The team from the Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) School and Diving School won the overall trophy, called The Cock, at the Kochi Area Pulling Regatta-2020 held by the Southern Naval Command in the Ernakulam Channel.
The team from naval air station INS Garuda secured the second position.
Races during the regatta were conducted in the traditional pulling ‘whalers’ and held in four different categories namely Junior Sailors, Senior Sailors, Officers and Best Whaler. The boats had to cover a distance of 1.6 km in the Ernakulam Channel, starting from the Venduruthy-Vikrant Bridge and finishing at the North Jetty of the Navy. Six teams, formed from all major units of SNC based at Kochi, participated in the regatta.
Vice Admiral A.K. Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Naval Command, was the chief guest and presented awards to the winners and runners up. The Vice Admiral also presented the Godavari Trophy to ASW School and Diving School for being the overall winner in the Kochi Area Sports Championship 2019-20.
The boats used in the pulling regatta are 27ft-long ‘whalers’ – a type of seaboat – each having a crew of five ‘pullers’ (rowers) and one coxswain (helm). The boats are named as ‘whalers’ as they were used in ancient times for catching whales.
