YAI Senior & Youth National Sailing C’ships: Swatantra Singh shines in Finn class

With nine points at the end of nine races, Swatantra has taken a comfortable nine-point lead over his team-mate Vivek.

Swatantra Singh performed well in the Finn class at Nellore on Sunday.

The entire Army unit was at the Krishnapatnam Port here, two months in advance to prepare for the ongoing YAI Senior & Youth National sailing championships.

But what was special about Army Yachting Node’s Swatantra Singh was his obsession to detail as he would jot down in his diary after every practice session notes of swell of the waves, the speed and direction of wind, among other things.

Saturday report: Jerome Kumar impresses

The diligence of the 26-year-old has handsomely paid off. With nine points at the end of nine races he has taken a comfortable nine-point lead over his team-mate Vivek. On Sunday, Swatantra finished second, first and first in the three races, and only a miracle can stop him for winning the title. Introduced in this Nationals, the Finn boat has, however, been in Olympics since 1952.

Like Swatantra, Vishnu Saravanan and S. Jerome Kumar (both AYN) consolidated their positions at the top in the laser standard and RS:X (windsurfing) categories respectively.

Close contest

However, it could be close in the women’s laser radial, 470 and 49er sections. TNSA’s Nethra Kumanan, who was leading overnight in laser, was overtaken by Ramya Saravanan of CESC, Pune, on Sunday. One point separates the two.

In the 49er, the duo of Sandip Jain and Munna Pandit have a five-point lead over Narendra Singh and S.R. Rout. In 470, the pair of P. P. Muthu and Shubham Patel leads the duo of Ayaz Shaikh and Mahesh Chandra Yadav by four points.

• Men
• 470: 1. P. P. Muthu-Shubham Patel, 2. Ayaz Shaikh-Mahesh Chandra Yadav, 3. Atul Lende-C.H.S. Reddy (all AYN).
• Laser standard: 1. Vishnu Saravanan, 2. Muzahid Khan, 3. Gitesh (all AYN).
• Finn: 1. Swatantra Singh, 2. Vivek, 3. A. Prabith (all AYN).
• 49er: 1. Sandip Jain-Munna Pandit (AYN), 2. Narendra Singh-S.R. Rout (AYN), 3. Anand Thakur-Vishal Thakur (INSA/NST).
• RS:X (windsurfing): 1. S. Jerome Kumar, 2. Manpreet Singh, 3. Arjun Reddy (all AYN).
• Women
• Laser radial: 1, Ramya Saravanan (CESC, Pune), 2. Nethra Kumanan (TNSA), 3. Tanu Bisen (NSS, Bhopal).
• Youth
• Optimist: 1. Uma Chouhan (NSS, Bhopal), 2. R. Neelanand (TNSA), 3. Erra Durga Prasad (NBSC).
• Laser 4.7: 1. Aniket Rajaram, 2. Chitresh Tatha (both TNSA), 3. Harshita Tomar (NSS, Bhopal).