Derrick makes clean sweep
HERALD SPORTS DESK
PANJIM, MAY 1
Derrick made a clean sweep of both the races to build up a sizeable lead over his nearest rival Donald Coelho on the penultimate day of National Boardsailing Championships off Dona Paul on Saturday.
Derrick, who surrendered his National title to Donald Coelho last year sailed with a vengeance to prove that he is still the best boardsailor in the country inspite of his advancing age of 49 years.
The first race was sailed in winds of about 12 knots. Derrick got off to a perfect start followed by Remy and Donald. Remy kept the pressure on Derrick throughout the race by engaging him in a constant tacking duel. Derrick fought gamely and maintained his lead from start to finish and to win the race comfortably followed by Remy and Donald.
The second race saw the wind pick up to about 16 knots. A determined Donald kept Derrick covered at the start, resulting in a nervy Derrick shooting over the start line before the start of the race resulting in his having to incur the penalty of restarting the race. This gave Donald a chance to get a perfect star and establish a clear lead over Derrick and Remy. Donald took full advantage of the situation and built up a sizeable lead leaving Derrick and Remy to fight for the second spot. Derrick inspite of starting in third spot kept up the pressure and sailed hard to catch up with Remy by the last leg of the race. It looked like Donald would win the race comfortably; however on the last leg of the race, an overconfident Donald shockingly sailed to a wrong mark giving Derrick the opportunity to close the gap and race to the finish line. By the time Donald realized his mistake it was too late for him to take corrective action resulting in him finishing third behind Remy.
Manoj Kumar of Army sailed consistently throughout the championship to take the fourth place in every race. Young Dwayne Coelho who is sailing in the National championship for the first time performed creditably to finish the first race in the seventh place and second race in the sixth place inspite of sailing with a much smaller sail of 5.5 m. As against the normal sail of 9.8 m.
The last two races of the championship will be sailed tomorrow followed by the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. Admiral Sudhir Pillai will be the chief guest for the closing function.
