CHELSEA BOAT CLUB HISTORY

Phase I - The Beginning -1877-1923

The first boat club in Norwich, CT was organized in 1877. This was three years before the first electric light came to town.  This first Chelsea Boat Club accommodated rowing, sailing, and motorboating.  It held motorboat races and had four commodores.  The boathouse property, was located on the East bank of the East fork of the Yantic River, across from Hollyhock Island and approximately between the eastbound and westbound Main Street bridges in the shadow of the old Davenport Firearms Company.  This property was sold on September 11, 1922 and on February 9, 1923, the club dissolved.

Phase II - The Early Years - 1928-early 1940s

The Club was revived in 1928. The new boathouse was located down the Thames River on the west bank at Kitemaug across from Allyn’s Point, the present location of Dow Chemical. It ceased to exist during the early part of World War II.

Phase III - The Middle Years - 1984-late 1990s

The Club was revived once again in 1984. Technically the name was the Chelsea Boat Club, but it was called the Chelsea Rowing Club. It began with a chance meeting at a Norwich Heritage Trust meeting and about five or six donated recreational single rowing shells and a recreational double shell. For a time there was space for the boats in a building on Hollyhock Island. The Club was later moved to a building down the Thames River on the Lehigh Oil Property.

By 1985 the club was up and running and on the water. Soon an old four-person rowing shell was donated to the club and then a second-hand four-person rowing shell was acquired. The club had very active racing schedules beginning the season with a racing regatta the first of April, a 12-mile race from New London back up the Thames to Norwich on July 4th, and races in the Fall such as the Head of the Connecticut and Head of the Charles in Boston.

Toward the mid-Nineties membership began to wane and, within a couple of years, faded away.

Phase IV - The Club Today - 2006 to Present

In 2006, with a strong desire to get back on the water, the new club began to slowly take shape. It had a new twist - to add paddle sports and sailing to its rowing program and again become a boat club.

With a Federal Grant, the City of Norwich obtained rowing and kayaking equipment in 2007, and a group of dedicated volunteers worked to organize a new Chelsea Boat Club.  A membership open house was held in late Fall 2007 and within a few weeks the club had a Steering Committee. From that membership, an interim executive board was formed. From early January 2008 the Steering Committee and the Board have worked hard to put together the beginnings of our boat club including adopting bylaws, becoming incorporated, applying for non-profit status, and obtaining insurance. 

The club began accepting applications for membership in the Spring of 2008.  Charter members began rowing at the American Warf Marina in June 2008 with programs for experienced and novice rowers during the Summer of 2008.  The season cummulated with a strong showing the the Coastweeks Regatta in Mystic.