The Hindu : Sport / Sailing : Nishanth Chandrasekar in lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 10, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Sailing

Nishanth Chandrasekar in lead

Special Correspondent

WINNERS: The TNSA team — Nishanth, Shweta, Varun, Hussain and Sarav — which won the title on Tuesday. — Photo: R. Ragu

Chennai: Coping with the forces of nature is the essence of sailing. If the land breeze was a factor in the early afternoon, the gust from the sea accompanied by the swells and the chops posed a different set of challenges to the competitors, here, on Wednesday, in the Chennai Port Trust National Optimist coastal sailing championship.

A clever sailor explores the angles, makes the most of the wind and the sea. Varun Thakkar, Nishanth Chandrasekar and Gerad Ambrose clinched the seventh, eighth and ninth races on a testing Wednesday. The three races of the day threw up three winners.

Nishanth leads the race for the overall title with 36 points. TNSA continues to dominate the championship, however, Mumbai boys Arisudan Seth and Gaurav Pikale are in the hunt.

Wind speed

The wind speed (land breeze) fell between two and three knots during the seventh race, testing the patience of the sailors. Varun visualised the race better than the rest, while Aman Vyas of NSS Bhopal was a creditable second.

The sea breeze — seven to eight knots — gathered speed in the eighth race and the sailors had to change strategy, riding the waves and swells. Nishanth came from behind to finish first.

The ninth race saw the sailors grappling with a busy Southern breeze and a brisk chop. The wind speed was between eight and ten knots, while the swells were as high as five feet. Gerad began well and finished strongly.

Gerad has a fine day, being the runner-up in the eighth race and winning the ninth. Asked about the final race of the day, he said, "I moved to the unfavourable side and then switched to the favourable side." The budding sailors are not lacking in strategy.

Among the girls, Shwetha Sadanand has an unassailable lead.

Thursday will decide the champion.

The results: Race 7: 1. Varun Thakkar (TNSA); 2. Aman Vyas (NSS Bhopal); 3. Praveen Dhanasekaran (TNSA); 4. Sheldon Demello (GYA); 5. Malvika Lobo (CSC).

Race 8: 1. Nishanth Chandrashekar (TNSA ); 2. Gerad Ambrose (TNSA); 3. Arisudan Sheth (CSC); 4. Gaurav Pikale (CSC); 5. Dilip Nalla (INWTC).

Race 9: 1. Gerad Ambrose (TNSA); 2. Hussain Bhavnagarvala (TNSA); 3. Sarav Rajavelu (TNSA); 4. Gaurav Pikale (CSC); 5. Nishanth Chandrashekar (TNSA).

Overall championship: Provisional positions:

Boys: 1. Nishanth Chandrashekar (TNSA) 36 points; 2. Arisudan Sheth (CSC) 42; 3. Sarav Rajavelu (TNSA) 43; Gaurav Pikale (CSC) 48; Dilip Nalla (INWTC) 53.

Girls: 1. Shwetha Sadanand (TNSA) 65 points (eighth overall); Niveditha Varman (TNSA) 103 (13th overall).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport