PANAJI: The national championships in Laser class, Radial class and board sailing started today at the Vaiguinnium Beach, off Cidade de Goa resort.

The championships saw a large fleet of laser boats and windsurfers participating in the races.
In board sailing, Derrick and Donald shared the honours for the day with Derrick winning the first race followed closely by Donald and Remy.
In the second race, Donald rose to the occasion and after a nervous start took the lead over Remy and Derrick.  There was a close tussle between Remy and Derrick for the second spot.  However, Remy managed to pip Derrick and push him to the third place.
In the Laser standard championships the Army Yachting Node (AYN) sailors dominated the fleet by taking the first three places comfortably. 
Gajendran Singh of AYN shot off to a good start and held the lead till the end.  There was a close tussle between Mohanlal, Sukwir Singh, Harihara (Master class) and U Sideshwar. Mohanlal, however,managed to break away from the group to take the second place followed closely by Sukwir Singh.
The second race of the day in the laser class once again saw the AYN group take the lead at the start.
This time however Sukwir Singh led the group followed closely by Gajendar Singh.  Sukwir Singh however managed to hold his lead to take the first place followed by Gajendar Singh and 42 year old Harihara V.  The veteran sailor Navaz Currimboy stunned many of the youngsters by taking the fifth spot in both the races.
The Laser Radial class was dominated by Rajesh Choudary who won both the races of the day comfortably.  In the first race of the day Xerxex Bambot of RBYC, B K Raut of AYN and Rohini Rau tussled for the second spot.  Xerxex however managed to beat off the challenge and take the second spot followed by B K Raut of AYN.  Rohini Rau one of the few girls participating in the championships performed creditably to take the fourth spot.  Chaitanya Chowgule of Goa sailed well to take the ninth place with Goa’s Pallavi Naik taking the eleventh spot.
The second race in laser radial was once again dominated by Rajesh Choudhary who won the race comfortably.  The second spot saw a close battle between B K Raut, Sharad Singha, Ramesh Kumar and Rohini Rau.  B K  Raut managed to improve and take the second spot in the second race.
Rohini Rau performed creditably to take the fifth place.  Goa’s challenge comprising of Chaitanya Chowgule finished in the tenth position and Rohini in 14th position.
In the laser 4.7 class Hussain Bhavnagarwala (TNSA) stamped his authority by winning both the races of the day.  Hussain who just returned from the World Championships hopes to dominate the races in this class.  However for the second spot there was a close tussle between Aishwarya Cheghiyan, Sweta Sadanandan and Rufus Nathaniel, all of TNSA. Aishwarya managed to beat back the challenge and take the second spot in the first race followed closely by Sweta Sadanandan. 
The second race once again saw a close battle between Aishwarya, Sweta, Rufus and Zefra Currimboy for the second place.  This time however, Rufus edged ahead to take the second spot followed by Aishwarya and Zefra.
The championships are still wide open with 8 more races to go.  The races for the second day will start with the Laser standard sailing in the morning along with Laser 4.7 followed by Laser radials and windsurfers in the afternoon.