Bay Sailing Centre

Bay Sailing Centre is at Seaview Crescent, Soldiers Point, on the shores of Salamander Bay in Port Stephens. Formerly Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club, it now operates as a sub-location of Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.

The centre runs Junior Discover Sailing and Junior Learn to Sail in O'Pen Skiffs and Tackers dinghies, and point-score racing through the summer season. A long sandy beach and two grassy reserves make launching easy, with a public wharf and concrete ramp 100 metres to the north.

The setting is a big part of the appeal. The beach faces east toward the Port Stephens headlands, across water widely regarded as one of the best sailboat racing tracks in Australia, and the site has hosted world, national and state championships over its 40-year history.

Upstairs, the café serves barista coffee and snacks, and the function space, veranda and indoor viewing areas all look out over the bay. It's a great spot for parents to watch junior sailing. Call (02) 4919 1015 or email contact@baysailingcentre.com.au. See our Soldiers Point sailing clubs page for more.

Bay Sailing Centre is a great place for kids to start sailing. Junior Discover Sailing sessions give young people a first taste of the water, and Junior Learn to Sail courses build skills in Tackers dinghies (the boats used in Australian Sailing's Tackers program) and O'Pen Skiffs, a fun, modern single-handed boat for young sailors.

Once sailors are confident, point-score racing through the summer season gives them plenty of chances to race in friendly conditions. For adults and keelboat sailing, the parent club, Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, runs programs from its base at Wickham.

The beach set-up helps young sailors. Boats are rigged on the grass and launched straight off the sand, so there's no pontoon or ramp to manage, and parents can watch from the café deck. Families new to sailing may like our guides on what beginners should learn first and choosing a sailing club.

The centre is on Seaview Crescent at Soldiers Point, on the shores of Salamander Bay in Port Stephens. A long stretch of white sandy beach and two grassy reserves make it easy to rig and launch dinghies, and there's a public wharf and concrete boat ramp about 100 metres to the north. Larger boats can use the nearby Soldiers Point boat ramp and marina.

Salamander Bay offers sheltered, reliable water that the club describes as one of the best sailboat racing tracks in Australia. For more on the wider bay, see our guide to sailing Port Stephens, Nelson Bay and the Myall Coast. Port Stephens Yacht Club is also based at Soldiers Point.

Port Stephens is a large, deep natural harbour, several times the size of Sydney Harbour, and summer north-easterly sea breezes blow reliably across it. The bay faces east toward the heads, so the breeze comes in clean off the water. That's a big reason championship fleets keep coming back. See our Port Stephens page for more.

The site has around 40 years of dinghy sailing history. As Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club, it hosted local racing as well as major world, national and state championships, using Salamander Bay's reliable breeze and open water.

In recent years Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club took on the licence to run the community club and renamed it Bay Sailing Centre to mark the change. It now operates as an NCYC sub-location, with junior training and summer racing continuing from the beach.

The change has kept Salamander Bay's sailing tradition alive while linking young sailors to a larger club's pathways and keelboat programs. The upstairs café and function space have also made the centre a community venue, so the beach stays busy on and off the water.