Merimbula Sailboard Club

Merimbula Sailboard Club is based at Main Beach, Merimbula, on the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales. It was formed in 1980–81 by a handful of keen wave sailors, many of whom are still involved. It's best known for the Merimbula Classic, a wave-sailing contest held each November that now welcomes windsurfers, kitesurfers, stand-up paddlers and foilers. The 44th edition runs from 26 to 29 November 2026. The club also holds the PenneMal each May.

The Classic is one of the longest-running events of its kind anywhere. It began as a windsurfing contest and has grown with each new water sport, adding kitesurfing, wing and foil surfing and SUP surfing. Over the years it has attracted some of Australia's best wave riders and helped put Merimbula on the map as a Far South Coast water sports destination.

For news and entries, see the club's website and Facebook page. See our Merimbula sailing clubs page and our Merimbula location page for more.

Merimbula Sailboard Club is an event-focused club for experienced wave sailors rather than a learn-to-windsurf school. Its two big fixtures, the Merimbula Classic in November and the PenneMal in May, welcome windsurfers, kitesurfers, stand-up paddlers and foilers, and they're a great chance to watch and learn from some of the country's best wave riders. If you're new to windsurfing, start on flat water with a qualified instructor before heading into the surf.

Merimbula Lake is a natural stepping stone. The club's own founders started there before moving out to the bar. Flat, shallow water lets you practise, and the bar entrance is there when you're ready for waves. Wave sailing is demanding, so learn to read swell and sea state first. Our guide to wind, waves, swell and sea state is a good primer.

The club is based at Main Beach, Merimbula, on the NSW Sapphire Coast about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne. Its founders started sailing on Merimbula Lake before discovering the bar at the lake entrance, where the wind direction lets sailors reach out to sea and ride waves back in.

The coast here faces the Tasman Sea, so conditions depend heavily on the swell and wind direction — which is why the Classic runs across several days to catch the best of it. For cruising the area by yacht, see our guide to sailing Eden and Twofold Bay and Twofold Bay Yacht Club in nearby Eden.

The club was formed in 1980–81 by a handful of keen surfer-sailors. The story goes that local tuna fishermen discovered windsurfing on a trip to Hawaii and brought it home to Merimbula. They held a contest at Easter 1981, won by Mike Maguire, and another in November to coincide with the first Rip Curl multi-fin sailboard classic in Torquay. That was the start of what became the Merimbula Classic. Henry Jones became the club's first president and John Smythe its first contest director.

Timing helped the event grow. Merimbula sat conveniently between the big contests in Sydney and Torquay, so touring competitors could stop in on their way through. For years the event was sponsored by Mambo, and it was widely known as "the Mambo" until the brand was sold. Raging Bull Surf later became a sponsor.

The Merimbula Classic has run every year since 1981, making it one of the longest-running events of its kind anywhere in the world. Over the decades it has grown to include kitesurfing, stand-up paddling and foiling, and it remains a fixture on the Australian wave-sailing calendar. The 43rd edition ran in November 2025.