Flinders Yacht Club History


The existence of Flinders Yacht Club is owed to a small group of people who met during early 1976 to consider forming a sailing club in the Flinders area. One of these was Graham Pittard, now a life member and still a local resident. On 27 October 1976, 37 people interested in forming a club to ‘foster interest in boating in Flinders’ met in the recreation room of the Flinders Caravan Park and founded the Flinders Yacht Club.

The history of the site dates to earlier times.  The top photo shows the future Yacht Club site on Kennon Cove in the early 20th century, when it was a very challenging hole on the Flinders Golf Course.

The first committee met fortnightly after that to arrange membership forms, a Constitution and the first race, which took place on Sunday 28 November 1976. It was agreed that an area adjacent to the West Head Gunnery Range, extending for about 600 feet towards the jetty, would offer the best site for the Club. Earlier in the century this area had been a fishing ‘village’; later it comprised part of the golf course.

By the time of the first AGM, in August 1977, a sailing program for dinghies and trailer-sailers had been devised for season 1977-78. Graham Pittard was elected Commodore, and Tom Delaney Snr, a Port Phillip Sea Pilot, became Vice Commodore.

The following year, 1978, saw the inaugural issue of the Flinders Yacht Club newsletter, originally called ‘The Flinders Fair Log’. A few years later the newsletter was renamed ‘West Headings’, which it remains today.

By the end of 1978 the Club was running regular races, membership was increasing, and a rescue boat had been obtained. However, it was not all smooth sailing. For a while, the fledgling Club’s fate hung in the balance. It was resolved by the Extraordinary General Meeting held in the Flinders Hall at the end of March 1979, which elected John Nilsen firstly to the committee and then to the position of Commodore.

Acquiring and developing the land needed for the Club was no simple matter. Representations had to be made to the Bass Park Trust, the Navy, the National Trust, the Department of Administrative Services, the Department of Crown Lands and Survey and many other bodies. Moreover, the Club was about to embark on an ambitious building program yet had a bank balance of a mere $527. 11.

The solution found to finance construction of the Clubhouse was a co-op -- the West Head Cooperative Society Ltd. It was established in mid-1982 with members subscribing $6,000 in share capital and committing to a bank loan of $36,000 at 14% interest. The final cost of the clubhouse building was $43,848. Opening Day was 20 November 1983.  See the second photo, with the Yacht Club under construction in 1983.

Not long after its completion the Club had the first indications that the foreshore was being eroded. Within a few years the new building was in danger of being washed away at high tide.

Finally a retaining wall was built and a ramp built between the compound and the sea.

Starting and finishing races was a perennial problem. In the early days members sat on the outer arm of the old pier; in 1980 a race box was built there. Crash boat starts were tried but proved difficult to organise. Finally the tower was built in 1993 to alleviate most starting and finishing problems and to greatly improve the quality of supervision and safety.

Another perennial issue was the health of the off-beach and keelboat fleets. The history of FYC seems to have been that the good health of one has been offset by malaise in the other. In 1988 concern about the state of junior sailing led us to invite the VYC Sailing School to Flinders, with outstanding success, and sailing schools became a regular part of the FYC program. In the early 90s, in an effort to reduce costs and increase participation, the Club organised its own school, with the result that in 1994 there were 50 kids and 10 adults involved. That year the first junior captains were elected: Kylie Slater, Michael Newton and James Manners.  The third photo shows an early race in progress, including a reproduction of Matthew Flinders' open boat.

Meanwhile keelboats boomed to the extent that in 1988 it was seriously suggested that FYC might become a keelboat-only Club. To help celebrate Victoria’s 150th anniversary in 1985 a keelboat race from Portsea to Flinders was inaugurated on the ANA weekend in January. Until the abolition of the Australia Day long weekend in 1994, this race and the next day’s race from Flinders to Cerberus were key events on the Victorian ocean racing calendar. Spit roasts for 200 or more hungry sailors not only put Flinders on the map but also swelled the fundraising coffers. Yet by 1993, the quorum for keelboat races at Flinders had been reduced to two entries.

 One aspect of the Club that was consistently robust was social events. Whether in Trivial Pursuit quests, World Famous Lasagne Nights, Mystery Progressive Dinners, or New Year’s Eve parties, FYC events throughout the 80s and 90s were musts for members and guests, and a great boon to the fundraising committees responsible for the purchase and development of rescue boats and equipment, the race tower, the ‘Great Southern Shed’, and so on.

 Fundraising events and a solid core of members put the Club in a position where by 1996 the co-op loan could be paid out and the co-op wound up.

In the 25th anniversary year (2006) the Club implemented the next stage of its growth, with an extension to the clubhouse, providing junior sailors with a club room of their own. Its future is assured if present and future members show the kind of enthusiasm and dedication demonstrated by members over the past 25 years.

All photos courtesy of the Flinders Historical Society.