Fremantle Sailing Club

Fremantle Sailing Club (FSC) is at 151 Marine Terrace, South Fremantle, at Success Harbour, just south of Fremantle's historic Fishing Boat Harbour. With more than 3,500 members it is one of Australia's largest ocean clubs, and it caters for almost every kind of sailor: keelboat and dinghy racing, an active cruising section, and a Sailing Academy with learn-to-sail courses and Safety and Sea Survival training.

Marina facilities include wet pens, swing moorings, shore power, liveaboard options, fuel, trailer boat and tender storage, launching ramps and accommodation for visiting vessels, plus a boatyard with registered contractors. The clubhouse has a restaurant and hosts functions from weddings to conferences. See other clubs nearby on our Fremantle sailing clubs page.

FSC's Sailing Academy runs learn-to-sail courses for every age. Learn to Sail Kids is a fun, active program for 7 to 12 year olds who are new to sailing; Learn to Sail Youth is a social, outdoors program for 13 to 17 year olds; and Learn to Sail Adults is an introduction to keelboat sailing on boats up to nine metres long, with three to six people aboard. Courses run in the school holidays and across the summer and winter seasons, and are booked online. The academy also runs the Safety and Sea Survival course for sailors heading offshore.

After the basics, there are plenty of ways to keep learning. The cruising section holds monthly Sunday afternoon sails, a Wednesday twilight sail through summer, and weekend cruises to Rockingham and Mindarie, with longer trips to Geographe Bay and the Abrolhos Islands. Keelboat and dinghy racing series run through the year for those who want to compete.

The club is at Success Harbour in South Fremantle, a short walk from the cafés and heritage streets of Fremantle. From the harbour, boats head straight out into Gage Roads and the open Indian Ocean, with Rottnest Island about 18 kilometres offshore — a favourite destination for day sails and weekend cruises.

Summer afternoons bring the famous south-westerly sea breeze known as the Fremantle Doctor, which can build quickly; our guide to Western Australian weather for sailors explains what to expect. For local pilotage, see our guide to sailing Fremantle harbour. On shore, FSC offers wet pens, swing moorings, fuel, storage, launching ramps and a boatyard, and visiting yachts can arrange a berth.

Sailing in Fremantle goes back to the 1870s, when local merchants and seafarers recognised the area's ideal conditions, and the first regatta was held in May 1872. Early clubs came and went — the North Fremantle Sailing Club, formed in 1897, merged with the Fremantle Yacht Club in 1902, but both had disbanded by 1908. A meeting in 1919 established the modern Fremantle Sailing Club.

Its first real home was a redundant customs shed that the council relocated to Scott Street in 1923. In 1939 the club bought two blocks of land on Louisa Street for £105, and after the Second World War members moved and renovated an ex-Army building on the site; the clubhouse, with a dance hall and kitchen that helped pay the bills, opened in November 1947.

The construction of the Fishing Boat Harbour in 1962 disrupted the club but gave it harbour access, and the 1979 Parmelia Yacht Race spurred the development of Success Harbour. Premier Sir Charles Court unveiled a plaque marking the opening of the new clubhouse in December 1979. Today FSC has more than 3,500 members and has produced Olympic medallists, including Matt Wearn, gold medallist at the 2020 and 2024 Games.