Anglesea Motor Yacht Club

About Anglesea Motor Yacht Club

Don't let the name fool you. Anglesea Motor Yacht Club is, by its own description, an off-the-beach sailing club, and its home is not a marina but the sand at Point Roadknight on Victoria's Surf Coast. The "Motor Yacht Club" tag is a relic of another era; what actually happens here is dinghy and beach-boat sailing, mixed with fishing, diving and surfing — the four pursuits the club says draw its members to Point Roadknight in the first place. An enthusiastic volunteer committee runs the place, with Kate Stanley serving as Commodore.

The club's rhythm follows the holiday calendar, which makes sense in a town where holiday houses account for two-thirds of all dwellings and the summer population swells beyond ten thousand. Locals, regular holidaymakers and passing visitors are all explicitly welcome, and the clubhouse is actively promoted as a function and booking venue. One of the more unusual offerings is a community membership category: local clubs and community groups pay a nominal $60 a year for daytime access to the clubhouse for meetings and functions, embedding the sailing club into the town's wider civic life.

Then there is the Rusty Anchor Bar, the club's much-loved summer watering hole, pouring daily between 5pm and 8pm from 27 December until the Australia Day long weekend wraps up, then on Friday and Saturday nights through to Easter, with a final flourish on the Labour Day weekend. Members, guests and the general public are all welcomed through the door, and it is where the sailing day gets debriefed and where visitors who will never hoist a sail still get a taste of the club's hospitality.

Services

• Sailing club

Service area

Anglesea, VIC