The Yacht Club of Hyderabad (YCH)

The Yacht Club of Hyderabad is a registered charitable trust that uses competitive sailing as a route out of poverty for children from government and welfare schools. Founded on World Environment Day in 2009 by Suheim Sheikh, the club took over a dilapidated sixty-year-old jetty and three boats and has grown into what it describes as India's largest sailing fleet, with 209 boats. The club states that it has trained more than 1,500 children since 2009, with 99 percent from disadvantaged communities, and that every child is trained free of charge. Its stated purpose is to give each child a stable and sustainable career through sport, moving them from vernacular-medium schooling into English education and into professions of their choice. Alongside on-water coaching the trust funds school fees, after-school tutoring, nutrition, health care, physiotherapy, counselling and transport, and it operates a written child safety policy and an internal grievance committee. The trust is registered under sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act and under CSR-1 with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It lists affiliation with the Yachting Association of India, the Telangana Sailing Association, the National Optimist Association of India, the Laser Class Association of India and the Cadet Class Sailing Foundation of India. It hosts the annual YAI Monsoon Regatta, runs Project Naavika for girl sailors, and reports 272 national medals and 31 international medals across 187 international participations.