A sailing program begins in a Washington DC alley.

Our founder, Captain Jeffrey Bowen, is an ordained minister, an experienced sailor and a professional yacht captain. After spending 10 years working with teens and college students in the suburbs, he moved his family into the heart of Washington DC to work with the inner-city community in 1998.

Shortly thereafter, the alley behind the family’s row house became a “field” for alley soccer, alley hockey, and alley cookouts. Although it became a popular place to gather, the boundaries of that alley were very close, as were the boundaries of the lives of many of the young people of the community.

Things changed with the donation of an old sailboat. On trips to sail that boat on the Chesapeake Bay the family van was overflowing with young people. When the kids were sailing, their hard shells cracked, they smiled, and their eyes were opened to new horizons, ones not defined by chain-link fences.

One thing led to another. More boats were donated to the fleet, new captains were recruited, and generous donors helped support the needs of the young people who kept coming. A dinghy fleet was purchased and summer sailing camps were added to expand sailing opportunities.

In 2002, PHLAS became an American Sailing Association affiliate sailing school. Instructors went through Instructor Qualification Certification so that new volunteers could be trained and certified. Capt Jack Feeney, the founder of The Sailboat Club in Jacksonville, Florida helped organize the PHLAS Chesapeake Bay fleet of 25′ to 40′ yachts into a shared-boat sailing club with membership fees that helped support the youth sailing program.