Port Lincoln Yacht Club

Port Lincoln Yacht Club (PLYC) sits on the Boston Bay foreshore at 1 Eyre Street, Port Lincoln, and calls itself the home of sailing in Port Lincoln. It's also the finishing club for one of Australia's great ocean races, the Adelaide to Port Lincoln, and the host of Lincoln Week, one of South Australia's biggest regattas.

What the club offers

• Regular weekend racing for off-the-beach dinghies and keelboats through the season.
• Junior and youth pathways, including a Learn to Sail program for children aged 8 and up, led by qualified instructors with safety-boat support.
• Club-owned boats for hire in several classes, to help newcomers get on the water.
• Major regional and national events, notably Lincoln Week and the finish of the Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race.

Community and facilities. PLYC welcomes sailors of all ages and experience levels, with casual sailing options, newcomer incentives (including trial race days) and social events. The clubhouse, overlooking Boston Bay, is also available for private and corporate functions.

See our Port Lincoln page and Port Lincoln sailing clubs for more.

PLYC runs a Learn to Sail program for beginners aged 8 and over, delivered by qualified instructors with safety-boat support. The club supports junior fleets (Optimist, Cadet, 420, ILCA/Laser) with regular Saturday sessions (mornings for Optimists, afternoons for Cadets and 420s) and has club-owned boats for hire. For keelboats, the club offers training and casual crew opportunities, including two training keelboats so newcomers can experience weekend racing.

The pathway is well worn. Port Lincoln has long produced strong sailors, and the progression from Optimists to Cadets and 420s, then into ILCA dinghies or keelboat crews, gives young sailors a clear route. Adults can start with a trial race day on a training keelboat and move into regular crewing from there. Before heading out, see our FAQ on checks before your first sail in SA waters.

The club fronts Boston Bay at Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. The bay's sheltered inshore areas suit dinghy racing and junior sessions, while the broader bay hosts keelboat courses and Lincoln Week events.

Boston Bay is one of the largest natural harbours in Australia, protected by Boston Island and the surrounding headlands, so it offers big-bay racing with less of the open-ocean swell found outside. Beyond the bay lies lower Spencer Gulf, with the Sir Joseph Banks Group and the islands off the southern Eyre Peninsula making great cruising destinations. Port Lincoln is also home to a large fishing fleet, including the famous tuna boats, so expect working traffic.

Planning a passage? See our FAQ on crossing Spencer Gulf or heading to Kangaroo Island and the Eyre Peninsula page.

Sailing on Boston Bay goes back almost to the town's founding. Regattas were recorded as early as 29 February 1840, and by the 1880s a Port Lincoln Sailing Club was racing in blue and white colours. An 1885 report in the Adelaide Observer lists winners including Bill Haigh in Albatross and Tom Tait in Canowie. The First World War and the Depression eventually closed the early sailing and regatta clubs.

The modern club was formed on 23 October 1931 as the Port Lincoln Yachting Club, with F. Medwell as Commodore. Its founding aim was "to foster a love of the sea, the education of members into the art of sailing, and the promotion of the best interests of yachting", and its first race was sailed on 5 November 1931. The Second World War drained its membership and the club went into recess after 1940.

On 8 December 1948 a public meeting led by figures including Roy King revived the club, and organised racing resumed on 1 January 1949. A year later, on 4 February 1950, seven yachts started the first Adelaide to Port Lincoln Ocean Race, now one of Australia's premier offshore events. The Charlton family donated beachfront land for a clubhouse, completed in 1953–54, and a bequest from Harold Blomberry later funded a second storey, opened by Sir James Hardy in 1974. The 505 class arrived in 1958, and in the 1960s the Moth and Heron classes sparked a golden era, with 90 to 100 boats racing on the bay on weekends. The first Lincoln Week Regatta followed in 1976.