In the early days, experienced sailors volunteered their time to teach kids and non sailors how to sail. Many of the best sailors in the Halifax area learned to sail as kids in home built plywood Optimist Prams. As the club grew, more volunteers developed a formal training program. Several years ago the Halifax Youth Sailing affiliate organization was formed to better serve our young sailors. Today HYS conducts summer sailing camps and a year round Sailing Team.
Each summer HSA offers Adult "Learn To Sail" Sunfish courses and Adult Intermediate Capri courses.
The spirit of volunteerism is still present in the HSA Sailing School. However, the HSA Sailing School and all the volunteer instructors are fully certified by the United States Sailing Association, the governing body for the sport of sailing in the United States.
In 1957, a dozen or so local sailors founded the Halifax Sailing Association. In the 1960’s the club stored the few Optimist Prams that they owned in a shed on City Island and over the years developed the club’s training program and taught many kids to sail.
In 1985 the current pavilion was built by the City of Daytona Beach. The clubs first website appeared in 2002. The summer of 2004 brought a series of tropical storms and hurricanes which caused significant damage to the pavilion and the club’s fleet. The city provided the concrete stepped seawall in 2005. US Sailing certification of the sailing school and instructors began in 2007 and the youth program was spun off in 2008 to become Halifax Youth Sailing. In 2014 the decades’ long process to obtain IRS approval for our 501 c 3 charitable organization status was completed.
From the beginning, the mission of the club has been to promote the sport of sailing in the Halifax area.
The pavilion is the central hub of all the club’s activities. It consists of the pavilion area, restrooms, garage/sail room and secure storage room (the annex).
The dock, boat lift and floating dock provide berthing for our larger boats and our safety boat. The floating dock is just that and as such can really rock when a large wake passes – watch your step. Boats should not be left unattended on the floating dock without permission.
The “yard” surrounding the pavilion is for HSA, HYS, ERAU, Gold and Silver member boats stored in assigned spaces/areas. Space is extremely limited.
Because room for automobile parking is so limited, please park outside the gate during an event. While the interior yard may look empty, plenty of swing room is needed to maneuver boats into their spaces. If there is any chance your vehicle may block a space and you leave the area, to go sailing for instance, be sure that you leave your keys so that the vehicle may be moved. Be respectful of other member’s needs.
Our fleet composition varies with time as we acquire and retire vessels. Check the "Our Fleet" page on our website for fairly up to date information or with the Fleet Vice-Commodore for specific up to the minute information. Since we are a small boat club we have quite a few small centerboard/daggerboard dinghies. We also have a few multihulls and keelboats.