Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club

About Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club

Paynesville measures itself by the water, and the Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club has been one of the town's fixed points since 1937. Standing on the foreshore where McMillan Straits meets Lake Victoria, it is an entirely volunteer-run club that sails all year round — a rarity among country clubs — and describes itself as one of Victoria's most successful family sailing clubs and among the most active in country Victoria.

The numbers give that claim some weight: two hundred and fifty-eight members plus another hundred and forty-three family members as of 2020, with membership still growing through the bushfire and COVID years. The clubhouse, seating a hundred, is Paynesville's biggest venue and the town's default gathering place — Probus clubs, quilters, the CFA awards dinner, the Bendigo Community Bank board, the Business and Tourism Association, the Lions seniors' Christmas dinner and the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea have all used the rooms.

On the water the club's personality splits two ways: a deep competitive program across classes from Flying Fifteens to trailer-sailers, and an unusually strong women's and youth cohort. Monthly Female Skipper races run within the Twilight Series, a female Race Officer officiates at club level and beyond, and an annual Female Sailor of the Year award keeps the pathway visible. Each March the town hosts the finish of the Marlay Point Overnight Race, and the club is woven into all three of Paynesville's big annual events.

This is a country yacht club that functions as a genuine community institution, on and off the water, twelve months a year.

Services

• Sailing club

Service area

Paynesville, VIC