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Sailing club
Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club is an Australian Sailing affiliated club based in Fremantle, with a jetty leased in Challenger Harbour — the marina built for the 1987 America's Cup. It is a home for cruising sailors on the Fremantle waterfront, close to Rottnest Island and the open Indian Ocean.
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Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club is an Australian Sailing affiliated club based in Fremantle, with a jetty leased in Challenger Harbour — the marina built for the 1987 America's Cup. It is a home for cruising sailors on the Fremantle waterfront, close to Rottnest Island and the open Indian Ocean.
Service area: Fremantle, WA
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Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club (FCYC) is an Australian Sailing affiliated club in Fremantle, with its office at Suite 39, 11 Cliff Street and a jetty leased in Challenger Harbour, next to Fremantle's historic Fishing Boat Harbour. It's a club for cruising sailors who want a base on the Fremantle waterfront.
The location is hard to beat. Challenger Harbour was built for the 1987 America's Cup, so FCYC members berth in a harbour that once hosted the world's most famous yacht race, a short walk from Fremantle's cafés, pubs and markets. From the harbour mouth it's a quick sail to Rottnest Island and the open Indian Ocean, which suits cruising sailors perfectly.
The club's focus is sailing in company and sharing local knowledge, from weekend trips to Rottnest to longer coastal cruises. Contact the club on (08) 9336 1122 or fcyclub@bigpond.com. See other clubs nearby on our Fremantle sailing clubs page and our Fremantle page.
FCYC is a cruising club, and much of what members learn comes from sailing in company and sharing local knowledge. For formal training, nearby Fremantle Sailing Club runs learn-to-sail and Safety and Sea Survival courses through its Sailing Academy. If you're planning a cruise, our guides to planning a coastal passage along Western Australia and sailing Rottnest Island are good starting points.
Cruising clubs are a great place to learn the practical side of sailing that courses don't always cover: anchoring in a crowded bay, planning around the sea breeze, provisioning and maintaining a boat for longer trips. Sailing in company with more experienced members is one of the best ways to build confidence before heading further afield.
The club's jetty is in Challenger Harbour in Fremantle, beside the Fishing Boat Harbour. The harbour was built for the 1987 America's Cup to berth 12-metre yachts, and after the Cup it was modified for recreational boats, with leases to FCYC and to the Royal Perth Yacht Club's annex. It has pens from 10 to 35 metres, three wharves and fuel, and it offers easy access to the Indian Ocean.
From Fremantle, Rottnest Island is a short sail offshore, and the coast north and south offers plenty of cruising. Our guide to sailing Fremantle harbour covers approaches and local conditions.
Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club's home in Challenger Harbour ties it to one of the great moments in Australian sailing. The harbour was built in 1983–84 for the 1987 America's Cup, the first defence held outside the United States after Australia II's famous win in 1983. It was designed to berth the 12-Metre yachts, with a stone breakwater to protect them from the ocean.
When the Cup left Fremantle at the end of the 1987 regatta, the harbour was converted for recreational boating. Of its seven jetties, one was leased to FCYC and four to the Royal Perth Yacht Club's annexe. That turned a purpose-built America's Cup base into a permanent home for Fremantle's cruising sailors. Today it sits beside the historic Fishing Boat Harbour, one of the busiest and most atmospheric parts of the Fremantle waterfront.
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