Upamanyu Dutta of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club put up a good show to move to the top of the points table in the Optimist class competitions of the Monsoon Regatta sailing championship at the Hussainsagar Lake here on Saturday.
Vir Menon of Royal Madras Yacht Club was the sole leader on Friday but fortune smiled on Dutta today. The defending champion Dutta was in his element while competing in longer courses and four back to back races in gruelling conditions. He finished first in two races and second in the other two races.
Having won the trophy for the last two years, Dutta will record a hat-trick if he wins the championship this year as well. Being the tallest and heaviest of the competitors, Dutta was able to make the best use of the strong wind conditions (upto 15 knots) that prevailed today.
Chintan Chatbar with 25 penalty points is also well placed and a lot will depend upon the performances on the final day on Sunday.
Janaki, Leah shine
Amongst the girls the best performers are Janaki with 46 penalty points and Leah Govias with 49. Both are from TNSA and are presently at 7th and 8th positions. Janaki gave an outstanding performance in race number two where she gave the tops seeds a tough time in all the legs.
The Optimist Class has attracted a record number of 64 entries in the main ‘A' fleet and 11 entries in the smaller ‘B' fleet. The three final races will be conducted on Sunday morning to decide the positions and the Monsoon Regatta Champion in the Optimist Class for the year 2011.
The races in the Barclays Family Championship were also held on Saturday. The event has got 12 entries from a mix of sailors from across India sailing Omega class boats. Entries have been received from Kerala, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
In the Optimist class the points tally of the first five sailors at the end of the seventh race without a discard are as follows: 1. Upamanyu Dutta (RBYC -17 pps); 2. Chintan Chatbar (MYC- 25 pps); 3. Vir Amar Menon (RMYC – 28); 4. Vishnu Sujeesh (TNSA – 32 pps); 5. Vishnu Sarvanan (CESC – 35 pps).
