Welcome to Cruising at MHYC!

Not all sailing is racing.

The cruisers also care about:

  • Keeping the boat and crew safe, especially when short-handed sailing. A majority of the club’s safety auditors are from the cruising group. In general, the cruisers would more rarely need to claim on their insurances as they reef the sails earlier, and also avoid the worst weather conditions.
  • Adventures near and far. Exploring new areas with your boat. There are cruisers from MHYC who have circumnavigated the globe. And for some, a trip to Pittwater is adventure enough, and then there is everything in between.
  • The learning journey. Sharing best practices and gradually becoming more confident in boat handling, boat maintenance, navigation etc, to take on more challenging trips whilst keeping your budget under control.
  • The social aspect. The cruisers do like to enjoy life, having a BBQ on the boat, and sharing some good food, and a couple of tasty beverages in the company of others. We also organise on-land social events, mostly at the MHYC facilities. We like to include our families in the sailing.

Many cruisers are also racers, and as you know – if there’s another boat in sight on the water there’s always a race on. The cruisers just don’t have the same priorities on minimising boat weight and constantly buying the latest tech sails.

If you feel this is something you want to learn more about or be part of, please come along to one of our monthly meetings to find out more. See the events calendar!

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Compass Rose

Recent articles

Safety check 2021

Safety check 2021

By Phil Darling, S/V eXpresso. As in previous years, MHYC has scheduled two Get Checked Days, being June 26th and August 22nd.  The Cruising Division has planned a weekend raft-up as well where we can do our own inspections in a more convivial atmosphere...

Catalina 375, RaRa

Catalina 375, RaRa

Owners: Niclas & Susanna Westling. She was built in 2010, probably in Florida, USA, and is designed by Gerry Douglas. The C375 was replacing the much more common C36 (Mk2). The diesel power comes from a 40HP 3 cylinder Yanmar (3JH4E). The hull is made of hand-laid...

Learning how to service life-jackets

Learning how to service life-jackets

by Dallas O'Brien, Eternity. Earlier this month, I took myself along to a free course being conducted by Roads & Maritime Services to learn how to service inflatable life jackets. These courses are regularly held at various locations, and one only has to visit the...

Bar Crossing

Bar Crossing

Rodney Page from Marine Rescue NSW, Port Macquarie presenting to MHYC Cruising division. https://youtu.be/b87SqvgVAyo as a bonus, added this clip of a Catamaran crossing Tweed bar in May, 2021 https://youtu.be/XUFZbobFCBI Why it's important to learn to do this...

The forgotten navigator, Luis Torres

The forgotten navigator, Luis Torres

By Simon Pratt. Mares Pacifici by Ortellius from 1579, the first map tho show the Pacific Ocean. In primary school, I was taught that ‘Captain Cook discovered Australia’. Even if you ignore the aborigines (who walked here), that is unfortunately quite wrong. By the...

One Leg at a Time: The Next Leg

One Leg at a Time: The Next Leg

By Kelly Nunn-Clark of S/V Sanctum. Okay where to start…….  I have been wanting to update our blog, ‘onelegatatime’ almost daily but it takes time to organise photos and write.  We have been so busy with work and working on the boat that there seems to be...

Chills and thrills on icy seas

Chills and thrills on icy seas

by Anna Alvsdotter. High-performance sailing is what many of us aspire to. The dream is to go faster than the wind, but unless you’re on an America’s Cup AC75, or as in this story – an iceboat - the dream might not be so easily achieved. Being a Sydney sailor, maybe...