|
 The National Laser Sailing Championships races in Chennai started on time on May 27, 2007, in a brisk southerly breeze of about 8-10 knots. With a swell of under three feet and the wind holding steady, the sailors who got off the start managed to hold positions. Salil Sabir of GYA finished third in the fourth race of the championship.
However, there was no challenging Rajesh Choudhary and he kept his record blemish free with two firsts in the races that were held on May 27.
Though three races are slated to be held every day, the wind shifted after the first race further east and dropped to about five knots. When the second race of the day started finally, it was back to six knots and, therefore, the third race was not sailed due to lack of time.
In the Laser 4.7 fleet due to a couple of protests upheld against Arun Dhanasekaran on May 26, he slipped to fourth position.
Report of Day 2 of races
Provisional results of the races held on May 27 are:
Race 4 of the championship
Laser Standard Fleet
1. Rajesh Choudhary (AYN)
2. D P Selvam (AYN)
3. Salil Sabir (GYA)
Laser Radial Fleet
1. Dharmendra Singh (AYN)
2. B K Rout (AYN)
3. Rajesh Kumar (AYN)
Laser 4.7 Boys
1. Abhimanyu Nityanand (TNSA)
2. Sarav Rajavelu (TNSA)
3. Sooraj Sadanand (TNSA)
Laser 4.7 Girls
1. Mrinalini Santhanam (TNSA)
2. Shwetha Sadanand (TNSA)
3. Akshayah Mano (TNSA)
Race 5 of the Championships
Laser Standard Fleet
1. Rajesh Choudhary (AYN)
2. V Harihara (AYN)
3. Jasvir Singh (AYN)
Laser Radial Fleet
1. Dharmendra Singh (AYN)
2. B K Rout (AYN)
3. Parvender Singh (AYN)
Laser 4.7 Boys
1. Sarav Rajavelu (TNSA)
2. Abhimanyu (TNSA)
3. Sooraj Sadanand (TNSA)
Laser 4.7 Girls
1. Akshayah Mano (TNSA)
2. Shwetha Sadanand (TNSA)
3 Ashwini Nedu (TNSA)
Positions at the end of 2nd day of races
Laser Standard Fleet
1. Rajesh Choudhary (5 points)
2. D P Selvam (16)
3. Amit Arvind (21)
Laser Radial Fleet
1. Dharmendra Singh (6)
2. B K Rout (11)
3. Rajesh Kumar (20)
Laser 4.7 Boys
1. Sarav Rajavelu (14)
2. Abhimanyu Nityanand (16)
3. Sooraj Sadanand (19)
Laser 4.7 Girls
1. Akshayah Mano (16)
2 Shwetha Sadanand (20)
3. Mrinalini Santhanam (24)
Sailing championship inauguration
The Government of Tamil Nadu National Laser Coastal Sailing Championship 2007 was launched in Chennai at a simple function with the chief guest, chairman of the Chennai Port Trust, K Suresh, expressing happiness over the fact that TNSA had endeavoured not only to host a number of sailing championships on a regular basis but also encouraged the Chennai Port to plan on providing a marina where this kind of activity could thrive.
He envisaged a boat basin with a busy marina, shopping arcades and malls with a focus on improving the infrastructure to handle tourist traffic and activity. However, he cautioned that since Chennai Port was an ISPS compliant port, a balance needed to be struck between enabling this kind of activity while at the same time ensuring that security was not compromised upon.
The Commandant of Coast Guard, IG Rajinder Singh, greeted all the sailors and wished them fair winds. The NOIC, Commodore Philip Van Haltren and DDG of NCC, Commodore U Chitnavis, the other governing council members of the TNSA, expressed satisfaction over the direction and commitment of the TNSA.
Ennarasu Karunesan, CEO of CCTL, hoped that henceforth DP World and CCTL would come forward to support such sailing events every year.
R Rangaraj
|
