Britain, India share honours
on day one

Reigning champions Richard Estaugh and Peter Rowley of Great Britain dominated the proceedings on the first day of the Sandpiper Enterprise World sailing championship at Bogmalo, Goa, on Monday.

The British pair took first place in the first race and third place in the second race.

India, however, managed to split honours when Aashim Mongia and R Mahesh grabbed first place in the second race.

The British pair dominated the proceedings right from the start of the first race, which had 40 starters and sailed in shifting winds of about eight knots. Rounding the windward mark first, they never relinquished their lead.

The Irish pair of Shane McCarthy and Simon Cook, however, stayed steadily on their tail, though the distance between these two boats and rest of the fleet considerably widened as the race progressed.

Estaugh was, strangely, not satisfied with his performance and said he hopes to do better tomorrow. His partner Rowley said he would be very happy if tomorrow went off more or less like today.

The best India could manage in this race was a fifth place by Dharmendra Singh and Joji Joseph, after gaining several places on the reach to the jibe mark, a position they never relinquished.

National champions Naresh Yadav and G L Yadav took sixth place.

The young Myanmar pair of Aung Myin Thu and Sain Pyae Sone surprised several more experienced pairs to come a creditable seventh.

Unstable weather conditions delayed the start of the second race by about 10 minutes. Principal race officer Cdr Surinder Mongia said the conditions were very tricky for setting an accurate course, which made the sailing much more tactical and interesting.

There were 38 starters in the second race that saw gusty conditions with wind speeds reaching 11 knots. Mongia and Mahesh were third round the windward mark, but moved up two places on the reach to take the lead, which they then held till the end.

Estaugh and Rowley were eighth round the windward mark, then moved to the second place, which they held till nearly the end on the last beat, when a strong effort by Roger Gilber and Alistair Fry pushed the world champions to the third place.

India had a strong showing in this race, with Farokh Tarapore and Pushpendra Garg coming fifth, Nitin Mongia and Sandeep Jai sixth, Gautam Dutta and Utpal More seventh and the Yadav pair coming eighth. While India took five positions in top ten, Great Britain took four and Ireland two.

India coach Homi Motivala said he is not ecstatic about the results of the opening day, but added it was a "satisfactory" day for his boys.