About DAC

Dobroyd Aquatic Club (DAC) is located on the quiet waters of Iron Cove in Sydney Harbour. This is a very safe and pleasant venue for skiffs, dinghies and windsurfers because Iron Cove has no public launching ramps and therefore there is little traffic common in other parts of the harbour.

DAC offers sailors, and their families, an elevated clubhouse on Rodd Point with a great view of Iron Cove and a spectacular cityscape.

Members can participate in the racing season every Saturday from September to April. Saturday morning training is for youngsters learning to sail in Optimists. Saturday afternoon races begin at 2pm and cater to a range of sailing classes and levels of experience. In the winter, races are run on the first Saturday of each month.

Every second Sunday during the season is devoted to Sailability, a sailing dinghy class developed for the disabled. Alternate Sundays are devoted to Radio Control sailing, most commonly the RC Laser.

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A brief history

In the early 1930s locals were starting to use Iron Cove waters for many water sports including sailing, rowing, and power boating, and so a public meeting was called to form a club.

The public meeting was called and on the 21 May 1937. 25 people attended the Scouts Hall in Ramsay Street, Haberfield. At this meeting a constitution was presented and adopted. Nominations were called for officials, and Mr F Somers was elected President, Mr J Roberts, Secretary, and Mr Alf Guest, Treasurer.

This meeting adopted the name of Dobroyd Aquatic Club, as it was intended to cater for all water sports. To finance the club, 25 Debentures at 4 pounds ($8) each were issued.

This meeting then resolved that plans for a clubhouse be presented to Ashfield Council on the foreshore of Dobroyd Point. Two years of lobbying and personal counter petitions before council and on the 25 July 1939 granted the club, (after an on-site inspection,) land at the mouth of the Hawthorn Canal. Building started immediately and the walls were up, when the Second World War broke out, however the clubhouse was still completed, being a single story wooden structure approx 40 ft long and 20 ft wide, able to house 12 V.Ss and 16 V.Js.

Social functions and sailing continued, somewhat restricted during the war years. Unfortunately, all records between 28 October 1945 and 19 December 1949 have been lost. After the war club members set about building a jetty ramp and pontoon and as power boating interest had fallen off, sailing races continued. During this time I believe the club colours of maroon and white were selected and Mr K Begley designed the club's present burgee.

The club prospered as a V.J and V.S club from 1946 to 1959 when members built a larger wooden building approx 50 ft long and 45 ft wide.

The Department of Main Roads decided to resume our clubhouse site to build the Hawthorn Canal bridge and after extensive negotiations by Mr Jeff Mulray, he managed to extract the amount of twelve thousand pounds ($24,000) and then sold the building for a further $1000.

In 1962 the club made suitable arrangements with Drummoyne Council and the Maritime Services Board for use and lease of an area on a tidal island known as Vault or Rodd Point, and plans were drawn up to erect a clubhouse on the site. The new clubhouse was opened by Mayor, Alderman C.J. Halliday, on the 11 October 1964, the cost $34,000, a major amount of $12,000 being cost of the sewer connection. Club members built all internal fittings and built the retaining wall and fill in to what is now the car park.

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History 1937–2014

For a more complete history of our club, see Ivan Halford's A History of the Dobroyd Aquatic Club 1937–2014 which you can download below in PDF format.