The Royal Bombay Yacht Club (RBYC) is one of the premier gentlemen's clubs which was founded in 1846 in Colaba (formerly Wellington Pier), an area of Mumbai in India. The building was designed by John Adams, who also designed the nearby Royal Alfred Sailors' Homes (now the Maharashtra Police Headquarters), and was completed in 1896.[1]
Quick Facts Founded, Location ...
Royal Bombay Yacht Club
Official Crest of RBYC
The burgee of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club features a crown and the Star of India.
The club offers chambers for residence overlooking the Gateway of India, a bar, a lounge, a restaurant, ballrooms, a club shop, a men's salon, a library, a gymnasium with steam and sauna facilities, a cue sports room and members cards room, in addition to sailing facilities in the Arabian Sea.[2]
The club regularly conducts sailing events and championships for members and yachtsmen across the Mumbai region.[3] Admission to the club is reserved by exclusive membership.
History
The Bombay Yacht Club was founded in 1846 with Henry Morland as club commodore and 30 years later, on the recommendation of Sir Philip Wodehouse, Queen Victoria permitted it to add the word Royal to its name.
Another clubhouse was built in 1896 (to the west, just across Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Road), a blending of Venetian Gothic architecture with Indian Saracenic, to provide accommodations for members and visiting associates.
In 1958, the Club was temporarily closed for not accepting new Indian members. The club started then granting honorary memberships to all Bombay Club members and provided a new home for their furniture and other effects.
The 1960s saw a new race introduced after the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the club and presented the Challenge Cup for a Combined Class race not less than 21 miles. The RBYC at that time owned a fleet of four 21-foot Seabird Half Raters, whilst its members’ owned boats including the Chindwin (Bermudian cutter), the Iona (a Gunter sloop), the Silver Oak (a Yachting World keel boat), the Tir (a yawl), the Merope (Stor-Draken class) and the Griffon and the Wynvern (two International Dragons). The club was selected to host the 6th National Regatta for the Yachting Association of India.
Member Philip Bragg, who built the Suhaili, the first yacht to sail solo non-stop around the world, died in 1984. Yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnson attended a reception in his honour at the club in 2004.