Canberra Ocean Racing Club

Canberra is about as far from the ocean as an Australian capital gets, but that hasn't stopped the Canberra Ocean Racing Club (CORC). Since 1979 this yacht-owning club has given Canberra and regional sailors a way to race and cruise on harbour, coastal and blue water, without each member needing their own yacht.

How it works. The club owns the boat and members share it. The current yacht is Namadgi 3, a Bavaria 46 cruiser commissioned on 15 July 2017 and berthed in the Sydney Harbour and Pittwater area. She's the eighth yacht the club has owned. Membership is small, around 20 active sailors, and the club says it especially suits people without the time or money to keep a yacht of their own.

What members do. Races, coastal cruises and longer passages. The club's albums record a Sydney Hobart entry in 2013, cruises to Tasmania in 2015 and 2020, a Pacific cruise in 2023 and regular winter cruises.

It's an unusual model and a clever one: blue-water experience for a fraction of the cost of ownership. For more on the home waters, see our Pittwater sailing guide and Sydney Harbour page.

CORC is designed for sailors who want offshore and coastal experience without the cost and time of owning their own yacht. Members share the club's Bavaria 46 Cruiser, Namadgi 3, based in the Sydney Harbour and Pittwater region, and learn by crewing on club races, cruises and passages — the club describes it as an ideal way to gain practical experience before buying a yacht of your own.

Offshore racing requires safety training, so members planning passages should look at courses such as Safety and Sea Survival, which clubs like the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia run in Sydney. Our guides to planning an offshore passage along the NSW coast and sailing Pittwater are useful background.

Members sail from the club's home base in Sydney Harbour and nearby Pittwater. That gives them a protected harbour to train in, as well as the open Tasman Sea for offshore passages.

It's a smart base. Pittwater is one of Australia's best cruising grounds, with sheltered anchorages and a short hop to Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury River. Sydney Harbour puts the club at the heart of the country's busiest racing scene and close to the start of the Sydney Hobart. From there the NSW coast offers a long list of coastal passages, and Bass Strait leads on to Tasmania, where members have cruised twice.

For passage planning, see our guides to sailing Pittwater, offshore passages along the NSW coast and the Sydney Harbour location page.

The Canberra Ocean Racing Club was founded in 1979 to give Canberra-based sailors a platform for coastal and offshore sailing. The idea was simple: pool resources, own a yacht together, and take it to sea.

Over the years the club has owned eight yachts. The current one, the Bavaria 46 cruiser Namadgi 3, was commissioned on 15 July 2017. She shares her name with the ACT's Namadgi National Park, a fitting link back to the club's inland home.

The club's record shows how far that shared-yacht idea can go. Members entered the Sydney Hobart in 2013, cruised to Tasmania in 2015 and again in 2020, and sailed a Pacific cruise in 2023, alongside regular winter cruises and coastal racing. The club now has about 20 members and keeps the same founding purpose: getting Canberra sailors out to sea.