Royal Perth Yacht Club

Royal Perth Yacht Club is the club that ended the longest winning streak in sport. In 1983 its challenger Australia II beat the New York Yacht Club to win the America's Cup, the first time the Cup had left the US in 132 years. The street outside the Crawley clubhouse, Australia II Drive, is named for that win.

Founded in 1865, RPYC is the third-oldest yacht club in Australia. Its main base is on Matilda Bay on the Swan River at Crawley, and it also has a Fremantle annexe. The club offers social, racing and training activities and marina facilities.

Programs and training. RPYC runs a broad set of training and development activities: adult and junior learn-to-sail courses, keelboat crew and helm training, dinghy (Start Sailing) courses delivered to Australian Sailing standards, windsurfing and windfoil courses, and a sailing development program.

Facilities and marina services. The club operates Crawley Marina and a Fremantle annexe, offering berthing, hardstand boat storage and associated boatyard services, marina fuel and superyacht pens at the Fremantle annexe.

Racing and events. RPYC hosts a full season of racing and events, including twilight and weekend series, teams racing, match racing, state championships and larger regattas. Event and function facilities are available to members and for external bookings.

See also Crawley marinas and Perth's sailing clubs.

RPYC offers adult and junior learn-to-sail programs: keelboat crew and helm courses, dinghy Start Sailing (levels 1–2) on the club's RS Quest and Feva fleets, windsurfing and windfoil courses, plus scheduled development programs and accredited instructor-led training. Course lengths, fees and dates are published on the club's course pages, and courses run to Australian Sailing standards where noted.

The Swan River at Crawley is a great classroom. The water is flat, the breeze is reliable, and there's plenty of room. Beginners learn in the morning calm, and the afternoon sea breeze gives improvers something to push against. Graduates can move straight into the club's twilight and weekend racing, crewing on keelboats or joining the dinghy fleets.

Looking for other options around Perth? Browse sailing courses on YouSail or sailing academies in Fremantle.

The club's main waters are the Swan River at Crawley. Matilda Bay offers sheltered river sailing with easy access downstream to Fremantle and the Indian Ocean. The Fremantle annexe supports ocean and harbour activity, and the club operates a marina and superyacht pens across its sites.

The Swan is famous for the "Fremantle Doctor", the south-westerly sea breeze that fills in most summer afternoons and can blow hard on the river's open reaches. Mornings are often light and glassy, so the day's sailing tends to have two very different halves. Downstream, the river narrows through Fremantle before opening onto Gage Roads, Rottnest Island and the open ocean.

For more local detail, see our Perth and Swan River sailing guide and our guide to WA weather and the Fremantle Doctor.

Sailing on the Swan River started soon after Perth was settled. In 1865 a group of pioneer sailors formalised the Perth Yacht Club, making it Australia's third-oldest yacht club after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. In 1890, on the recommendation of Governor Sir Frederic Napier Broome, Queen Victoria granted the royal prefix. At the same time the Lords of the Admiralty granted a warrant to fly the undefaced Blue Ensign.

The club's defining chapter came in September 1983. Alan Bond's syndicate, sailing under the RPYC burgee, won the America's Cup with Australia II and her winged keel. It ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year hold on the Cup, the longest winning streak in sport, and made the club a household name.

As defender, RPYC then hosted the 1987 America's Cup off Fremantle. The regatta transformed the port city and put Western Australian sailing on the world stage. The club celebrated 150 years of sailing on the Swan in 2015, and today it runs one of the country's busiest programs of racing, training and match racing from Matilda Bay and Fremantle.