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Sailing glory
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It is a week of exciting action as the National Hobie 16 sailing championships begin at Rishikonda from today
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Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
On the sea Testing the skills
With a fair wind blowing on the usual south easterly path, building up from eight to 15 knots on an average, the National Hobie 16 sailing championships at Rishikonda, near Visakhapatnam from March 20 to 26 should see some exciting action.
The timing of the meet could not have been better. Milad-un-Nabi on Thursday, the opening day, Good Friday on March 21, Holi the day after, followed up by Easter Sunday makes it a long weekend and provides enough holidays for spectators to turn up in droves.
Launching the twin sail/hull double hander from the horse-shoe shaped bay into the big, choppy waves will pose the first challenge that will truly test the sailing skills of those responding to this call of the sea.
A windward-leeward course with an offset mark at windward should make it more thrilling.
The meet will serve as selection trial to pick two teams for the Asian sailing championships in Bali in October. Much material and man-power from the Artillery Centre, Golconda will go into the conduct of the meet, according to Major Utpal More, the Organising Secretary, who enjoys the support of Lt. Gen. I.J. Koshy, President, National Hobie Class Association (NHCA) and Director General, Regiment of Artillery and that of Brigadier R. Suresh, Vice President, NHCA. A jury, a committee and three rescue boats, fitted with powerful outboard motors, will monitor the competition. A Coast Guard vessel equipped for deep sea search and rescue will also be parked in the bay for the entire duration of the meet, to ensure no sailor is lost at sea.
The field looks impressive too with 16 teams from the Army Yachting Node (AYN), Mumbai, the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC) in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, the Artillery Watersports Association (ASA), Hyderabad and the Yachting Association of Visakhapatnam taking part. Grahame Southwick from Suva, Fiji as helm and Vizag’s T. Rajesh as crew will also be in the fray.
The panel of officials include Arjuna awardees C.S. Pradipak and R. Mahesh, Lt. Col. (Retd.) M.P. Jaggi, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Gautam Dutta and Major More. Havaldhar Girish Rao of Artillery Centre will be the Principal Race Officer and kayaking and canoeing coach Antony Joseph, the beach master. ‘Vihar,’ the nearby restaurant will be the official hospitality sponsor. As the crow flies, the length of the course is 1.5 nautical miles. Catering to wind, tide and current conditions, the actual distance covered can vary between five and eight nautical miles.
The starting leg will be a ‘beat,’ where the sailing will be upwind, followed by a ‘run,’ or the downwind leg, the two completing a loop. There could be up to three loops in a race, which concludes with a downwind stretch.
A. JOSEPH ANTONY
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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