The Hindu : Sport / Sailing : National meet begins today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sailing

National meet begins today

A. Joseph Antony

Visakhapatnam: The first National Hobie 16 sailing championships will get underway at the picturesque Rushikonda Bay near Visakhapatnam on Monday.

Hosted jointly by the National Hobie Class Association (NHCA) with its headquarters at Artillery Centre (Hyderabad) and the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP), under the aegis of the Yachting Association of India (YAI), the five-day championship has 16 sailors in the fray. A dozen of them are proficient with the twin-sail, 16-foot double hull catamaran and four are beginners. Among the internationals vying for honours are National coach Gautama Dutta, Ashim Mongia, Utpal More, A.S. Patankar, Naresh Yadav, Ram Kumar, Anirudh Vijay Kumar, P.V.S. Raju and T.S. Chaturvedi.

Importance for safety

Safety is high on the agenda with support on that front coming from the Eastern Naval Command with their Gemini boats, the Coast Guard which has provided a ship and a helicopter for deep sea search and rescue, and the Rashtriya Life Saving Society, with half a dozen boats earmarked for the very purpose.

All safety operations have HAM radio and Global Position System (GPS) back-up. For the competition too, a dozen boats provided by SAAP are ready to skim the waves, although only nine will be pressed into service, says Lt. Col. Nasser Hussain Dubey, Organising Secretary. The above championship will serve as selection trials to pick the national squad for the Asian sailing championships in Doha, Qatar, later this year. Seasoned sailor and official, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Mohinder Pal Jaggi will be Principal Race Officer.

An open championship was held in the same class and venue last year, that featured participants from Australia, the United States and even a handicapped sailor from Chennai.

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