Day two of the ASAF Youth Sailing Cup at Chennai, India turned out to be a pleasant one with steady northeasterly winds averaging between 8-10 knots gradually building up to 13 knots as the day progressed. The mixed breeze brought mixed results as light wind specialists excelled one minute and suffered the next, and vice versa for the sailors who thrive in strong breeze.
“The conditions were excellent, perfect for competitive sailing and racing,” said Mylai Prabhakar, the Deputy Principal Race officer. These excellent conditions enabled the Race Committee to conduct three races each for the Laser 4.7, Laser radial and the 29ers.
Dayne Coelho (IND) maintained his dominance on the RS One course. Coelho, who had won all the four races the previous day was still leading in the leader board and the three guns today have just added on to his already existing lead. “Today the wind was a bit lighter, it got stronger as the day went on, it was similar yesterday’s conditions,” said Coelho tired of the long races he sailed today. “The conditions yesterday was my favorite type of condition, the conditions I like to sail in and they are the conditions I can be the most competitive in,” he later added on the conditions that prevailed on the first day of the race.
The Optimist Class completed four races for both the main fleet as well as the green fleet. The Green fleet novices braved the conditions in their first International Regatta at home and came back enriched with experience which will stand in handy as they move up to the main fleet sailing later in their sailing career. The Swedish team who were leading in the Optimist Class on day one, had hard luck today defending their lead and dropped down to the fifth and the sixth positions. Ramadhan Tito (INA) is currently leading the Optimist Class having got the gun in two of the four races held today.
The Thai sailors had a great day of sailing across the board with their fellow sailors finishing within the top 3 in almost all races of the day. Panwa Boonnak and Jedtavee Yongyuennarn (THA) are in the second and third places of the Optimist Class respectively.
Admiral Kraisorn Chansuvanich, President of the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand visited the venue along with other Officials from Thailand and was very impressed with the sailing conditions in the Bay of Bengal.
“The racing here is very good and I think next time Yachting Association of Thailand will come to join the racing every year and if I ever get a chance to come back, I will come definitely,” he said. “I note that you have eighteen countries in the regatta and it is not easy to win in this race because a lot of best sailors from different countries are taking part but my team is new so they will get very good experience of the strong winds, the waves and the tides of the sea in India which will be very useful for them in future events in other countries,” he added.
Delighted about the team’s performance and the excellent sailing conditions, he offered a bi-lateral exchange training program for both Indian as well as Thai sailors to enable them to train in conditions different from their home, as he himself being a sailor believes that only excellent training makes a successful sailor.
As the laser 4.7 sailors sailed 3 races today, Samsaurdi (INA) and Nancy Highfield (HGK) continued to lead the table securing the top two positions respectively. Samsaurdi’s guns in all the races today helped him to maintain his first place while on the other hand Highfield’s fifth and second finish helped her to retain her lead. The Indian sailors displayed an excellent performance in the 420 and the Laser Radial Classes by securing all the three places in the 420 Class and the top two in the Laser radial Class.
Day three is scheduled to begin racing at 11:00 local time at the Port of Chennai on Sunday 18 December 2016.
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