Three clubs with very different ideas about getting people on the water are in the running for the Innovation Award at the 2026 Australian Sailing Awards, to be held at the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour on Friday, October 30.
Adelaide Sailing Club's Adventure Club, Royal Perth Yacht Club's SailLAB programme and Southport Yacht Club's Summer on the Lake festival are the finalists. Each tackles a different barrier to entry, whether that's cost, confidence or simply not knowing where to start.
Adelaide's offering, led by Matt Young, flips the usual script. Rather than beginning with training or racing, it starts with belonging.
The club spotted a gap: kids too young to race, younger siblings tagging along, parents new to sailing altogether, and former members drifting back through their own children or grandchildren. Adventure Club gives all of them somewhere to be. It's not class-based or performance-driven. Children might sail different boats, join themed outings like Santa and Dolphin Sails, play beach games, or get stuck into hands-on physics activities, with junior sailors and Junior Flag Officers doing much of the mentoring.
It runs Saturday mornings in all weather, feeding straight into afternoon racing. Parents regularly pitch in too, helping in the canteen, on the beach, in rescue boats and with rigging. One parent summed it up simply: "Adventure Club is exactly what you want from a fun, family based sailing club." No new gear, no paid staff, just a model other clubs could lift wholesale.
Royal Perth Yacht Club went a different route, becoming one of the first clubs in the country to weave Australian Sailing's SailLAB programme into its education and participation pathway, using sailing to teach science, technology, engineering and maths. The club built out a fleet of DF65 remote-control yachts, letting students work through wind, sail trim, tactics and race strategy from shore before ever stepping into a boat. This sidesteps barriers such as weather, confidence and experience.
RPYC also hosted Australia's first SailLAB Teacher Professional Development Day, introducing educators to the possibilities of bringing sailing into STEM learning. The little yachts have since spread well beyond the classroom. Coaches use them to run through tactics and starting sequences for Off the Beach sailors before they launch, while keelboat, offshore and power members now mix informally through racing, coaching and social activities, breaking down boundaries between disciplines that used to stay separate.
Southport Yacht Club took the festival approach. Summer on the Lake has introduced more than 761 people to sailing and stand-up paddleboarding through a free event built around a DJ, bar, food trucks and genuine club engagement, with volunteers and representatives from each sailing division on hand to explain the pathway from beginner programmes through to racing and membership.
The event is backed by a $10,000 City of Gold Coast Community Grant plus roughly $20,000 of club investment, and delivered by more than 20 volunteers using the club's existing fleet, facilities and instructors. Exclusive 10% discounts on Kids, Teens and Adult Learn to Sail courses turn a free first taste into ongoing participation, with the club seeing the return almost immediately in course bookings. Many participants go on to become members, and some have bought their own boats.
The City of Gold Coast has expressed interest in taking the concept on the road as a Summer of Sailing roadshow across various bodies of water on the Gold Coast.
