Donald, Sattappa, Dayne, Katya, Vir and Myron win championships

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Donald, Sattappa, Dayne, Katya, Chadwick and Myron crowned themselves with glory, by winning the 2012 National Boardsailing Championships in their category with clear leads over their rivals.

Donald Coelho of Goa Beach sports Academy, captured his second National title in the Raceboard Seniors, in no uncertain terms, taking sweet revenge on Remy, who had just piped him to the title last year. Donald kept a clean slate taking 10 guns to win his second title.

Sattappa Kuranagi of AYN Mumbai, won his second title in the RSX class Seniors, after a hard and bitter fight with his compatriot and main rival Chenaiah. It was heartbreak for Chenaiah, who is participating in his first Nationals. However he performed creditably to take the second spot.

Dayne Coelho, GYA, performed a hat trick by capturing his third title in a row in the Raceboard Youth division. At age 14 he still has 3 more years in the Youth division, and one hopes to see him excel at the international level in the youth and Senior divisions.

Katya Coelho, of GBSA, captured her first National title, beating back all the challenge, in the Raceboard Youth Girls division. Malvika Joshi put up a gritty performance to take the second place.

Chadwick won the Raceboard Junior Boys title after a hard fought battle with his main rival Vir.Menon. With both tied till the final race, Chadwick sialed his heart out in the strong wind conditions to win the final race and take the Championship.

Myron Gomes of GYA, son of ex- National Champion Mathew Gomes, showed his sailing genes, by winning the title in the Raceboard Subjunior Division.

The final day of the National Boardsailing Championships started in winds of 8 knots building up gradually to 15 knots. 2 races were sailed back to back in the morning session, and one in the afternoon.

In the RSX Seniors once again the honours were shared by Sattappa and Chennaiah. The first race saw Sattappa , Murugan, Chennaiah and Prabhu shoot off the start line together. Sattappa tacked off to the port side of the course and was soon followed by the other three. In the tacking duel Chennaiah got the better of Sattappa to round the windward mark first followed closely by Sattappa, Murugan and Prabhu. On the reach, however Sattappa sailed better to take control of the race again. After a close fight Sattappa piped Chenaiah to win the race by a couple of seconds. Murugan took the third spot.
In the second race Chenaiah shot off from the start, and raced away, to lead till the halfway mark. Sattappa fought back hard, and kept the pressure on Chennaiah, who capsized and let Sattappa shoot past him to take his second gun of the day, and assure himself of the Championship.

In the Raceboard Seniors, Remy sailed well in the first race of the day, to take the lead and hold Donald at bay. Donald fought hard but Remy held on to win the race.
However in the second race of the morning, a pumped up Donald pushed hard from the start. Donald gave Remy no chance at all, taking the lead from the start to end and winning with a lead of over 100 mtrs. A fighting Malkit Singh who had lost out to Ram Lal yesterday, kept a close watch on Ram Lal, and kept him covered all through out to make sure that he took the third spot in both the races to keep his hopes of a bronze medal alive.

In the Raceboard Youth Boys, Dayne proved his superiority in no uncertain terms by taking both the guns very comfortably. Canute Demello came back strongly to take the second and third place in the two races. Dirquane took the third and second place in the two races.

In the Raceboard Youth Girls, Malavika Joshi gave Katya a good fight, but Katya with her better board handling and superior windsurfing skill held off Malvika’s challenge, to take both the guns.Malvika took the second spot in both races and Malaika Vaz, took the third spot.

In the Raceboard Junior Boys,it was once again a fight between Chadwick and Vir. Chadwick took the gun in the first race, but Vir fought back in the second race to race ahead from the start and win the second race in the morning.session.

A lot of credit for the excellent performance of the Goan sailors should go the Mathew Gomes, the state sailing coach, and former National Windsurfing Champion, who has put in a lot of work alongwith Donald Coelho to build up the standard of the Junior and youth sailors of Goa.

The afternoon session saw strong winds of about 15 knots gusting to 22 knots, with swells of I.5 mtr..

In the RSX Seniors it was once again a fight between Chenaiah and Sattappa. Satappa raced off in the strong wind conditions, doing far better on the beats and reaches than Chenaiah, to win the race comfortably.

In the Raceboard Seniors, Donald retired from the final race,since he had already won the Championship. Remy sailed breavely in the strong winds to win the race comfortably

In the Raceboard Youth, Dayne took the lead and made a clean sweep of the race.

In the Raceboard Youth Girls a fast improving Malvika put up a stellar performance to take her second gun after Katya retired from the race with a broken mast foot.

In the Junior Boys Chadwick sailed well to win the race in the Junior boys. Vir Menon sailed bravely, but the strong wind conditions were a bit too much for him, causing him to capsize several times. His performance is extrememly creditable considering that this is his first National Championship in Windsurfing.

In the subjunior boys, it was Myron Gomes who ruled 2 guns and one second place. Malban took one gun and 2 second places, followed by Rhea.

Mr. Vasudev Prabhudesai, Director of Sports was the Chief Guest, and Cesar Menezes, was the guest of Honour.
Mr Prabhudesai praised the sailors for their excellent performance and exhorted them to reach higher standards. He assured them of all the help and assistance from the Govt, who he said would go all out to support top sports persons. The prizes were given away by by Mr .Prabhudesai.