About Us

Celebrating Community, Boating, and Tradition Since 1955

Our History

The Sara­so­ta Out­board Club (SOC) has deep roots in Sara­so­ta’s water­front his­to­ry. Estab­lished in 1955 and offi­cial­ly incor­po­rat­ed in 1958, SOC was the first orga­ni­za­tion to call Ken Thomp­son Park home.

 

Dur­ing World War II, the land now occu­pied by the Sara­so­ta Yacht Club served as a U.S. Army train­ing sta­tion. After the war, the land was deed­ed to the City of Sara­so­ta. Around that time, a group of pas­sion­ate powerboaters

many of them mil­i­tary vet­er­ans, began gath­er­ing reg­u­lar­ly, beach­ing their boats on a small island just south of the old Sies­ta Key Bridge. For years, they fer­ried friends and fam­i­ly to the island, meet­ing and social­iz­ing on its shores.

As their group grew in size and spir­it, they decid­ed to form an offi­cial club. In 1955, the Sara­so­ta Out­board Club was born, and on May 13, 1958, it became incor­po­rat­ed. Ear­ly meet­ings were held in down­town Sara­so­ta, first in the old Sara­so­ta Bank Build­ing on Orange Avenue and lat­er in the Nation­al Bank Build­ing on Sies­ta Drive.

By 1962, the need for a per­ma­nent home became clear. The SOC nego­ti­at­ed a lease with the City of Sara­so­ta for the cur­rent prop­er­ty on City Island. Through team­work and ded­i­ca­tion, mem­bers built the club­house, installed a con­crete sea­wall, laid a boat ramp, and con­struct­ed docks—all by hand. These facil­i­ties have been lov­ing­ly main­tained and expand­ed over the decades and con­tin­ue to be enjoyed by mem­bers and their guests to 

Community Involvement

The Sara­so­ta Out­board Club is more than a boat­ing club—it’s a proud com­mu­ni­ty part­ner. As a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion, we sup­port a vari­ety of civic and char­i­ta­ble caus­es through­out the year. 

Our facil­i­ties are used for:

  • Fire, Police, and Sher­iff Depart­ment train­ing exercises
  • Fish­ing tour­na­ments sup­port­ing caus­es like Juve­nile Diabetes
  • Events for chil­dren and adults with spe­cial needs, such as the Friend­liest Catch Fish­ing Tournament
  • Out­ings for orga­ni­za­tions like the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch and The Pines of Sarasota
  • Sup­port of marine sci­ence and envi­ron­men­tal efforts, includ­ing assis­tance to Mote Marine Lab­o­ra­to­ry with red tide research initiatives

Through these efforts, SOC seeks to con­tribute pos­i­tive­ly to pub­lic safe­ty, envi­ron­men­tal research, and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice through­out the Sara­so­ta area.

Our Club & Membership

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