The Sailing Club (or Sailing Annexe) or Boats Club as you may know, pre-dates the existence of the Main Club.

Many senior members have spoken about how the British, with their love for the water, water bodies and water sports felt that the Hussain Sagar Lake was the best spot to start a Sailing Club. Not just for the sport, but also the location which was at the boundary of the Secunderabad Cantonment limits as it existed then.

The main attraction we were informed of was the huge Banyan Trees on the premises. These more than 100 years old trees have their aerial roots growing into the ground and are said to have attracted the British to also use the place as a picnic spot along with sailing and sunbathing. The picture reproduced below was taken in the year 1935, when the tree was fully grown. So, it is safe to assume that the Banyan Tree is more than a century old.

The British sailors physically surveyed the water and marked out the “Course” pin-pointing the treacherous rocks and giving them names, thereby making it safer for sailors. The picture below reproduced shows the entire Hussain Sagar lake with many rocks with their names. One such rock is shown as the ‘Gibraltar Rock’ with a mermaid on it. This is the rock on which the present BUDDHA Statue stands. There was pristine clean drinking water available then. As can be seen from the map/drawing, the sailors gave the rocks and obstacles names. Some of them have just initials. Our surmise is these may be the initials of the sailors who first marked them or they capsized there!!