120 years of sailing at the Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club.

Back in 1904 two brothers George and Thomas Sneesby (know the name?) began taking their 16 ft skiffs out on Narrabeen Lake to race each other.

When this was noticed by other boat shed owners they were quickly joined, in 1905, by Willis Douglas and Don Maclean and so evolved a sailing club which became known as the Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club. By the 1930’s it was home to the largest fleet of 16 footers in Sydney.

A few interruptions to sailing occurred due to World Wars and a drought which saw the Lake reduced to mud flats, but by the 1970’s the Club reached its peak with close to 100 boats racing regularly under the control of Commodore Chris Leyland, another well known name.

This large membership lead to the building of the Club House which burnt down in 2021. Classes at this time included Moths, Herons, Sailfish, Laser and open class for Cherubs, NS14, Manly Juniors and others. We now have a Sailboard class competing regularly.

For a bit more details on our proud history, refer to this instructive article.

For some more recent history, refer to these more recent annual reports: