Christies Sailing Club

About Christies Sailing Club

Friendliness is a claim every club makes; Christies Sailing Club has had the description pinned to it by others for decades. The Flying Fifteen class association's South Australian page says the club, founded in 1958, has steadily grown into one of the friendliest in the state — and it adds that the clubhouse view ranks among the best anywhere in South Australia.

The basics are these: Christies is a family-oriented club holding accreditation as an Australian Sailing Discover Sailing Centre, sitting on the Esplanade at Christies Beach with a boat ramp right beside the clubhouse. Membership spans juniors through to adults, sailing everything from small dinghies up to trailerable yachts, and the clubhouse — licensed bar, fully equipped kitchen, change rooms — throws its regular social events open to the public, not just members. Comedy nights under the Laughing Buoy banner and live music sessions keep the rooms busy outside sailing hours, and the main room, which seats 85, is available for public hire with air conditioning, a kitchen, dishwasher, bain-marie, TV and whiteboard thrown in.

The event that best captures the club's character, though, is the Fleurieu Classic: a two-day race from the clubhouse down the coast to Wirrina and home again, billed by the club as an epic adventure. It is part regatta, part passage and part test of endurance — and exactly the kind of occasion a friendly club with serious water would invent for itself. Contact runs through the clubhouse at the Esplanade, with mail to PO Box 103, Christies Beach.

Services

• Sailing club

Service area

Christies Beach, SA