PANAJI: The National Board Sailing Championships 2010 will be held off Cidade-de-Goa’s Vainguinim beach from 27th April to 2nd May.

The championships will see some of India’s best sailors like national champion Donald Coelho, Derrick Menezes, Remy Fernandes and several other participants from the Army, Navy and other states participating in the championships, this was disclosed at a press conference held here on Monday and addressed by Goa Yachting Association president, Mr Caesar Menezes, Mr  Hakim Sabir, organising secretary and Lt Col Anil Das, secretary of Laser Class Association of India.
The championship is expected to have a close tussle between Donald, Derrick and Remy who have been national champions in board sailing during the past 15 years.
The Army team as well as Navy sailors are also expected to give the Goan competitors a tough battle. Derrick Menezes has won the national championships for 12 years and in spite of being a veteran he still continues to be a potent threat to all the sailors.
Remy Fernandes has also won national championships for 10 years and was pipped at the last national championships by Donald Coelho in the last race of the championships.
Remy has been training hard to get a revenge on Donald and to reclaim his crown. Donald Coelho on the other hand has sailed in the shadows of Derrick and Remy for the past 5 years. However, in the last national championships in December, Donald showed his true calibre by winning the national championships for the first time.
Donald has been putting in a lot of hard work and training for more than 4 to 6 hours a day to hold on to his title.
The sailors from the CME and Navy have also been training hard and are expected to give Goan sailors a run for their money. The championships will see a total of 15 races being sailed over a period of 5 days.
The winners of the championships will be selected to represent India at the World Raceboard Championships to be held in Latvia.
Meanwhile, divulging on the six-day Laser Coastal National Sailing Championships, Lt Col.Das said the event is being held under the aegis of the Laser Class Association of India, whose President is Lieutenant General I J Singh. He is also the Chairman, of the Yachting Association of India’s National (Asian Games & Olympic) Classes Committee. He is ably assisted by Major General AV Subramanian, VSM, the Vice-President and other office bearers. The event is being hosted by the Goa Yachting Association, under the stewardship of Mr Caesar Menezes, President, Goa Yachting Association and the organising secretary is Mr Hakim Sabir.
The Associate Sponsor for the event is ‘Wave View Sports and Media’ who have graciously, as part of their policy to promote niche and different sports, have taken up the cause to support the event. Wave View Sports is looking to promote their property the ‘Indian Beach Cricket League’ whose inaugural tournament shall be held in Goa from 27th October to 2nd November, 2010.
In July 2009, the Laser National Sailing Championship saw excellent participation from across the country with a fleet of 90-100 sailors including the women and youth categories.
At Goa, twice Asian Games medallist and national champion Rajesh Choudhary shall be defending his title.
Also Olympic hopeful Rohini Rau shall be testing her skills fresh from the ‘Emerging Nations Training Programme’ at Perth, Australia. Them apart, Jasveer Singh, BK Rout, Mrinalini Sand and others shall also be in the fray adding to a tough competitive edge.
The championship shall have a galaxy of noted sailing clubs: Army Yachting Node (AYN), Mumbai, Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centres (INWTC), Vizag, Mumbai and Kochi, the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association (TNSA), the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, the National Sailing School Bhopal, the EME Sailing Association, the EME Sailing Club Bhopal, the Corps of Engineers Sailing Club, the NDA Sailing Club and the Goa Yachting Association, and others participating.
To maintain healthy competition at all levels and keeping in tune with the International Laser Class Association policy, a large number of medals in various categories will be awarded. These will cover age groups ranging from 12 to 64 years.
The Laser Class is one of the most popular yachting classes globally with over 3,50,000 boats racing in all parts of the world and it still continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. An Olympic single hander class for men, the Lasers were inducted as the Olympic single hander class for women at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The Laser Class which has become very popular in India in recent years, and is managed by the Laser Class Association of India (LCAI) which is a part of the Yachting Association of India.
Laser sailing is both challenging and rewarding. Be it at club level or the Olympic Games level. Also, one boat hull is good for the family with only the sail size changing between the father (standard rig), mother (Radial Rig) and the child (Laser 4.7).