The Laser Class Association of India's (LCAI) Coastal National championship in the Standard and Radial rigs will be held at Cidade Goa, Panjim from April 28 to May 2.
“The 10-race competition will be sailed over a trapezoid course from the jetty at Dona Paula, where the mouth of the Zuari river is situated,” Lt. Col. Anil Das, Secretary, LCAI, told The Hindu . Defending his crown will be two-time Asian Games bronze medallist Rajesh Choudhary.
In the fray will be leading clubs/institutions such as the Army Yachting Node (AYN), the Royal Bombay Yacht Club from Mumbai, the Corps of Engineers and the NDA sailing clubs, Pune, three squads of the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC) from Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi, the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association (TNSA), the EME Sailing Association from Secunderabad, the EME Sailing Club and the National Sailing School (NSS), Bhopal.
Hosted by the Goa Yachting Association (GYA), that's headed by its President Ceasar Menezes and having Hakim Sabir for Organising Secretary, the six-day meet is sponsored by Wave View Sports and Media, a Delhi-based sports management company, which will announce at the above meet the launch of the Indian Beach Cricket League in October.
The meet's conduct will be overseen by Principal Race Officer, Brigadier (Retd.) A.P. Singh, who sailed on the Trishna , (immortalised by Dom Moraes' book of the same name), in an expedition that circumnavigated the world. Assisting him will be National judges that include seasoned sailor Brig. (Retd.) G.S. Julka, Ms. Nilam Shah and Ajit Diaz.
The LCAI, the organising body, has a sailor of distinction as its President-Lt. Gen. I.J. Singh, Chairman, Asian Games and Olympic Classes Committee, Yachting Association of India (YAI) and Commandant, Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME). He will be assisted by Vice-President, Major General A.V. Subramanian.
