Taalya Tranchell creates history in sailing uncharted waters

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

First female sailor to represent Sri Lanka at World Laser Sailing Championship in Greece

For the first time, a female sailor will represent Sri Lanka at a World Laser Sailing Championship. Taalya Tranchell, a 17 year old student of Ladies’ College will compete alongside 150 female sailors.

The 2023 ILCA 4 Youth World Championship will be held in Volos, Greece at the Nautical Club of Volos.

The Laser 4.7 World Championships have been held every year since 2002, and is organised by the International Sailing Federation. All sailors are under the age of 18 years and will compete under the 4.7 Laser category. Spread over 10 days, the event is a restricted entry allocation championship that attracts leading sailors from all over the world.

Selected to represent Sri Lanka at the Asian Games in China, Taalya has been training hard since 2021 when she moved from being an Optimist sailor to 4.7 Laser sailor. In 2022, Taalya represented the country at the Asian Championships in Abu Dhabi and ILCA Asia 2022 in Thailand. Competing in the overall 4.7 category in Sri Lankan, she was placed second at the Sailing Nationals in February and first at the Navy Cup held in April. She was awarded a scholarship to train at Sail Coach, Spain and has been training there since 30 June.

Yachting Association of Sri Lanka’s sailing convenor Asanka Goonewardena said: “I am so proud of Taalya. She’s an amazing sailor and serves as an example to the growing body of Sri Lankan junior sailors. The sport is seeing remarkable growth now, and it is especially encouraging to see girls such as Taalya excelling even at the international level. All of us at the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka are following the event closely and cheering for her.”

Wishing Taalya all the best, Ceylon Motor Yacht Club Commodore Purajitha Taldena said: “I am very happy to see a member of CMYC represent Sri Lanka at the highest level. Sailing is a fantastic sport and we would like to see more young people participating in it.”

The event which started on 24 July will conclude on 30 July.