The Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) is a

yacht club A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of t ...

, India. The RMYC was founded by Sir Francis Spring in 1911.''The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places'' (Britannica Educational Publishing), 184. It was the first sailing club in southern India, and was originally based in what was called the Timber Pond area of Madras Harbour. Soon after its founding the club was granted royal patronage by

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Quee ...

, and it became one of the most prestigious sporting and social clubs in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Today the club is located at Springhaven Wharf, named after its founder.

History

Sporting sailing in the area first started in

Ennore Ennore, also spelt , is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India. Ennore is situated on a peninsula and is bounded by the Korttalaiyar River, Ennore Creek and the Bay of Bengal. The creek separates south Ennore from the north Ennore which covers major ...

, situated north of Madras, in the early 1900s. Sir Francis Spring, the first Chairman of the Madras Port Trust, founded the Royal Madras Yacht Club in 1911. The first of the Inter-Club Regattas in India was held in 1924 between the Royal Colombo Yacht Club and the RMYC in Madras. It was accorded its 'Royal' status by the

Emperor of India Emperor or Empress of India was a title used by British monarchs from 1 May 1876 (with the Royal Titles Act 1876) to 22 June 1948, that was used to signify their rule over British India, as its imperial head of state. Royal Proclamation of 22 ...

, King

, and the name was changed to The Royal Madras Yacht Club on 8 June 1933. The popular class at that time was the ''Bembridge''. The club quickly gained a reputation for its formal atmosphere and it became one of the leading sporting social clubs in the country. After a number of re-locations, the club is situated at its original premises selected by its founder, which has come to be known as the Springhaven Wharf. Recent decades have seen the facilities of the Club improved and modernised. The then Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, inaugurated the new Club House on 4 February 1987. The Club was affiliated to the Yachting Association of India after the YAI was formed in 1960 and many national sailing events have since been held at the Club. The Club conducted many regattas in Chennai between 1961 and 1981, including the Madras Port Centenary Regatta in 1971. From 1963 to 1971, The Royal Madras Yacht Club conducted the Inter Club Regatta for the Yachting Association of India and in 1963 the club were runners-up. In 1971, the Club won both the individual and team events. At the international level, club members Deep Rekhi, Kuruvilla Abraham, Drona Narayanan, Navaz Currimbhoy, Sandeep Srikanth, Niloufer Jamal, Rohit Ashok and Varun Prabhakar represented India between 1970 and 2000. During the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern ...

, the Club lost 12 boats and its facilities were badly damaged.

Current

The Club claims that its primary purpose is "to promote the sport of sailing" in all its aspects, and caters for sailors of all ages and abilities. It continues to provide facilities for national and intentional sailing events, in part due to the good sailing conditions off the coast of Chennai. The RMYC has a fleet of boats comprising Optimists, Lasers, Enterprise, Waterwags, 420 Class, 29ers, Omega and Seabirds. The Club has recently acquired a fleet of J80 boats which is the first in India.

Achievements

Some notable achievements:

Patrons

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

References

{{Reflist

External links

Royal Madras Yacht Club website
Royal yacht clubs Buildings and structures in Chennai Clubs and societies in India Sport in Chennai Yacht clubs in India 1911 establishments in India Sports organizations established in 1911