st augustine yacht club sailing center

Grant Supports St. Augustine Yacht Club Sailing Center STEM Programming for Young Sailors

St. Augustine, FL (July 13, 2021) -- The St. Augustine Yacht Club Foundation received a $3,500 grant from US Sailing’s STEM Education Initiative, REACH. The grant is designed to support STEM programming for young sailors on and off the water and provide a greater connection to the area’s natural resources within the year-round sailing programming at the St. Augustine Yacht Club Sailing Center. The REACH program will be offered to 6th, 7th and 8th graders as an afterschool program this fall.

The purpose of this grant is to grow the REACH National Network through effective programming. Together we are working to actively “normalize” STEM education including environmental literacy and responsibility utilizing our vast network of potential highly skilled workers and ocean stewards. Support from Rolex and US Sailing donors has made these grants possible. 

“We’re fortunate and grateful to add an emphasis on STEM for our young sailors here at SAYC,” said Marissa Burrier SAYC Sail Director. “This grant allows us to expand on our many on-water sailing program offerings, and will help kids understand the scope of our local Salt Run and ocean-side environment, and love the adventure associated with it.”

The SAYC Foundation’s mission to promote water activities in the St. Augustine community is fulfilled by the SAYC Sailing Center’s year-round, on-the-water programs for local youth. From learn-to-sail summer camps to sail race teams, the SAYC Sailing Center teaches children safety, confidence and competition. The St. Augustine Yacht Club proudly offers Youth Sailing programs to members and non-members alike. Since 2012, SAYC has offered on-water instruction through multifaceted programming designed to accommodate all levels of experience and build skills and confidence both on and off the water.

SAYC Sailing Center is equipped with many U.S. Sailing Certified Sailing Instructors. SAYC also offers development clinics during the summer, spring, and fall, as well as sailing education for adults. For information about our sailing programs, visit us on the web at saycsc.org

About St. Augustine Yacht Club Foundation: The purpose of the St. Augustine Yacht Club Foundation is to promote water activities in our community. These activities range from teaching sailing to youth and adults in our community, to conserving natural resources. They are both social and recreational in nature. https://www.staugustineyachtclub.com/foundation.html

About St. Augustine Yacht Club: Since 1873, the St Augustine Yacht Club has provided a place for members and their families to share and promote water-related activities. This has been done in a number of ways from community outreach programs like youth sailing lessons, to more social events like art auctions and family memorials.  For more information, please visit the website: https://www.staugustineyachtclub.com .

About the REACH Program: The Reach Program utilizes sailing as an educational platform, challenging youth to embrace education, establish a love of learning and explore productive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) based careers. Complete program information and details can be found on US Sailing's website:  https://www.ussailing.org/education/youth/reach/

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Event Details

St. Augustine Yacht Club celebrates 150 years

2024 marks the 150th anniversary for the St. Augustine Yacht Club.

Founded in 1874, its membership now exceeds 250. A SAYC Sailing Center focused on the youth living in and around St. Augustine is currently under construction as the sailing program grows.

On Feb. 13, the club will host a Grand Masquerade Ball, mimicking those elegant affairs held in the late 1800s. A black tie and masked event such as this has not been seen in St. Augustine for some time now. 

Dinner will be catered by Purple Olive with cocktail hour entertainment by classical guitarist Chuck Rogers, with his wife Laura accompanying him on the flute. Later in the evening, attendees will dance the night away to live band music by Contact Buzz.

The ball will be held 6-10 p.m. at River House. Tickets are $150. Both members and the public are invited.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the club was referred to as the Winter Newport because so many prominent northern families came here for “the season,” January through May. The club became renowned for its parties. The most famous was the “Grand Bal Masque,” held each February at a hotel. It “eclipsed anything of the season,” according to one scribe. Two hundred attendees, many of them masked, would dance to an orchestra until 2 a.m.

For information or tickets, go to staugustineyachtclub.com/event/xkjUpSXibM.

St. Augustine youth sailing center denied by planning board

For several years, a private landowner has sought to donate two parcels of waterfront property to the nonprofit foundation of the St. Augustine Yacht Club for the purpose of creating a dedicated headquarters for its youth sailing program.

But after several attempts by the yacht club to move the plan forward, St. Augustine's Planning and Zoning Board Tuesday denied the rezoning request needed to clear the way for a youth sailing center.

The property encompasses two parcels directly adjacent to the St. Augustine Yacht Club, which is located on Ocean Vista Drive, in what is called the "Salt Run" area of the Intracoastal Waterway, near the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum.

The yacht club, and the donator of the land, world-renowned local sailor Stanley Paris , had applied to change the zoning from a RS1 (residential single-family) to a RS2 (neighborhood recreational facility) designation permitting more concentrated density use and increased lot coverage. That would have allowed the yacht club to rehab a 1-story vacant home into classroom space for the program.

The PZB denied the rezoning, as well as a use by exception and conservation overlay zone for a dock that was operational there until it was damaged by Hurricane Matthew. The floating dock would not have any slips.

PZB members said they felt the application, especially the lease between the yacht club and Paris as benefactor, needed more examination as it related to the neighboring community, particularly in regards to traffic, parking and any use of the venue for special events or fundraisers.

Previously: Lighthouse Park residents raise concerns about St. Augustine Yacht Club plans for youth sa

Youth sailing center

The St. Augustine Yacht Club has run a community youth sailing center, providing instructional boating and marine-related education and activity programs, out of the yacht club's headquarters for more than a decade.

The youth academy currently has about 200 enrollees, operating mostly during the summer months and weekends. 

But with students typically housed in a side room next to club's the bar lounge for instruction, it is not an ideal location, said Barbara Dolan, former commodore of the St. Augustine Yacht Club.

Nor is it safe for young people to try to launch their boats from the public boat ramp near Lighthouse Park.

"This is about safety and security of these young people," Dolan told The Record.

Paris, who attempted a world record at sailing around the globe in 2014 and lives close to the yacht club, originally deeded the waterfront parcels he owns to the City of St. Augustine, with a plan to lease it to the city for a $1 fee in exchange for allowing a rezoning of the property to allow a youth sailing center.

And in October 2019, the city commission had voiced its support for the agreement, but city staff said they wanted to examine the terms of the lease, ultimately deciding to divorce the city of the donation. The issue was put on the back burner until recently. 

In bringing the application forward again, Ellen Avery-Smith, attorney for the yacht club, said the group had done its due diligence in incorporating feedback from neighboring residents, including a clause in the lease that would ensure the property would remain as its expressed use as a youth sailing center. 

The youth center foundation is currently discussing next options, including a potential appeal of the rezoning denial.

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