Northeast · Jacksonville
Jacksonville membership boat club with an ASA school inside, on Julington Creek where the St. Johns widens south of town. Courses through Advanced Coastal on a Catalina fleet; members check out club boats at no charge once certified.
The model is a boat club with a school inside it. Members pay a monthly rate for unlimited checkout of the club’s fleet, Catalina 22s and 25s plus Morgans and Precisions running 22 to 37 feet, and Basic Keelboat (101), or a challenge-out of it, is the gate to taking a boat out solo. The longest membership plan includes the 101 course at no charge, and every course runs cheaper for members, though all of them are open to the public at posted prices.
Instruction is led by “Cap’n Don,” whose teaching draws consistent praise in the club’s reviews. The core pathway runs Basic Keelboat through Advanced Coastal Cruising (101, 103, 104, 105, 106) in two-to-three-day courses, with Celestial Navigation (107), Offshore Passagemaking (108), and Cruising Catamaran (114) arranged on request.
The base sits on Julington Creek beside the fish camp, where the St. Johns spreads a mile wide south of Jacksonville: protected river sailing with room to make mistakes, and the Atlantic reachable downriver. For a northeast Florida sailor without a boat, this is the learn-then-keep-sailing answer: the certificate and the fleet live at the same dock. Veterans, active military, and reservists claim a discount on the 101 through ASA’s Veterans Sailing Education Program.
Featured Northeast · St. Augustine
Camachee Cove-based ASA school with both Matanzas River and offshore Atlantic access. Small classes (max four students) cover the full pathway from Basic Keelboat through celestial navigation, offshore passagemaking, and catamaran cruising.
Featured Northeast · Fernandina Beach
Amelia Island school running since 1997 with direct ICW-to-Atlantic access. Four-time ASA Outstanding School recognition; full curriculum from Basic Keelboat through catamaran cruising.
Northeast · St. Augustine
Nonprofit teaching center on Salt Run beneath the St. Augustine Lighthouse, on the water since 2012 and now reaching over 300 kids a year. Youth camps, after-school and a 10-week homeschool course, US Sailing-coached Opti and 420 race teams, and adult clinics on the J/24.