The Madras Boat Club

The prestigious M&B Rowing Regatta maybe four months away but we, the Sify Rowing Team, wanted to make sure we get serious practice. So, we decided to have a Intra-Sify regatta, a fight amongst ourselves. It was supposed to be a two weeks of intense practice but the river played truant.

The tsunami had washed away the bund which separated the Adyar river from the sea and since this is now gone, the river’s water level is now dependent on the sea tide. With low tide in the mornings, we didn’t get to have too much practice. So, I used the free time to click snaps of my favorite club

This is the entrance of the boatclub

Even the two wheeler parking area is very tastefully done.

That’s our team in practice whent the water level was was decent enough for us to venture in.

James, the head coach of the Madras Boat Club is a phenomenal guy. He is a champion rower himself who represented India at Asian Games. Very knowledgeable and extremely dedicated to the sport.

These are the ‘Fours’ boats. These seat five people, four rowers and one cox. This is my favorite rowing category. Notice how thin these boats are. It’s sheer pleasure rowing in them when they slice through the water.

I kinda like this particular shot.

This swimming pool is built on the first floor.

The oars neatly stacked. Each oar is numbered and its important that the set of oars are placed together.

Places where boats are kept. This is right under the swimming pool. The white boats you see are the same ones used in Olympic games.

The raft where we alight into the boats. Notice the raft. It’s brillinatly designed to move up and down based on the level of the river. Right now, the raft is below the ground level which indicates that the water level has receded.

The famous logo of the Madras Boat Club. This club was founded in 1867.

View of the river from the restaurants

View of the boatclub from the same spot.