Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron is one of Victoria's oldest sailing clubs, with the first sailors and fishermen gathering informally on St Kilda Beach in the late 1870's. Inevitably, as sailors are want to do, discussions revolved around which yacht was the fastest, and so began the first yacht races on Port Phillip Bay. By 1876 this group of 20 friends had formed the St Kilda Sailing Club on the foreshore that today houses the historic RMYS clubhouse.

It's a club steeped in tradition that has moved with changing times in order to remain relevant. Permitting ladies into the lounge by 1940, though interestingly they were not permitted to be served liquor, this odd rule was abolished long ago. The club was granted its Royal prefix in 1924 by King George, with perhaps its biggest honour being the control centre for all yachting events for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Marina Development
The final design of the new Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron marina layout and indicative design of the southern breakwater extension have been signed off by Parks Victoria. The marina layout has expanded since the submission of the original 230 berth marina. To cater for the expansion to 250 berths and demand for longer pens negotiations for certain design conditions with Authorities were undertaken to allow for public berthing, swing moorings and retain a safe distance from penguin habitat.
Features of the agreed design are:

•    The entrance ramp to the marina will be on be on the east side of the pier and allow access to the RMYS marina and proposed public berth.
•    Parks Victoria is proposing public berths to the east of the main spine. These berths are currently unfunded.
•    The seabed lease adjoins the northern attenuator and the marina. Members of the public can transverse this area to access the public berths.
•    There are berthing restrictions on the west side of the marina arms. These restrictions have been enforced to minimise the effect of boat wash on the penguin habitat and, in the case of arm A, allow access to the swing moorings to the south of the marina.
•    There is also to be a 5m 'exclusion zone' from the base of the rock breakwater low water mark as a further measure to protect the penguin habitat.
•    There is an area allocated to swing moorings to the south between the pier restaurant and the marina.
•    A sewerage pump out facility will be located on the main spine and accessible to visiting boats.

RMYS and Authorities have agreed on arrangements to maximise the 21 year period of the lease. This allows RMYS to fulfil its obligations to the existing long-term leaseholders. Currently, some 100 leases have been entered in to.

The intervention from the Minister for the Environment, Ryan Smith, has resulted in substantial savings to RMYS on the design and development of the southern breakwater. The Victorian State Government’s support for the development of the new marina has been most welcome.

Contact the Squadron now to Register your interest now in one of these highly sought after, very competitvely priced berths.

Why don't you arrange a visit soon to check out the new developments at the Squadron, or to just take in the sunset over Port Phillip Bay?