Port Adelaide Sailing Club

Port Adelaide Sailing Club (PASC) is based at 43 George Robertson Drive, Largs North, in the Marina Adelaide precinct on the Port River — about 20 minutes from Adelaide's city centre, between the Birkenhead Bridge and the boatbuilding sheds. Founded in 1897, it has a long tradition of supporting both cruising and racing members.

The club runs keelboat racing through the year, including a winter calendar with events such as the Cartwright Cup (from late June) and the Port Line Cup (August), a dedicated cruising program, a Sailability program with its own state championship, and official and social events for members. See other clubs nearby on our Largs North sailing clubs page.

PASC is a keelboat club, and much of the learning happens on the water with experienced crews. The racing program runs through the year, including a winter series with events such as the Cartwright Cup and the Port Line Cup, and skippers are often looking for keen crew. The cruising program is a great way for newer members to learn passage-making and anchoring in company.

The club's Sailability program offers accessible sailing for people with disability, and it even has its own state championship. For anyone thinking about joining a keelboat club for the first time, our guide to choosing a sailing club explains what to look for.

The clubhouse is at 43 George Robertson Drive in Largs North, in the marina precinct at Snowdens Beach on the Port River. The river gives the club sheltered water for racing and a direct route out to Gulf St Vincent for cruising and longer passages.

The precinct is home to several clubs, including neighbouring Port River Sailing Club, and the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia is nearby at North Haven. For more about sailing around the city, see our Adelaide destination guide.

Port Adelaide Sailing Club was founded in 1897, when the harbour at Port Adelaide was busy with shipping and dockside trade. For more than a century it has been a home for sailors on the Port River, supporting both cruising and racing interests.

The club's history is recorded in its own archives, including accounts of the Largs North maritime precinct, the yachts that have sailed under the PASC burgee, and its long-running newsletter, River Ramblings.

Its roots are in working-class Port Adelaide. For most of its first century the club sailed from the inner Port River at Birkenhead, among the naval yard, customs house, docks, slipways and boatyards that lined the river's southern shore. In 2007, after 110 years in the inner harbour, the club moved downriver to a brand-new marina at Snowden's Beach, Largs North, giving members modern berths and quicker access to the gulf. Its first 110 years are recorded in John Couper-Smartt's history, A Sailing-boat Club at Port Adelaide: 1897 to 2007.