History of Royal Madras Yacht Club

Sailing first started in Ennore situated north of Madras more then 100 years ago and then came to the city of Madras.

Sir Francis Spring, the first Chairman of the Madras Port Trust, founded the Royal Madras Yacht Club in 1911, when it was known as the Madras Sailing Club. The club was accorded ‘Royal’ status by a warrant from the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and the name was changed to The Royal Madras Yacht Club.

There is a timeline of the Club's history and under 1933 it says "Letter received from Government authorising the Club to change its name with effect from 8-6-1933 to "Royal Madras Yacht Club".

Our Club was located near the timber shed area of the harbour. The popular class at that time was the Bembridge which is a largish boat like the Sea Bird we have today. The RMYC was a live wire club where in the bottom line to its activity was FUN. The photographs of the parties at the RMYC in the middle part of this century are those of ladies and gentlemen dressed in Gowns and Tuxedos respectively. The dinners were formal “Sit down”, service was Classy, the waiters were in white uniform, turbans etc and the ambiance “proper”.

Today, after a number of re-locations, the RMYC has come a full circle and stands at its original premises selected by Sir Francis Spring, which has come to be known as the Springhaven Wharf.

The first of the Inter-Club Regattas which the present Centenary Regatta commemorated was held in 1924 between The Royal Colombo Yacht Club and the RMYC in Madras.

In the last 30 years some of the prominent people who helped to build and keep the Club active were Commodore H.R. Claudius, formerly of the Indian Navy, Capt. P.R. Datar, Mr. Ramesh Lulla and Mr. Canthaswamy. Also in particular from the Madras Port Trust were Chairmen like Mr. V. Selvaraj and Mr. Ashoke Joshi and Conservator Capt. Mande. Help was also rendered by the Marine Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd., Vadyar Boats, Shaw Wallace and Co. and the Tebma Marine in re-building various bits of the Club. The then Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R.H. Tahiliani inaugurated the new Club House on 4th February 1987.

The Club was affiliated to Yachting Association of India after the YAI was formed in 1960 and has been conducting national sailing events. The Club has conducted many regattas in Chennai in the period 1960-1981 including the Madras Port Centenary Regatta in 1971.

Over the years from 1963 to 1971, The Royal Madras Yacht Club conducted the Inter Club Regatta for the Yachting Association of India and in 1963 our club were Runners-up. In 1971, the Club won both the individual and team events thanks to Cmdre. Claudius and Mr P. Gujanan, who were at that time middle aged men, a very creditable achievement. At the international level, Deep Rekhi, Kuruvilla Abraham, Drona Narayanan, Navaz Currimbhoy, Sandeep Srikanth, Niloufer Jamal, Rohit Ashok and Varun Prabhakar represented India between 1970 and 2000 winning many prizes.

During December 2004 Tsunami, the Club lost 12 Boats and lot of materials worth Rs.25 Lakhs. Rafiq Sait, Munna Jamal, Jayraj Rau and many others kept the Club afloat during those tough times. In the last few years there has been a lot of sailing activity thanks to Navaz, Capt Nandakumar, Capt Vivek Shanbhag.

The Chairman, Deputy Chairman and the Port Conservator of Chennai Port Trust are the patrons of the Club.

Members of the Management Comittee 2015 - 2017 are listed below.

Some of the notable achievements in the last few years are:

The Indian National Squad 2010 has the following sailors from RMYC

RMYC has a fleet of boats comprising Optimists, Lasers, Enterprise, Waterwags, 420 Class, 29ers and Seabirds. Being a family club there is a boat for every age group either for hobby, professional or whole family sailing. The Club has recently acquired a fleet of Omega boats which is the first in India.

Sailing is a clean, eco friendly and zero pollution sport. It helps build awareness of the environment. Children who sail young also learn to be responsible. They take part in the coastal clean up every year.

The committee has a vision to make sailing and all water sports more popular in Tamilnadu which is blessed with a great coastline, beaches and ports. Fishermen children are also being taught sailing since they take naturally to water. To popularize water sports many sailing events and publicity campaigns are being planned in the Centenary year. Being located inside the Chennai Port all facilities are offered to the Port Officers as well as Defence Officers.

Over the last hundred years having FUN on the waters has been our motto and will continue to be so as we sail passionately beyond the Centenary mark…..

So come...    join in and enjoy the action!
Please email/call if you need to address your curiosity

RESULTS & REFLECTIONS

RMYC propagates the Coast Guard motto

Francis Joseph Edward Spring

Sir Francis Joseph Edward Spring KCIE (b. January 20, 1849 – d. August 25, 1933) was a British civil engineer who played a pioneering role in development of the Indian Railways. He served as Chairman of the Madras Port Trust from 1904 to 1920. However, Spring is largely remembered today for championing the cause of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan....more

Glimpses from the past

Go to photo album