Tough day for participants

- Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Chitresh Thatta.

It was a challenging day for sailors in the SF by Sonata-India International Regatta here on Thursday. The wind speed reached 12 knots and the waves, on occasions, were as high as two metres.

Then, the velocity of the wind dropped to six knots and the sailors, grappling with changing conditions, had another demanding task on hand.

In the Optimist category, India’s Chitresh Thatta and UAE’s Saif Saeed shared the lead. Young Chitresh, a product of the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, said to The Hindu: “It was a tough day. The wind kept pushing us back to the mark. And the swells were big.”

Fours races in the 29ers, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 and three in the Optimist and the Windsurfers categories were completed.

In the 29er class, the Danish pair of Caspar Ladeford and Jakob Jensen and the Indian duo, Anand Thakur and Alankar Suryavanshi, won two races each to be placed first and second respectively.

In Laser Radial, Ireland’s Johnny Durcan won three of the four races to grab the lead. In Laser 4.7, UAE’s Mohammad Abdulkareem is in front.

The results (Provisional): Optimist: 1. Chitresh Thatta (India) & Saif Saeed (UAE), 3. Navyn Prabhakar (India).

Laser 4.7: 1. Mohammed Abdulkareem (UAE), 2. Rishab Nayar (India), 3. Salim (Oman).

Laser Radial: 1. Johnny Durcan (Ireland), 2. Vishnu Saravanan (India), 3. Dheer Singhi (India).

29er: 1. Casper Ladeford & Jakob Jensen (Denmark), 2. Anand Thakur & Alankar Suryavanshi (India), 3. S. Jayalakshmi & Adithi Prakash (India).

Keywords: Saling