Hampton Sailing Club was formerly the Victorian Ladies Yacht Club which was formed in 1945. A group of young women who were keen sailors but unable to join any yacht club in Australia banded together to form the VLYC. In 1946 they purchased 2 boat sheds on the Sandringham foreshore. This was a bold, decisive action but one that secured a venue for girls and women to learn to sail separate from the large established keelboat-oriented clubs around Port Phillip Bay.
The women assembled a fleet of Sabots for sail training purposes and the new Club prospered. As the membership grew so did the number and classes of boats they were sailing. Eventually the club moved to new premises at its current location to the west of Hampton Pier in the mid 1960s.
With the introduction of equal opportunity legislation in the early 1980s men were allowed to join the Club. The demographic of the Club gradually changed. A few years later the name was changed to Hampton Sailing Club. However, the purpose and spirit of the organisation remains the same - an active and accessible venue for Bayside and the wider community to enjoy off-the-beach recreational watercraft activities.