Vishnu Saravanan won his maiden Cochin Shipyard-National Coastal Optimist title at Cherai on Wednesday. The 11-year-old Vellore-born sailor, representing CESC Pune, upset Mumbai's Upamanyu Dutta, the favourite, to win the title.
Vishnu came into the final day with a small two-point advantage over Upamanyu and the championship's last two races set the stage for a fine thriller. But the winds failed to rise to the occasion and with the last two races called Vishnu went home a happy winner.
Upamanya was second, while Mumbai's Chintan Chhatbar and Chennai's Vishnu Sujeesh took the third and fourth places. Marauders, a side with sailors from Mumbai and Chennai, won the team title.
Final placings (individual championship): 1. Vishnu Saravanan (CESC, Pune) 19 pts, 2. Upamanyu Dutta (RBYC, Mumbai) 21 pts, 3. Chintan Chhatbar (MBYC, Mumbai) 28 pts, 4. Vishnu Sujeesh (TNSA, Chennai) 37 pts, 5. Shubham Pandey (CESC) 50 pts. Team championship: 1. Marauders (Upamanyu Dutta, Vir Amar Menon, Aryaman Dutta, Diya Correa), 2. TNSA Tigers (Vishnu Sujeesh, Nicholas Patrick, Ruquayya Nasrulla, Janaki Balachander), 3. Ocean Tribe (Chintan Chhatbar, Shikhar Garg, Tarun Bhatia, Dheer Singh). Special prizes: Vishnu Saravanan (CESC, best under-12 sailor), Ruqayya Nasrulla (TNSA, best girl sailor), Venkat Krishnan (TNSA, best under-10 boy), Snikdha (TNSA, under-10 girl), Vishnu Saravanan (CESC, best under-12 boy), Diya Correa (RBYC, best under-12 girl). Navyn Prabhakar (TNSA, youngest sailor).
