On the evening of 12 October 1874, a group of Durban’s sportsmen rode into town on horseback, tethered their mounts outside the Caledonian Hotel in Field Street, and held a meeting to establish the Durban Rowing Club. The annual subscription was a guinea.

The first club boathouse was built on the “Beach” of the Bay (harbour) at the foot of Beach Grove. Fours could float (when the tide permitted) along a central canal about 4 ft wide within the boathouse. Members were able to catch shrimps and fish which were trapped in the boathouse when the tide went out.

The first two boats were wide clinker-built in-rigged fours, with fixed seats and open ends. There were 55 members when the club opened on 6 February 1875.

In 1898 a new clubhouse was built at the foot of Albert Park, and in 1904 a DRC crew brought home the coveted Buffalo Grand Challenge trophy from the regatta in East London. The Durban Rowing Club has won the Buffalo Grand Challenge trophy on six occasions, the last being in 1977.

After an access canal had silted up, a new boathouse was built at the end of a long pier around 1920. When it was demolished in 1947, the club moved to a sea-plane hangar near the dry dock. In 1954, a new club building was opened on the newly constructed mole at the yacht basin, and it still serves as the DRC’s boathouse. This boathouse is one of the ‘character boathouses’ in South Africa with magnificent views of the city and the bay.

Today (2009) the Durban Rowing Club has 35 active members mostly veteran oarsmen, an active women’s section, and has an Eight, a coxless Four, three Quads, four Double Sculls, and several Single Sculls. This fleet has been acquired in the last ten years. It also has many privately owned boats, and has three ergo machines and pub facilities.

Durban Rowing Club has been on an active drive to transform and develop rowing. The club acquired a ‘Tub quad’ specifically for development rowing and to date the club has its first black lady member. There is also a promising Junior double sculling crew.

There are active Men’s and Women’s Eight masters crews, a pool of about a dozen men masters who row before work in Quads and Doubles twice a week, and a number of Single Scullers. One is the current women’s World Champ, having won the 1000m race in Vienna, Austria, in the 50-55 years category.

Since 1999, the club has been hosting the annual Head of the Bay Regatta in July. The course starts at the Club, goes along the Maydon Channel, up the Silt Canal to the head of the bay, and back, a distance of some 12 km. The regatta usually attracts about 20 to 30 entries, including some from Johannesburg and Cape Town, and is run on a handicap system.

Rowing on Durban bay is indeed challenging, the water is tidal, weather conditions are often not ideal but over the years Durban has produced winning crews. Coaching and basic instruction in the ‘Art of Sculling and Rowing’ is provided by the Club. New members are most welcome.