Queens Lake Sailing Club

About Queens Lake Sailing Club

On a bushland shoreline in the Camden Haven, a small volunteer club has been quietly making a name far beyond its postcode. Queens Lake Sailing Club sails from its own reserve at Lakewood, near Laurieton on the NSW Mid North Coast, and in recent seasons local reporting has described it as "a sought-after country location for sailing regattas" — a claim backed by a 2025–26 calendar that included the Taipan catamaran State Championships, the Maricat National Championships and MG14 skiff events. For a lake that most sailors outside the Hastings could not find on a chart, that is serious company to keep.

The engine room is unashamedly local. Commodore Dave Castleton, a plumber by trade, has driven the club's growth through sponsorship deals and sheer volunteer hours, and he credits the results to "the generosity of their sponsors and the significant amount of hard work put in by volunteers". Castleton walks the talk as a sailor too: he crewed aboard Inner Circle in the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, then collected the club's Commodore's Award at the June presentation. The culture is community-first — schools partnerships, junior development, cheap access to boats — yet the racing is organised with real rigour, three series a season across three divisions and up to fifteen boats on the line each week. It is the sort of club where the same person might run the canteen, rescue a capsized junior and win Division 1 in the same afternoon, and where visiting championship fleets are greeted like old friends.

Services

• Sailing club

Service area

Lakewood / Camden Haven district, NSW Mid North Coast