Chennai: The jinx broke on Day Four of the Raymond 420 Sailing Nationals 2012 for the duo from RBYC Mumbai – Upamanyu Dutta & Hussain Arasiwala: First in all three races today! One wonders was it the briefing or the golden touch from 5 times Asian Games Medallist and 3 times Olympic sailor Commander Farokh Tarapore who is in Chennai to oversee the Nationals. Whatever the magic, we saw the fleet tighten and positions changed like never before in this Regatta. A commendable performance by Commander Atool Sinha (Asian Games Silver Medallist in Match Racing at China) and Ashok Kumar who finished 2nd in one race. The 420 is an Asian Games Class and a stepping stone to the 470 which is the Olympic Class.
Today, the weather looked all set to play spoil sport. However the wind never shifted direction even once! It came from the ocean in a SE direction as a strong and steady breeze. The swell in the ocean was in excess of 1.5 meters and this gave the brave added benefit on the down winds.
The Festival of Sails to win The GAMESA Trophy saw a superb spectacle of several classes of boats sailing in a combined race with sailors from 8 to 70 years of age … all racing together. This event is being run to introduce the sport to newcomers of all ages. Today’s two races were won by Capt. Vivek Shanbhag’s boat.
At the end of race 10, the overall final finishing positions with discards are:
OVERALL:
FIRST PLACE: Yaquob K & Rajiv Kumar AWSA Hussain Club (12 points)
Second Place: Upamanyu Dutta & Hussain Arasiwala RBYC Club Mumbai (20 points)
Third Place: Imo Lemnok & Pankaj Kumar INWTC Mumbai (26 points)
Fourth: Zephra Currimbhoy & Megna BT RMYC – Chennai (40 points),
Fifth: Mahendran & Haridas AYN Mumbai (59 points)
YOUTH CATEFORY:
FIRST: Upamanyu Dutta & Hussain Arasiwala RBYC Club Mumbai
SECOND: Zephra Currimbhoy & Megna BT RMYC – Chennai
THIRD: Shiv Rekhi & Ankit George RMYC – Chennai
