The championship will be conducted by the Goa Yachting Association (GYA), in association with the Board Sailing Association of India and The Sports Authority of Goa. The Goa State Windsurfing Championship will also be held simultaneously.
Participants from the Indian Army, from Mumbai, Odisha, Bengaluru, Pune and Goa, will sail the Olympic RS:X class, the Youth Techno293 Class and the Raceboard Class. In the RS:X men’s category Goa’s very own Dayne Coelho will pose a challenge to reigning national champion Chennaiah D P and four-time national champion Satteppa K.
In the women’s category we will see India’s Youth Olympian – Goa’s Katya Coelho. In the Raceboard category Raunak Pai is the favourite for top honours. In the Techno293 youth category young Myron Gomes will take the race to Russell Lobo.
President of the Boardsailing Association of India Derrick Menezes said that this championship was especially important because the rankings obtained by windsurfers would determine selections for international championships in 2015-16, including the RS:X Youth Championship in Poland in July, and the Asian Boardsailing Championship in Japan in September-October.
GYA President Col Milind Prabhu said that a fine crop of youngsters from Goa would be competing for honours at the Youth, Junior and Sub-Junior levels, both in the Goa State Championship and in the Nationals. He said that about 20 youngsters would be seen in action at the event.
Managing Director of Dolphin Adventure Sports Malcolm Coelho said that he was proud to host and sponsor such an event. He said that his team would pull out all stops to ensure that the Windsurfing champions would have an unforgettable experience of real Goan hospitality at the event.
Ashwin Tombat, who is overseeing the Topper India Grand Prix Goa Series 2015, which will be also sailed at the same time, said that the Topper dinghy, the fastest growing class of sailing boat in the world, has a bright future because both children and adults can sail it, and it is the best boat in the world to learn sailing in.
