Augusta Community Sailing
Augusta Community Sailing
Building skills, confidence, and community on the water.
Building skills, confidence, and community on the water.
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Augusta Community Sailing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in partnership with the Augusta Sailing Club that introduces youth and adults across the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) to sailing and boater safety through hands-on instruction, modern equipment, and community outreach. We focus on access, creating safe and welcoming opportunities for people of all backgrounds to get on the water, often for the very first time.
Augusta Community Sailing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in partnership with the Augusta Sailing Club that introduces youth and adults across the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) to sailing and boater safety through hands-on instruction, modern equipment, and community outreach. We focus on access, creating safe and welcoming opportunities for people of all backgrounds to get on the water, often for the very first time.
Need-based scholarships are available for our youth programs.
Need-based scholarships are available for our youth programs.
Impact
Impact
2025
120+ youth served
17 youth earned Georgia Safe Boating Certificates
2026
15 students completed Spirit of America youth boating week — all 15 earned their Georgia Safe Boating Certificate
12 community members certified at our Georgia DNR boater education course
10 new sailing instructors certified — our combined bench is now 19
Sailors from 5 area schools on our high school team
3 graduating seniors on to Clemson, Texas A&M, and Georgia Tech
Building safe, confident sailors across the CSRA. → See our impact
Programs
Programs
ACS meets sailors wherever they start:
Four days of boating safety and hands-on watercraft training for ages 11–15. Students earn the Georgia State Safe Boating Certificate.
Competitive team sailing in the SAISA North league, open to grades 8–12 from schools across Richmond and Columbia counties.
Learn to sail in one day on Clarks Hill Lake. No experience needed.
Junior sailors help shape ACS programs and run their own events.
Sunfish Fleet 2027
Sunfish Fleet 2027
The boat that has taught more Americans to sail than any other.
The boat that has taught more Americans to sail than any other.
Every summer, sail camp runs on Sunfish. A full fleet on the water at once, with kids learning to steer, to capsize and recover, to come back in grinning and soaked. Through the rest of the season, they're the boats anyone in our sailing community can rig up and take out on a good afternoon.
Our Sunfish have aged past the point where they can carry that load. We're raising $20,000 to put ten new boats in the water for the spring 2027 season. ACS is debt-free and community-funded, and we intend to stay that way: these boats get bought when they're paid for.
We're renewing this fleet together with the Augusta Sailing Club, which hosts and maintains the boats.
Augusta Community Sailing owns these boats and dedicates them to community instruction, youth programs, and scholarship sailors. ACS is a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 86-3092248; gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Gifts are restricted to the purchase and outfitting of Sunfish sailboats — if contributions exceed what the fleet requires, the ACS board will direct the surplus to fleet safety, maintenance, and instruction. Augusta Sailing Club members may also contribute through the club; club contributions are not tax-deductible.
This year, donors put six Fulcrum Rockets and a coach boat on the water. See what the fleet has become.
Student to Instructor
Student to Instructor
ACS is a pipeline as much as a program. Young people who start with us as beginners come back as US Sailing–certified instructors — a nationally recognized credential our sailors earn as young as 15. Ten new instructors certified in 2026, bringing our combined bench to 19.
Our Youth Advisory Board gives teenagers real say in how programs run. And when one of our high school sailors saw that we tracked boat maintenance on spreadsheets, she built RigReport — a tool that now monitors safety status across 70+ boats and has drawn interest from other sailing organizations.
Become a Certified Instructor
Our sailors don't just learn here - they come back and teach.
Become a Certified Instructor
Our sailors don't just learn here - they come back and teach.
Youth Instructor Scholarship
Augusta Community Sailing helps young sailors earn their US Sailing Small Boat Instructor certification — a nationally recognized credential. The scholarship provides up to $275 toward Level 1 certification tuition, and the Helen Hanley Fund may cover the remaining balance. Recipients complete the certification course and give back at least 55 hours of instruction or teaching assistance with ACS during the season.
2026 Recipients
In September 2026, ACS awarded $1,100 to Oliver, Graeme, Hailey, and Gibby — four young sailors who earned their US Sailing Small Boat Instructor Level 1 certification this year and applied for the scholarship. Each received the full $275 award. In return, each has committed to at least 55 hours teaching and assisting at ACS programs this season. This is how the program keeps going: kids who learned to sail here, now teaching the next ones.
What's Happening at ACS
What's Happening at ACS
High School Sailing
September 27 - Practices begin
October 24 Lake Jordan, Raleigh
November 14-15 Carolina Yacht Club, Wrightsville Beach
December 5 Carolina Yacht Club, Charleston
February 6 Florida Yacht Club, Jacksonville
February 20-21 James Island Yacht Club, James Island
March 20-21 Columbia Sailing Club, Columbia
High School Sailing
September 27 - Practices begin
October 24 Lake Jordan, Raleigh
November 14-15 Carolina Yacht Club, Wrightsville Beach
December 5 Carolina Yacht Club, Charleston
February 6 Florida Yacht Club, Jacksonville
February 20-21 James Island Yacht Club, James Island
March 20-21 Columbia Sailing Club, Columbia
Every season, more kids experience the water safely, confidently, and for the first time.
Every season, more kids experience the water safely, confidently, and for the first time.
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