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Catching the wind on the sails

— Photo: S.K. Mohan

Smooth sail: Sailboats participating in the Admirals Cup International Sailing Regatta off the Ettikkulam Beach at Ezhimala in Kannur on Saturday.

EZHIMALA (KANNUR): The weather was ideal though the wind initially a little unstable as each person at the helm of the laser class sailboats manoeuvred in the waters off the Ettikkulam beach here, steering his or her craft while controlling the sail.

The standard laser class sailing boats struggled but managed to maintain a steady course in the waters off the Ettikkulam beach at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala here on the first day on Saturday of the three-day International Sailing Regatta, a maiden sailing boat race event for the Admirals' Cup instituted by the Indian Navy for trainees of naval academies of friendly countries.

The event includes eight races, each race covering four nautical miles. Naval teams from Brazil, Italy, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Oman, Sri Lanka and Maldives are participating.

Two teams from India, one representing the INA and the other the Naval Engineering College at Lonavla, are participating.

The event was formally flagged-off at the Watermanship Training Centre at the Ettikkulam bay on Friday evening by INA Commandant Vice-Admiral Anurag G. Thapliyal.

“The wind is very unreliable here, but we are hopeful because we had a good practice race yesterday,” Lt. Chrish Newman of the Royal Navy of the U.K. said before the race began.

Getting used to the climate here is the greatest challenge, he added. The British team also included Sub. Lt. Rob Stoneward and F.C. Corwsley.

For the Italian team leader Lt. Cmdr Stefano Frumento, the weather was comfortable but the wind was strong. He was also confident because of the perfect practice race in the bay.

Women participants in the regatta included Corwsley of the U.K. and Prerana Singh of the INA. The other participants in the regatta included Akramuddin Saeed, M. Asif Adnan and Didarul Alam of Bangladesh; Sulaiman bin Saeed al Siban, Sultan bin Salim and Kalaf bin Saeed of Oman; Udayanka, Kumara and Ymaaka Yapa of Sri Lanka; Hussain Rasheed, Hassan Nadeem and Musa Ramees of the Maldives; Osama Kamal Abdel, Ahmed Mahmud and Mahmud Mohammad of Egypt; Lt. Taveres, Selvatici and Mirao of Brazil; and Paocom Onari and Alberto Gembino of Italy.

The contest will conclude on December 13 evening.

Earlier, Forest Minister Benoy Viswom visited the INA. He was received by Vice-Admiral Thapliyal. The Minister planted a sapling at the INA to launch a tree planting programme of the academy.

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