Meningie Sailing Club

Meningie Sailing Club is based at 1 Princes Highway, Meningie, on the shores of Lake Albert in South Australia's Lower Lakes region, about two hours south-east of Adelaide. The club offers Come and Try Sailing for beginners, club racing, team sailing and a Winter Series, and its signature event is the Goolwa to Meningie Sailing Classic.

It's a remarkable little club. Meningie sits on the edge of the Coorong, more than 150 kilometres by road from the nearest other sailing club, yet the club has slightly more junior members than seniors. That's thanks to a strong partnership with the local school and a genuine welcome for families. All classes are welcome, from Pacers, 125s, Sabres, NS14s and Mirrors to A Class and Nacra catamarans and trailable yachts like the Hartley TS16 and RL24. The club also owns six refurbished Pacers for learners.

New sailors can register through SailPass, and membership forms, sailing instructions, the event calendar and newsletters are on the club website. Volunteers help run races through the race officer roster. Contact the club at meningiesc@internode.on.net. See our Meningie sailing clubs page for more.

Come and Try Sailing days are the easiest way to start at Meningie, giving beginners a taste of sailing with experienced members on hand. There are also annual Discover Sailing Days, and new sailors can register through SailPass and join club racing when they're ready.

Young people are a big focus. Wednesday twilight sessions cater for school children, and a partnership with the local school provides sailing instruction in terms 1 and 4. The club's six refurbished Pacers, each with its own trailer, give learners a stable, forgiving boat to start in.

The club also runs team sailing events and a Winter Series, and volunteers are always needed on the race officer roster, which is a good way to learn how racing works from the shore. Before heading out on the lake, check the forecast; our guide to reading marine weather forecasts explains what to look for.

The club is at 1 Princes Highway, Meningie, on the eastern shore of Lake Albert, part of the Lower Lakes at the end of the River Murray and on the doorstep of Coorong National Park. Lake Albert is a large, shallow freshwater lake with plenty of room for racing, though conditions can build quickly on open water.

The Goolwa to Meningie Sailing Classic links the club with Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club across Lake Alexandrina, and Milang Regatta Club is nearby on the western shore of Lake Alexandrina.

The club's calendar makes the most of the Lower Lakes. Besides the 70-kilometre Goolwa to Meningie, members race the 55-kilometre Narrung Race, the 20-kilometre Campbell Park Race and the 30–40-kilometre Lake Albert Classic. Because the lakes are shallow, a strong wind can raise a steep, short chop quickly, which is part of what makes the long-distance races such a test.

Meningie Sailing Club was established in 1964, and its great race is even older than the club. The Goolwa to Meningie Sailing Classic celebrated its 50th anniversary on 16 November 2013. It runs about 70 kilometres from Goolwa through the Goolwa channel, across Lake Alexandrina and into Lake Albert. Locals call it "the sailors' challenge", and simply finishing earns bragging rights for a sailing lifetime. It's often described as Australia's longest freshwater race.

The club has been tested hard. The Millennium Drought, from around 2006 to 2010, dropped the Lower Lakes so far that the club had to rebuild its membership almost from scratch. Later floods brought their own challenges. Each time, the club has come back, and today its junior-heavy membership shows how well that rebuild worked.