HYDERABAD: City girl Vaishnavi Veeravamsham made sure that the tough lessons she learned at the recently concluded World Championship in Italy was not in vain. On Sunday, she produced some spectacular heavy wind sailing to top the Monsoon National Ranking Regatta at the Hussain Sagar.
Vaishnavi had her mainsheet badly stuck in a pulley block during the first race and despite leading for the most part struggled to keep that pace downwind where the sail would just not release for speed. She dropped to fourth but regained composure and got a first position in the second race and a third in the fourth race to be placed at the top of the fleet at the end of three races held in the morning.
The winds ranged from eight knots to 30 knots and were shifting a good 20 degrees making the racing very tactical but Vaishnavi, who is an old hand at Hussain Sagar shifts, tacked at every shift to gain advantage over her rivals and a consistent performance.
“I have spent most of my sailing life on this lake and I enjoy the heavy winds and my fitness is at an all-time high making it all the more enjoyable to sail at the top of the fleet,” said a beaming Vaishnavi.
Divyanshi Mishra and Eklavya Batham of Bhopal follow Vaishnavi closely in second and third overall positions at the end of the day. Eklavya won the third race and Vaishnavi had to be content with a third position.
Hyderabadi girls Jhansi Priya and Ravali Parandi had a bad day with their boats shipping in water during heavy wind manoeuvres and lost time bailing out water. They came in with lame positions though Jhansi got one creditable second position.
‘It’s still early days to predict things but if Vaishnavi wins she will be only the second girl to ever win the Monsoon Regatta with stalwarts like Olympian Vishnu Sarvanan having won it in the past three times in a row,” said Suheim Sheikh, president of the YCH foundation and her coach.
Overall positions at the end of 3 races: 1. Vaishnavi Veeravamsham (Hyderabad, 8 points), 2. Divayanshi Mishra (Bhopal, 14), 3. Eklavya Batham (Bhopal, 17), 4. Vishvanath Padidala (Goa, 21), 5. Akshat Kumar (Bhopal, 21).
