rushcutters yacht club

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The Boathouse CYCA

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1 New Beach Road Darling Point , 2027 NSW Show on map

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The details.

• Mediterranean

Need to Know

• Child Friendly
• Function Space
• Good for Groups
• Love the View
• Outdoor Seating

Ahead of its 80th anniversary in 2024, Rushcutters Bay’s Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (the home of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race) has introduced a waterfront venue by The Boathouse Group.

The Boathouse CYCA kicks things off with simple satisfying breakfasts, followed by a Mediterranean-influenced lunch and dinner menu with calamari fritti, orecchiette with crab and chilli, and taramasalata with charred flatbreads fresh from the pizza oven.

Crowd-pleasing staples like burgers, fish and chips, steaks, and Boathouse’s beloved prawns with seafood sauce and fish tacos also feature.

A perfect spot to watch the sun set over the bay, The Boathouse CYCA’s drinks menu covers a diverse wine list with local and international producers, Boathouse’s signature coastal cocktails and a wide range of tap beers.

The Boathouse Group’s signature coastal-chic styling flows throughout the 300-person space, with lobster pot pendant lights, natural seashell elements, and plenty of sailing memorabilia.

Under the Registered Clubs Act, The Boathouse CYCA is open to members, guests of members, and non-members who reside five kilometres or more from the club.

Image credit: The Boathouse CYCA (Jessie Ann Harris)

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First Look: The Boathouse Group Welcomes Guests to Already-Minted Waterfront Digs in Rushcutters Bay

Australia’s most prestigious yacht club – and home of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race – the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), is located in prime position: on the water’s edge in Rushcutters Bay. Now, it’s also home to the latest all-day restaurant from the Boathouse Group.

The Sydney-based hospitality group, which has built its empire on waterfront dining and long summer days, has taken over the space of the club’s former bistro. This marks the group’s 10th Sydney venue, but only the second one in the eastern suburbs. Up until the opening of the Rose Bay outpost just over two years ago, all the whitewashed beachy venues have been north of the Harbour Bridge.

It's a fitting union. Moving into the 300-seat CYCA dining room and terrace, the group has injected its signature nautical style via lobster pot pendant lighting, touches of marble and a jungle of lush greenery.

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Alongside the decorative changes, the group’s executive chef James Brownrigg has developed an all-day menu that both CYCA members and visitors can enjoy. To start, breakfast options are kept casual with classics like bacon and egg rolls and avocado on toast.

Shifting tune for lunch and dinner, the menu brings a sophisticated Mediterranean influence. Among Brownrigg’s dishes, there’s beef carpaccio with truffle pecorino, white taramasalata, a glossy round of house-made Turkish bread carrying the summery combo of lemon and sea salt, and a prawn pasta boasting a lip-smacking chilli hit. Making use of the kitchen’s newly installed pizza oven, there’s a selection of hand-stretched flatbreads available too.

“With the food, we try to make something unique and produce-driven,” Brownrigg tells Broadsheet . “We spend a lot of time finding the best ingredients and presenting them in a simple way for people to enjoy. We don’t try to overcomplicate things.”

In addition to switching things up at the CYCA, the hospitality group has refreshed the menu in its Manly Pavilion digs ahead of the warmer months, delivering snackable dishes of baby peppers, flash-fried calamari and sugar plum tomatoes. This freshen-up extends to the location’s interiors, shifting gears to something a bit more casual, taking advantage of the venue’s secluded waterside terrace.

There are plans to transform the Palm Beach eatery’s homewares store into Casa, an Italian pop-up cafe and restaurant. Plus, opening hours at Shelly Beach are extending and the cocktail offering is coming to the fore.

“We’re reflecting on what we’ve done well over the years and just reassessing,” Brownrigg says. “[We want to] give people more of what they want, which is relaxed dining, but we still want people to feel like they’re being looked after.”

Boathouse CYCA is open for both bookings and walk-ins to CYCA members, their guests and non-members who reside outside of the 5-kilometre radius.

Boathouse CYCA 1 New Beach Road, Darling Point (02) 4379 1131

Hours Mon to Sun 8am–8pm

theboathousegroup.com.au/cyca

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WELCOME TO SAILING

Why are we the best choice.

Pacific Sailing School commenced in 1977 and we have taught over 60,000 people how to sail on Sydney Harbour. Sydney Harbour is our classroom and our expert instructors not only share their knowledge but their deep passion for an exciting and challenging sport.

We encourage our students to join the CYCA where we are based and we have sponsored over 1,000 people thus far. At Pacific Sailing School you’ll learn to sail in a safe, friendly and supportive atmosphere. There are only four students per instructor and we focus on hands-on teaching. You’ll get to try everything as we rotate you through the positions onboard each lesson.

What we have to offer

We’re based in Rushcutters Bay, home to the prestigious but welcoming Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA).

After an exciting day on the water, we’ll return to the Club’s sundeck to share a drink, a casual meal and some tall tales of the day’s exploits.

Joining the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

Our principal Terry Wise is happy to introduce our students to become members of the CYCA. The benefits of membership include your club crew racing insurance.

You are also very welcome to print out your application and drop it to Terry Wise at the school.

CYCA members are offered discounts on our courses.

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Naval Historical Society of Australia

Preserving Australia's Naval History

HMAS Rushcutter

· Feb 24, 2023 ·

Use of the Rushcutters Bay Park by the Navy dates to 1901. The site was chosen for the NSW Naval Brigade (formed under the Volunteer Force Regulation Act of 1867). A requirement was for a waterfront site within marching distance from Victoria Barracks in Paddington, so the location chosen was the nearest Sydney Harbour Bay to the barracks. Nevertheless, the base was not a reality until the Federation of Australia.

Rushcutters Bay Park and Yarranabbe Park are both parks on reclaimed land from the 1880s. This was a major public work requiring reclamation of a large area of marsh, channelling the creek and constructing a ballast dyke sea wall. Reclamation works were completed in 1883.

Sir David Martin Reserve (within Yarranabbe Park) includes the former HMAS Rushcutter, comprising the Sayonara slipway, ramps, sea wall, parade ground, drill hall and extension, sail loft, cottage and garden, Royal Australian Naval Sailing Association (RANSA) boatshed and slipway, flagpole, memorial, plantation reserve, all building interiors and grounds.

Prior to Federation, several Australian colonies had their own Naval Brigades with NSW also having separate Naval Artillery Volunteers who manned coastal artillery. These NSW Naval forces were based at Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point. With Federation the NSW naval forces became part of the new Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF) and the government relocated these forces in March 1901 to Rushcutters Bay.

The NSW Naval forces took with them the old wooden Drill Hall and the attached office building to the new site, subsequently adding a boatshed, cottage and a storeroom (Sail Loft).

The RAN left Rushcutters Bay in 1984 but the Drill Hall and attached office, the cottage and the sail loft remained and are now used by community groups for a variety of activities. The boatshed is used by the RANSA that was set up in 1966 to promote sailing in the RAN.

The following four photos, taken in 2022, are of the buildings left at the reserve by the Royal Australian Navy when they departed from Rushcutters Bay in 1984.

Two important events occurred in 1911, the renaming of the Commonwealth Naval Force (CNF) as the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and legislation which established compulsory naval or military training for all Australian males between the ages of 18 and 60. The naval training group became known as the RAN Reserve (RANR).

After the 1911 formation of the RAN the Rushcutters Bay site became the Sydney Naval Depot. The site was used as an administrative depot for the compulsory peacetime training from 1911-1929. The site also housed the Sydney District Naval Office.

In 1912 the Commonwealth Government applied to acquire an area north of the Naval Depot for Naval purposes. The state government refused the request but gave approval for the use of the area as a ‘parade ground’.

Compulsory training was suspended in 1929 but the Naval Reserve Depot continued, largely for volunteers. A Naval Recruiting Office for the RAN was also established on the site.

With the fear of possible war in Europe the Australian Government decided to build up sea-going forces and naval training facilities. In 1937 the Rushcutters site was chosen for the building of an Anti- Submarine School. The Anti-Submarine (A/S) School became operational on 13th February 1939. After 1939 the Naval use of the Rushcutters Bay site greatly expanded and on 1 August 1940, the depot was commissioned as HMAS Rushcutter.

The early 1940s saw a large increase in A/S and Radar training staff. The A/S School became involved in fitting out auxiliary escort ships and Bathurst Class Corvettes with A/S equipment and training the men to operate it. The A/S school is said to have trained so many officers and operators who fought in the battle of the Atlantic, that it played an important part in turning the tide against German U-boats.

Vice Admiral Russell Edward Shalders in his speech given at the Australian War Memorial Plaque Dedication of HMAS Rushcutter on 24 March 2006 said “Australia stands proud for our contribution of anti-submarine officers and men from HMAS Rushcutter, loaned for service in the Royal Navy during WWII. Many of Rushcutter’s people served with distinction in the Battle of the Atlantic in many and different roles over the long and hard years of the Second World War.”

The Vice Admiral also gave special mention to the inspired leadership of Commander Harvey Newcomb (RN) the Officer in Charge of the A/S School at HMAS Rushcutter.

The Fairmile vessel School was established 1 June 1942 at HMAS Rushcutter. The Fairmile School required additional facilities. Two blocks of offices and a classroom were erected north- west of the A/S School and were two of the many timber buildings to be added to the original cream brick A/S School. Berthing facilities were required for a maximum of twelve vessels. Three wooden jetties, of 150 feet (45.72 meters) each, were constructed from the parade ground into Rushcutters Bay, and the waters in and around the area were dredged to a depth of nine feet.

Fairmile vessel tasks included convoy escort, servicing and supporting advancing troops, landing and recovering commandos and coastwatchers, rescuing civilians from enemy occupied territories, and invasion escort. These craft were maids of all work and a generation of Australian sailors learned their intricacies at Rushcutter.

Expansion continued during World War 2 and the site eventually housed the A/S School, the Radar School and the Gunnery Instruction School. It also served as a base for the mosquito fleet, comprising the Harbour Defence Motor Launches, the Fairmile patrol vessels and the Naval Auxiliary Patrol Boats.

The cottage (see photo) was utilised as the first recruitment centre and on 18 November 1942 the first women to carry out administrative duties at HMAS Rushcutter began serving as WRANS. The cottage provided accommodation for the WRANS.

With the end of World War 2, training was greatly reduced and the main role became providing medical, clerical and pay facilities for the many men and women to be demobilised. Demobilisation continued as the primary function in 1946. The cottage continued to be used as a recruitment centre for the defence forces generally.

In 1947 the A/S School lost responsibility for equipment maintenance and hence their space requirements were reduced. In 1947 the Australian Naval Sailing Association, later to become RANSA, was founded in the boatshed. The Torpedo Anti-Submarine (TAS) School and its Mining Section was transferred to Rushcutter in 1948. Also transferred at that time was the Diving School. RANR training resumed in 1950 and was strongly supported by men with war service.

In 1956 the RAN Experimental Laboratory (RANEL) was established at Rushcutter, with citizen scientists and a Naval Superintendent.

In 1959 it was agreed that RANEL would do all RAN scientific work. This would require expansion in staffing and accommodation. So, in 1968 the Diving School and related activities were moved to another Sydney base, HMAS Penguin. When HMAS Rushcutter was finally paid off on 29 July 1968, RANEL remained.

RANEL changed its name to the Royal Australian Navy Research Laboratory (RANRL) in 1969. The RANRL and RANSA were the sole occupants of the Rushcutter site until 1984 when the RANRL was transferred to Pyrmont, leaving only the RANSA in the boatshed. RANSA were given a special lease to keep using the boatshed.

The name of the Reserve on which the base sits was changed to Sir David Martin Reserve in 1991 in honour of the former NSW Governor and Rear-Admiral.

The Reserve was used, in conjunction with Rushcutters Bay Park and Yarranabbe Park, as the Olympic Sailing Shore Base for The Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Woollahra Council was granted control of the site in July 2001.

Much of the RAN’s former site is now the centre of civilian sailing activities including the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYC); RANSA; the d’Albora Marina; and ship chandlers and associated services. The number of yachts moored in the Bay has increased over the years and each Boxing Day it is the focal point of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

References:

“Contact! HMAS Rushcutter and Australia’s Submarine Hunters 1936-1946” Edited by G R Worledge Published 1994 by the Anti-Submarine Officers Association.

https://navyhistory.au/naval-heritage-sites/ https://navyhistory.au/new-south-wales-naval-forces/ https://navyhistory.au/new-south-wales-naval-forces-in-1901/ A brief history of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve | Royal Australian Navy Universal Service Scheme, 1911–1929 | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au) https://www.hms.heritage.nsw.gov.au/App/Item/ViewItem?itemId=5067067 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Rushcutter_(naval_base) Public Exhibition 2004 (nsw.gov.au)

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Rushcutters Bay Park

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• Cruising Yacht Club of Australia at Rushcutters...

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Cruising yacht club of australia at rushcutters bay, c1980.

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Bars and Dining

Images: Jessie Ann Harris

Opening hours:

Monday-Sunday: 0800-2000hrs

Enquiries – Boathouse Reservations

Phone: (02) 4379 1131

Email: [email protected]

Sydney Hobart Bar

Mon-Tue: 1100-2100hrs

Wed-Thu: 1100-2200hrs

Fri: 1100-2300hrs

Sat: 0800-2300hrs

Sun: 1000-2100hrs

Coasters Retreat (Members bar)

Mon-Fri: 1600-2000hrs

Sat-Sun: 1500-2000hrs

Conditions of entry

Please note that under the Registered Clubs Act, visitors who are not Members of CYCA and who reside within a 5 kilometre radius of the Club may not enter the Club unless they are:

• a guest of a Member (and remain in their company); or
• a member of another NSW registered club that is a yacht club; or
• a member of any other NSW registered club (or a club established interstate that is licensed or permitted to serve liquor and have gaming machines) that is at the CYCA at the invitation of CYCA or a Full Member of CYCA to participate in a sailing event run by CYCA.

Visitors will be required to present a current photo ID showing their current residential address when checking in at Reception.

Whether you’re catching up with fellow sailors after a day on the water or just enjoying the waterside location with friends, the CYCA is the place to be! Dining at the CYCA brings together award-winning cuisine and a relaxed outdoor vibe.

Enjoy drinks by the water, order breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack at the bistro and soak in the atmosphere on the waterfront seating.

Sydney Hobart Bar and deck

The Sydney Hobart Bar has a sophisticated fibreglass boat-shaped bar front, polished concrete flooring and a contemporary lighting plan. At the same time also being practical with a bar featuring 32 taps across two stations with carbon-fibre beer fonts.

There are numerous meal options for all visitors and occasions.

The elegant furniture on both the upper covered and lower open decks allows for the perfect place to meet after a Harbour twilight or offshore race for a cold beer or bottle of wine, as the sun sets over the CYCA.

Attire is always casual.

Coasters Retreat

Coasters Retreat on the upper level of the CYCA is an area exclusive to members and their guests with views over the marina and Rushcutters Bay towards the Sydney skyline.

The history of the club is ever-present with half-models of Sydney Hobart winning yachts lining the walls and plaques acknowledging boats and members for their years of service and sailing achievements. With a lounge area and double-sided fireplace adjoining the archives nook stories and traditions are readily available.

The Coasters Retreat Bar features a marble fronted bar and striking brass beer fonts. With sliding doors, balcony access and elegant furniture from Janus et Cie there is no better place to share stories and enjoy the Club.

Dress regulations apply in Coasters Retreat.

Click here to view the current opening hours of Coasters Retreat.

Liquor Act 2007

It is against the law to sell or supply alcohol to, or to obtain alcohol on behalf of, a person under the age of 18 years.

CYCA Principal Sponsor

Cyca official sponsors, helly hansen, club marine, income asset management, sydney brewery, lgt crestone, the luxury collection, winnings appliances, roads and maritime services, cyca youth sailing academy sponsors and supporters, helly hansen, forecasts.global, vibe hotels, network marine, sun foundation.