Wollongong Yacht Club (WYC) provides year-round sailing along the Illawarra coastline, situated in the best location on Wollongong Harbour, with views of the little lighthouse and the stunning foreshore.

The club established over 50 years ago in 1968 and has a long history with many colourful characters. People who have sailed long distances, been in overseas races and sailed in the Sydney to Hobart as well as many other Australian based races.  It has progressed from a few sailors racing each other and meeting on the beach afterwards to a club of over a 100 who meet at yachties cafe at the clubhouse after racing and social sails.

WYC is small enough that members can get to know each other. It's a friendly club with skippers helping each other out as well as assisting new members crew. Members help out around the club doing a myriad of sailing and club roles.

Membership: Currently there are 103 members of which 30% are women and some student and junior members.

Sailing and Programs on offer: Wollongong Yacht Club has fortnightly races, which include local offshore races and ocean races to Bass Point, Port Hacking and Kiama. There are also twilights sailing opportunities in summer. WYC also offers ‘discover sailing’ for community members who are 16 years or over to try ocean sailing. The club will also commence learn to sail classes later this year.

Key club events: There are 2 biggest club sailing events are the 3 day Australia Day Regatta and The Coal Coast Classic Ocean Race on the October long weekend.  Many social events also occur throughout the year such as Xmas in July, the annual presentation evening and the end of year raft ups in Belmore basin at Wollongong Harbour which are well attended and good fun.

One of the clubs biggest challenges has been the development of a physical club setting with all that's related, to enable increased club member contact through having a meeting place and to have facilities to store sailing equipment. It's been slowly developing with the support from the commodore and members labour / energy as well as from small government grants.

One of the clubs biggest success stories is The Coal Coast Classic Ocean Race event which in 2019 was an initiative to compete with clubs in southern Sydney and develop closer relationships for ocean racing in this region. Increasing membership from around 40 members 5 years ago to over 100 members today is another significant achievement.

If ever in the area on a Saturday or Sunday make sure you drop in to Yachties’ café at the clubhouse and watch the yachts sail out for their races / social sails. All are welcome!