We offer a variety of opportunities to continue the development of your sailing skills and knowledge so you can become a confident and independent sailor.
Whether you’re keen to head offshore on a yacht or are more interested in around-the-buoys racing within the Harbour, or even a bit of both . . . we have development programs to provide that pathway.
Extend & challenge your sailing skills in a supportive environment . . .Join us for an 8-week coaching program for women & girls which aims to empower inshore keelboat sailors of Newcastle through skill development and confidence.
We are thankful for funding from the ‘Sail Our Way’ Participation Grant Program, through the Department of Health & Aged Care’s Play Our Way initiative, which supports sailing clubs to deliver projects that create safe, inclusive, and empowering spaces for women and girls.
The program FOCUS is on skilled boat handling, crew work dynamics, close-quarter race manoeuvering and racing confidence.
The OUTCOME we are aiming for is competent race-ready inshore sailors.
Coaching sessions will be conducted in the club’s fleet of Elliott 6 keelboats as well as Pacer dinghies, on occasion, so as to challenge and expand the breath of understanding of sailing skills.
Course Info:
Suitable for:
You are welcome to discuss your experience, skills and suitability with our Senior Instructor, Tosh, via 4940 8188 or seniorinstructor@ncyc.net.au
All sailing will be conducted on the inshore waters of Newcastle Harbour.
By providing coaching to extend sailing skills we hope to retain more female sailors, support their learning goals and make their involvement more rewarding.
We hope to also provide an opportunity to develop expanded sailing connections, to be inspired and to establish pathways for participants to continue in our sport.
Join us for an exciting step in your sailing journey, by taking all your skills & knowledge gained through our courses on inshore keelboats and applying them to sailing on the 40ft yacht, Aurora.
Our specifically qualified instructors will lead your transition onto a larger boat and guide your understanding of how to now operate in a different on-water environment.
We’ll introduce the use of winches & winch handles, backstays & runners, clutches & cleats, you will practise flaking sails, and we’ll highlight the different crew positions onboard and the important role each of them plays.
We will also work through the syllabus of the Start Racing course of Australian Sailing’s National Keelboat Program in preparation for participating in the starts of our Club’s Wednesday Twilight Racing. Learn about course flags, the starting sequence, basic racing rules as well as race tactics and sail trim.
Course Info:
Additional Opportunity:
Pre-requisites:
All sailing will be conducted on the inshore waters of Newcastle Harbour, we will not be sailing offshore during the training program.
We will however coordinate the additional opportunity for you to sail onboard one of our member’s yachts and actively participate in the twilight racing, sailing offshore with the support of a nominated crew mentor and really becoming part of the crew!
SPRING 2025 PROGRAM:
Aurora Training – 4 weeks (15th Oct to 5th Nov) 5:00pm to 8:00pm
Aurora Racing Starts – 2 weeks (12th & 19th Nov) 4:00pm to 7:00pm
Twilight Racing – 2 weeks (26th Nov & 3rd Dec) 4:00pm to 7:00pm – additional opportunity
SUMMER 2026 PROGRAM:
Aurora Training – 4 weeks (28th Jan to 18th Feb) 5:00pm to 8:00pm
Aurora Racing Starts – 2 weeks (25th Feb & 4th Mar) 4:00pm to 7:00pm
Twilight Racing – 2 weeks (11th & 18th Mar) 4:00pm to 7:00pm – additional opportunity
I found the course fantastic. For the price and hours of time, it is unbelievably good value for money. Ratios of students to instructors was great. Everyone was helpful, patient and very welcoming.
I really enjoyed the course and the racing experience, I thought the course was well run with valuable content to take my sailing another step. The content was excellent and the instructors very enthusiastic to pass on their vast knowledge.
Last night was great.
The winds and water were very calm which made everything on deck very calm.
I greatly appreciated that you had allocated extra instructors which meant we could ask lots of questions before and during manoeuvres and knew exactly what we were required to do.
This course is a great step-up from the Force-24 courses and felt like what I had hoped it would be.
It seemed all of the students last night were on a similar level of sailing experience which helped to create a positive and supportive learning environment.
It’s been an exceptional course. I now have a higher confidence in my sailing abilities. The transition has been amazing.
I have now raced on 2 different yachts ‘This Way Up’ for the Newcastle to Port Stephens race and ‘Aruna’ for the Police & Emergency Services regatta on Lake Macquarie.
The instructional crew of ‘Aurora’ have been extremely good at teaching with a vast amount of knowledge and skill.
A huge thank you to all the instructors and also the participants for an amazing course.
The Reflections Youth Keelboat Squad is a training program running throughout April, May, June, July, and October/November, involving both on & off water sessions as well as regatta experience. The program focuses on the further development of the sailing skillset of participants.
At on-water sessions, participants will focus on refining their skills in the following areas –
Off the water, participants will also be enrolled in the Hunter Academy of Sport’s theory component that will compliment the Youth Keelboat Squad curriculum.
Sailors should approximately be between the ages of 13 – 21 years old and have existing sailing experience at a club level. The program is also suitable for participants of the OutThere Youth Sailing Program to continue their sailing development.
Program Summary
Click HERE to view the 2025 Youth Keelboat Squad – Program Summary
Registration
Click HERE to enroll in the 2025 Youth Keelboat Squad
Youth Keelboat Regattas
Click HERE for more regatta information
2025 Youth Squad
Click HERE for racing results and photos
Squad members will also be enrolled in the Hunter Academy of Sport program that will run concurrently to the Youth Squad training.
The Hunter Academy of Sport program offers an assortment of theory sessions that offers an insight into the fitness, nutrition and hydration, and performance psychology required to compliment a higher performance sailing campaign, as well as technical experts and guest speakers on race strategy, rules and tactics.
More information – https://hunteracademy.org.au/programs/sailing/
We are constantly developing training & coaching options to help support the development of NCYC sailors.
Depending upon the direction your sailing takes, you will have the opportunity to access the Club’s sailing boats and equipment to support your journey.
You may continue to sail with an instructor/coach on-board or you will be sailing the boat independently with a crew and instructor/coach nearby in a support powerboat.
NCYC has a fleet of six (6) Force 24 inshore keelboats, eight (8) Elliott 6 inshore keelboats, sixteen (16) Ozi Opti junior dinghies, six (6) O’Pen Skiffs and six (6) Pacer dinghies.
Through the generosity of an NCYC member, we have access to a Farr 40 for training our Yachting Transition Program.
Now you’re spending more time on the water, you may be interested to start to buy some of your own gear.
Depending upon what your sailing focus is, there are different items of clothing that are best personalised.
We’ve offered some suggestions below, with some local suppliers that may be useful:
We have a range of sailing gloves available to purchase from the Club foyer.
Contact Us:
For more information or assistance with booking, please contact us at the Sailing Academy!
(02) 4940 8188
sailingacademy@ncyc.net.au
