Team Herald
DONA PAULA: Goa’s Dayne Coelho and defending national champion Army Yachting Node (AYN) Mumbai’s Jerome Kumar fought in a intense battle during the Olympic RS:X class at 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 Saturday.
On Day 3 of the regatta came stronger winds (12 to 14 knots in Race 9, freshening to 16 knots in Race 10). In the circumstances, the heavier-built armyman could plane his board more easily, denying Dayne his usual advantage on the downwind legs of the races.
However, Dayne deployed some innovative tactics, getting off to very competitive starts, so that he could catch up and overtake Jerome on the last few tacks of the upwind beat, and then hold the advantage till the end. This resulted in very close races, with the difference between the two being a mere 20 seconds in race 10.
The other classes showed a more predictable pattern, with the winners being comfortably ahead of the rest. 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 both races.
Katya was the only finisher in Race 10. The only surprise of the day was Goa’s David Estibeiro, who finished fourth in Race 10, despite being second to round the windward mark.
In the BIC Nova Class, Santosh Dethaliya of DSCC Bhopal staged a remarkable comeback in the higher winds, displacing Naveen Singh Rawat of INWTC Goa in both races, with INWTC Goa’s S S Kanwal third in both races.
The morning session was devoted to the Goa State Board Sailing Championship age-group races.
Results: RS:X: Race 9: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) Jerome Kumar (AYN), (3) M Padhan (INWTC Mumbai).
RS:X: Race 10: (1) Dayne Coelho (Goa), (2) Jerome Kumar (AYN), (3) Arjun Reddy (AYN)
RS:One: Race 9: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) David Estibeiro (Goa), (3) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal).
RS:One: Race 10: (1) Russell Lobo (Goa), (2) Mithilesh Kumar (EMESC, Bhopal), (3)Awnish Yadav (EMESC Bhopal).
Raceboard Women: Race 9: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa), (2) Rhea Fernandes (Goa).
Raceboard Women: Race 10: (1) Katya Coelho (Goa).
Raceboard Men: Race 9: (1) Raunak Pai (Goa), (2) Shekhar Rao (Orissa), (3) Sunil Yadav (DSCC, Bhopal).
Raceboard Men: Race 10: (1) Raunak Pai (Goa), (2) Shekhar Rao (Orissa), (3) Kedar Nath (EMESC, Bhopal).
BIC Nova: Race 9: (1) Santosh Dethaliya (DSCC, Bhopal) (2) Naveen Singh Rawat (INWTC, Goa), (3) S S Kanwal (INWTC Goa).
BIC Nova: Race 10: (1) Santosh Dethaliya (DSCC, Bhopal), (2) Naveen Singh Rawat (INWTC, Goa), (3) S S Kanwal (INWTC Goa).
