Mumbai: National Champion Uppamanyu Dutta, with crew Hussain Arsiwala won five of the six races in the 420 Dinghy Racing Class at the 2nd edition of the Festival of Sails being conducted in the waters off the Gateway of India. Pushing him hard is younger brother Aryaman Dutta and crew Xerxes Bamboat, who finished in second position in five races and won in one, to lie in overall 2nd position. In third place is the all-girl ream of Diya Correa and Zara Arsiwala.
The Festival of Sails is also one of the selection events for the Asian Games and the competition is intense. With prevailing wind conditions light to medium, the constantly shifting patterns are challenging the sailing skills of all teams.
The Festival of Sails is the country’s largest genuine multi-class regatta with races being held in the 420 Dinghy Racing Class, which is an Asian Games and Youth class; the 470 Dinghy Racing Class, which is an Olympic class; Match Racing, sailed on 24-foot ocean going yachts with a 5-man crew; Away All Sails, from 8 feet dinghies to over 80 feet blue water sailing yachts and Laser 4.7 Radial, Full Rig, an Olympic class yacht.
Results: 420 Racing: 1) Upamanyu Dutta & Hussain Arsiwala; 2) Aryaman Dutta & Xerxes Bamboat; 3) Diya Correa & Zara Arsiwala. 470 Racing: 1st Race (Chandra shekhar & SR Rout; 2nd Atul Lande & Mahesh Yadav; Mahendran V & Subham Patel); 2nd Race (Mahendran V & Subham Patel; S C Singha & Jayhari Das; Pawan Kumar & Sukhen Sur); 3rD Race (Pawan Kumar & Sukhen Sur; Chandra Shekar & SR Rout; Mahendran V & Subham Patel); 4th Race (Pawan Kumar & Sukhen Sur; Atul Lande & Mahesh Yadav; Chandra Shekhar & SR Rout);
