Britain, India share honours
on day one
Reigning champions Richard Estaugh and Peter Rowley of Great Britain dominated the
proceedings on the first day of the Sandpiper Enterprise World
sailing championship at Bogmalo, Goa, on Monday.
The British pair took first place in the first race and
third place in the second race.
India, however, managed to
split honours when Aashim Mongia and R Mahesh grabbed first
place in the second race.
The British pair dominated the proceedings right from the
start of the first race, which had 40 starters and sailed in
shifting winds of about eight knots. Rounding the windward
mark first, they never relinquished their lead.
The Irish pair of Shane McCarthy and Simon Cook, however,
stayed steadily on their tail, though the distance between
these two boats and rest of the fleet considerably widened as
the race progressed.
Estaugh was, strangely, not satisfied with his performance
and said he hopes to do better tomorrow. His partner Rowley
said he would be very happy if tomorrow went off more or less
like today.
The best India could manage in this race was a fifth place
by Dharmendra Singh and Joji Joseph, after gaining several
places on the reach to the jibe mark, a position they never
relinquished.
National champions Naresh Yadav and G L Yadav took sixth
place.
The young Myanmar pair of Aung Myin Thu and Sain Pyae
Sone surprised several more experienced pairs to come a
creditable seventh.
Unstable weather conditions delayed the start of the second
race by about 10 minutes. Principal race officer Cdr Surinder
Mongia said the conditions were very tricky for setting an
accurate course, which made the sailing much more tactical and
interesting.
There were 38 starters in the second race that saw gusty
conditions with wind speeds reaching 11 knots. Mongia and
Mahesh were third round the windward mark, but moved up two
places on the reach to take the lead, which they then held
till the end.
Estaugh and Rowley were eighth round the windward mark,
then moved to the second place, which they held till nearly
the end on the last beat, when a strong effort by Roger Gilber
and Alistair Fry pushed the world champions to the third
place.
India had a strong showing in this race, with Farokh
Tarapore and Pushpendra Garg coming fifth, Nitin Mongia and
Sandeep Jai sixth, Gautam Dutta and Utpal More seventh and the
Yadav pair coming eighth. While India took five positions in
top ten, Great Britain took four and Ireland two.
India coach Homi Motivala said he is not ecstatic about the results of the opening day, but added it was a "satisfactory" day for his boys.