Sandringham Yacht Club

Sandringham Yacht Club opened its stunning new clubhouse to rapturous applause in July. The new clubhouse stands on the site of the old carpark and is closer to the marina, and to the yacht-racing action on Port Phillip Bay.

Built at a cost of $12.75 million, the new facility replaces the old clubhouse which has stood since 1956. Funding for the project was raised with a combination of a bank loan and from the members who were offered an extension on their marina berth leases, prepayment of locker and hardstand fees, and interest-bearing debentures.

The old clubhouse, built to host the Melbourne Olympic Games, offered 1400m² of usable area whereas the new clubhouse offers 2600m² and will have extra carparking on the site of the old clubhouse.

The new Sandringham facility is not just a clubhouse for members, but a training facility, a function centre and a restaurant open to the public.

While the new building houses a members' bar and members' lounge, it also has an enormous function room, meeting rooms, an auditorium and a restaurant.

The club's function room will be available for bookings from the public and offers food and beverage facilities, state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, a moveable dance floor and stage setup, and stunning views to the south and west.

On its northern side, the club has a huge verandah overlooking the marina and safe harbour. This is open to members with a section adjoining the restaurant for the public.

The auditorium is downstairs and can seat up to 80 people. It is equipped with audio-visual equipment, wireless internet and is big enough to accommodate a fully-rigged sailing skiff.

In the members' lounge is a library stocked with interesting maritime books, comfortable lounge chairs, complementary tea and coffee, and two work stations with internet-enabled computers for members' use. Throughout the clubhouse are trophies, photos and club memorabilia.

"Certainly, we have school student programs here at Sandringham," said Burn. "In fact, we run about 2000 kids from 25 different schools through here each year. We teach them about boat handling and sailing, but more importantly, we teach them about safety and responsibility on the water," he added.

"However, one of our other big focuses is training young people for a future in the marine industry," said Burn.

Sandringham Yacht Club received $437,500 from the Victorian Government on a dollar-for-dollar basis to build a fully-equipped auditorium which augments its already impressive training facilities.

"We are working with William Angliss TAFE and Holmsglen TAFE to train young people in the marine component of a Resort Management qualification," said Burn. "We also train people who just want to learn to sail as we have introductory and intermediate courses for both kids and adults."

Interestingly, Sandringham Yacht Club is only the second sporting club in the country to achieve Registered Training Organisation (RTO) status, the first being the Western Bulldogs AFL Club.

Burn said that like other yacht clubs, Sandringham must focus on the younger members for the Club to survive: "We have around 2000 members at the moment," he said. "But, although our membership is growing, it's a fact that 55 per cent of our membership is over 50 years of age, so we need to have the younger folk come up through the ranks to lower the average age."

Sandringham's CEO, Richard Hewett, says the club employs 29 full-time staff plus up to 40 casuals in the main facility. Ten staff are employed in the sailing academy, there are 45 staff in on-site businesses and around 20 contractors.

For more information, go to www.SYC.com.au.