it to about 145 berths, reconfigured for the bigger beam and catamaran-heavy fleet of recent years. Longer-term plans floated by the owners include super-yacht berthing along the 200-metre river frontage. The marina holds International Clean Marina accreditation and commissioned an independent environmental audit of its operations, and it has provided free berths to Marine Rescue Iluka Yamba's two rescue vessels for eighteen years. Its position near the mouth of the state's largest river system, with deep water both to the ocean and sixty-odd kilometres upriver to Grafton, has made it the recognised staging post for cruisers working the New South Wales North Coast, and easily the busiest marina between Port Stephens and the Tweed.
Marina facilities
Yamba Marina runs as a genuine full-service port for both resident and transient vessels. The 95 wet berths take boats up to about 25 metres, with power and water at the berths, and permanent and casual berthing are both offered; around fifteen swing moorings supplement the pens. The fuel wharf operates seven days selling BP Ultimate diesel and 98-octane unleaded, which makes it the reliable fuel stop between Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast, and a sewage pump-out serves berth holders and visitors. A boat ramp on site handles trailer traffic, and slipping and hardstand facilities with travel lift cater for haul-outs, survey work and maintenance, backed by the owners' boat-building sheds and a network of local marine trades. Amenities include showers, toilets and a coin laundry. Food and retail have become an attraction in their own right: the family-run Yamba Marina Cafe serves breakfast and lunch over the water, the Yamba Prawn Shack, operated by the Clarence River Fishermen's Co-operative, sells prawns and seafood straight off the trawlers, and the Sunset and Wine bar trades afternoons through the week at 3 Yamba Road. The marina works to International Clean Marina environmental standards, and an independent audit of water, soil and sediment samples gave the operation a clean bill of health. With occupancy above ninety per cent and boat sales strong, the owners hold an approved DA to expand from 95 to 145 berths within the existing site, and future stages may add super-yacht capacity along the river frontage. Berth enquiries go through the office on 02 6646 9898.
Local sailing knowledge
The Clarence River bar is the first thing any visiting skipper plans around. The entrance at Yamba is trained by long rock walls and is one of the better North Coast bars, but it still demands a rising tide and settled weather, and Marine Rescue Iluka Yamba, based at the marina precinct, is the contact for current bar conditions. Inside, the river is deep and wide: ocean-going yachts regularly work sixty kilometres upstream to Grafton, and the newer high-level Harwood bridge has removed the old opening-bridge constraint for most craft. The run upriver is a cruising ground in itself, with council wharves at Maclean and Ulmarra letting crews step ashore at the river towns, and an informal 'seven pubs' trail by water that brings flotillas of Gold Coast cruisers down each year around the Jacaranda Festival. Across from Yamba, Iluka offers anchorage and a quieter foreshore, with a passenger ferry linking the two. Nearer the marina, the anchorage off the town and the river reaches toward Palmers Island suit overnight stops in any weather. Provisioning is excellent by North Coast standards: Yamba's supermarkets, bakeries and famous prawns are an easy walk from the berths, and the co-op's trawler fleet means seafood is bought metres from where it is landed. Offshore, the fishing grounds toward the Solitary Islands and the wider shelf are a short run from the bar. The clientele is a working mix: prawn trawlers unloading beside charter boats, Sydney-Hobart campaigners waiting out weather, and a steady stream of coast-hopping cruisers who treat Yamba as the half-way house of the NSW coast.