Final Day of Festival of Sails and Away All Sails

Army Yachting Node’s (AYN) Dharmender Singh had a fantastic final two races as he lifted the Standard Laser Class title during the Coastal National Sailing Championship at the Festival of Sails at the South of Oyster Rock, Colaba on Tuesday.

Dharmender, who had lost his lead to compatriot Kuldeep Pandey on Monday, gathered his lost form to finish second and first in the race nine and ten to win the championship with 26 points. Pandey on the other hand had a disaster final day to finish seventh and sixth in the last two races. He still did enough to seal second spot with 28 points ahead of Gajender Singh, who finished with 39 points. All the top honours in Standard Class went to AYN’s sailors.

In the Radial Class category, it was again AYN’s Ramesh Kumar who was a run-away winner. Even though he didn’t have the best of the last two races, he maintained consistency in his performance to win the championship with a gap of nine points. Ramesh finished second and eight in the last two races. Second place was taken by Bikram Mohapatra, who finished with 29 points. Third place went to Shekhar Singh Yadav, who accumulated 44 points.

In the 4.7 Class category, Chintan Chatbar overcame tough resistance from Upamanyu Dutta, Vir Menon and Vishnu Saravanan to win the championship by six points. He finished first and third in the last two races to accumulate 22 points and win the title. There was a tie for second place between Upamanyu Dutta and Vir Menon but they were separated with a better overall finish. It was a big heart-break for Vishnu Saravanan, who was leader till Monday, as he finished point behind the duo with 29 points.

Later in the day, the event folded up with Away All Sails which consisted more than 100 boats from various classes. It was rare and a picturesque moment to see such huge number of sails sailing across on Mumbai waters. There were huge A-Class boats followed by some Fixed Keel boats, J24s, Seabirds, Lightnings, 420s, 470s, Hobie Cats, Optimists, Lasers and many more. 

All the participants were given medals and the winners were handed in the prize distribution ceremony held at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club.

This was followed by a dinner and dance in honour of the winners, and the entire diaspora of the sailing community represented by ages that spanned pre-teens to Octogenarians, participating clubs across the country with close to 300 sailors, Coaches, Jury, Protest Committee members, organisers, and their kith and kin.

Final results: 

Standard Class: 1) Dharmender Singh – 26 points 2) Kuldeep Kumar Pandey – 28 points 3) Gajender Singh – 39 points 4) Muzahid Khan – 41 points 5) Gitesh – 50 points.

Radial Class: 1) Ramesh Kumar – 20 points 2) Bikram Mohapatra – 29 points 3) Shekhar Siingh Yadav – 44 points 4) Xexes Bamboat – 47 points 5) Sharif Khan 58 points.

4.7 Class: 1) Chintan Chatbar – 22 points 2) Upamanyu Dutta - 28 points 3) Vir Menon – 28 points 4) Vishnu Saravanan – 29 points 5) Ektha Yadav – 60 points.