The Seaside Park Yacht Club (SPYC) owes its birth to Henry J. West of Gloucester, N.J., who inaugurated a series of sneak box races on Barnegat Bay for large cash prizes. The principal contenders in these races were the Life Guards who manned the then "Life Saving Stations," which eventually became the United States Coast Guard stations

The club house was built and soon expanded and boating boomed to an unprecedented degree in Seaside Park. As the area developed, the spirit of yacht racing grew and a series of contests between other early clubs: Island Heights, Bay Head, Mantoloking and Lavallette soon began. The older Toms River Yacht Club resurrected the Toms River Challenge Cup, which had been inaugurated in 1871. Barnegat Bay took on a racing fever unsurpassed in the annals of yacht racing.
The social features of the club are many. Over the years entertainments provided by the club members were many and varied. Cabarets, dances, card parties, and musical entertainments were staged every Friday and Saturday evening. The social program at Seaside Park and its delightful Club house were so popular in the '30's and '40's that the Seaside Park Yacht Club marina was filled with visiting boats from other Clubs who came for the swing bands and dancing on the deck on Saturday nights.