The North East Windsport Club is the new name of the previous Mokoan Yacht Club.
Mokoan Yacht Club was founded in the 1975 after the creation of Lake Mokoan. The clubhouse was opened on 8th March 1981. The club sailed regularly on the lake up until 2009 conducting annual regattas and introducing many local residents to the sport of sailing.
Due to the impending decommissioning of Lake Mokoan, in 2009 the Club agreed to re-invent themselves using Blokarts (pronounced blow-karts) for sailing. At their AGM in 2010, Mokoan Yacht Club Inc was renamed the North East Windsport Club Inc - or NEW Club – and purchased their first Blokart shortly after for members to try. Following the decommissioning of the lake, the club vacated the Mokoan site in September 2010, and focused on looking for a site to regain a presence in the North East by introducing land sailing into the area as well as maintaining water sailing activities.
After much negotiation, Goulburn Murray Water, acting on behalf of the new Winton Wetland Committee of Management, who now manage the site, agreed to buy back the club house and use it as a community centre. The NEW Club agreed at their 2011 AGM to invest the funds and only use them for capital improvements and capital purchases. Interest in excess of CPI could be used to help with running costs. Some funds were later used to purchase shipping containers to act as club rooms and storage. The funds are invested in term deposits and are drawn upon as deemed necessary by the NEWC Committee and approved at a general meeting of members, to enact its infrastructure priorities, as identified in the NEWC Strategic Plan.
In November 2010, NEWC leased a 2-hectare location within the Rural City of Wangaratta, adjacent to the Wangaratta Airport in Brian Higgins Drive. They were able to use the runway for their annual regatta and ran Blokart State Titles there.
NEWC also held on-water sailing and social events across the Northeast water bodies, especially at those without a sailing club presence, such as Lake Buffalo and Lake Eildon, On the site, the club commenced holding land based Windsports, in particular the sport of Blokarting.
Early in 2011 the club ordered a modified container to be its meeting and storage facility and it was delivered to the site on 30th April 2011. The club held its first AGM in the NEWC meeting and storage facility on the 4th June, 2011.
At the end of 2017, due to planning restrictions and seeking more room, the club moved its activities to 5-hectare site on the Springhurst Recreation Reserve, where with the help of the Springhurst community, a new sailing area was established.
In February 2018 the club’s containers were moved to the new location and the new site was officially opened by the mayor of Wangaratta, Cr. Ken Clarke OEM on 3 March 2018. The Club sails there most Saturdays but has other events scheduled away from the site such as Interclub Blokart and water sailing events. In 2019 the Blokart State Titles were held on the new site.
