Team Herald
DONA PAULA: Goan windsurfers overcame a stiff challenge from the Army Yachting Node, Mumbai, to register a clean sweep on the second day of the All India Board Sailing Championship organised by Goa Yachting Association (GYA) and Volvo Penta at Dolphin Adventure Sports Centre, a YAI-accredited training centre at Hawaii Beach, Dona Paula, on Friday.
In the only class resisting the Goa tide, the BIC Nova class, INWTC Goa’s Naveen Singh Rawat took all four races of the day, pushing Santosh Dethalia of DSSC Bhopal into second place.
In a south-westerly wind gusting to 15 knots (28kmph), Goa’s Dayne Coelho did well to match reigning national champion AYN Mumbai’s Jerome Kumar on the upwind leg in the Olympic RS:X class, picking the right wind patches for his relatively light weight. He sped ahead of his rival on the downwind leg, which is his strength, to finish a minute ahead of Jerome. Dayne did equally well in the relatively calm afternoon north-westerly winds of 9 to 12 knots to stay ahead of the pack in every race.
Despite capsizing in Race 8, AYN Mumbai’s Jerome Kumar did well to recover and hold on to second place. However, he lost out on a podium place in Race 6, having committed to the southern side of the course when the wind gusts all favoured the northern side. The AYN sailors are formidable competitors, and have won the national crown on a number of occasions.
Russell Lobo in the Youth Olympics RS:One class, Raunak Pai in the Men’s Raceboard class and Katya Coelho in the Women’s Raceboard class finished far ahead of their rivals in all the four races of the day.
In the BIC Nova Class, Naveen Singh Rawat of INWTC Goa pulled ahead of his rivals in all four races of the day, pushing Santosh Dethaliya of DSCC Bhopal, who won three of the four races yesterday, into third place in one race, second place in two races, and off the podium in Race 7.
Results: RS:X: Race 5: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) Jerome Kumar (AYN), (3) Arjun Reddy (AYN); Race 6: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) M N Kore (AYN), (3) Arjun Reddy (AYN); Race 7: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) Jerome Kumar (AYN), (3) M N Kore (AYN); Race 8: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) Jerome Kumar (AYN), (3) Arjun Reddy (AYN).
RS:One: Race 5: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) David Estibeiro (Goa), (3) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal); Race 6: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) David Estibeiro (Goa), (3) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal); Race 7: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) David Estibeiro (Goa), (3) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal); Race 8: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) David Estibeiro (Goa), (3) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal).
Raceboard Women: Race 5: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa), (2) Rhea Fernandes (Goa); Race 6: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa), (2) Rhea Fernandes (Goa), (3) Neha Correia (Goa); Race 7: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa), (2) Rhea Fernandes (Goa), (3) Neha Correia (Goa); Race 8: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa), (2) Rhea Fernandes (Goa).
