Sail on the Bay of Bengal in Chennai this summer and fill up on some vitamin sea

Take a sailboat for a spin from the Chennai harbour as the Royal Madras Yacht Club invites novices to try their hand at the sport this summer.

It has only been half an hour since the last of the sailboats has arrived at Chennai harbour after the finals of the second edition of the Unifi Capital Offshore Regatta on April 7. The famished participants who have been at sea for over 10 hours are drinking tea at the Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC).

Among them are Praveen Kumar (29) from Rajasthan and Imo Lemnok (25) from Nagaland. They come from states in India that do not have massive water bodies, but are among those with the best command of the J80 class sailboats (racing keelboats) in the country. While Praveen’s team from the Navy is the defending champion in this offshore regatta, Imo’s team has placed third in this year’s close final.

“When I am sailing, I am not just competing with other participants, I am competing with the wind and water,” says Imo. Honorary secretary of RMYC, Captain Vivek Shanbhag, shares similar thoughts about the sport.

“On a stressful day, I only need to take the sailboat out for two hours. With only the ocean and the breeze by my side, I end up immediately refreshed. All the fatigue from flying disappears,” says the pilot, who has been sailing for over 10 years.

It is probably why he and other members of the club are encouraging novices to try their hand at the sport.

The 112-year-old RMYC is the first sailing club of South India. Though originally The Madras Yacht Club, RMYC got a charter on February 20, 1962 from Queen Elizabeth II, after which the prefix ‘Royal’ was added. Earlier, only the ‘captains of industry and trade’ were allowed to be members of the club.

Now, however, this club has opened its doors to all keen participants.