Sailing Nationals 2012 in Panadura this weekend

Text and pic by Harsha Udayakantha Peiris

The Yachting Association of Sri Lanka, the national sports body for the sport of sailing in Sri Lanka, will hold the Sailing Nationals 2012 Championship Competition on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 November 2012 at the Panadura Fisheries Harbour.

YASL Sailing Convener Asanka Goonawardene stated that this would be the first time in Sri Lanka that the Sailing Nationals are being taken to the ocean platform.

“Due to restrictions imposed by the authorities during past, we were compelled to conduct the event on Bolgoda waters. But with the dawn of peace, we are happy that restrictions have been eased. When it comes to international sailing events, it is always taken to the ocean or sea and this becomes the only national event in the island, in this category that makes a platform for local participants and competitors to enter into international water sports at the Olympics, Asian Games and similar events, without going through any other national authority. Therefore, though there are no cash awards for the winners here, the incentive they would receive is bigger and invaluable rather than any award of financial interest. We also hope to see a stronger participation of SL Navy competitors at this year’s event. Our aim is to take the sailing sport to everyone who comes up with talent, even from the grass-root level,” he said.

To make the event more colourful, two exhibition events of jet skis and kite surfing have also been included on the final day of the event. Currently, kite surfing in Sri Lanka is limited to Kalpitiya oceanic area only. The officials said that the addition of power boating at the event would also lure an independent interest to initiate a power boating association in Sri Lanka in future.

The organisers were also optimistic about taking the national event and other collaborative sailing and water sports events even to the interior of the island where spacious waterways and reservoirs exist that could make possible surfing and sailing platforms for the competitors and participants.

The 2012 Championships will see participation of four classes of sail boats each of which is further clarified as Optimist, Laser, Enterprise, and GP14. While the latter two classes of boats have two and three sails each, respectively, and carry a crew of two, Optimists and Lasers have only a single sail each, and are sailed by a helm only.

Optimists and Lasers are the two most popular sail boat classes worldwide. There are more than 300,000 boats in these two classes in service around the globe.

Classes of glory

Optimists, which are small boats designed for single-handed sailing by young people up to 15 years of age have always served in encouraging the youngsters with talent, to successfully enter the sailing sport.

With a length of 2.13 metres on the water line and with a hull weight of only 35 kg, the boats are easily manoeuvrable by children. The class has stood the test of time for the whole of its 60 year old history, growing steadily to its present international fleet with a strength of more than 200,000 boats.

A total of 33 Optimist boats are being sailed in Sri Lanka, mostly at the CMYC at Bolgoda. The class has also been rapidly popular in Sri Lanka during the past six years, at present with nearly 40 young Sri Lankans being trained Optimist sailors.

In the course of the past 12 years, Sri Lanka has fielded Optimist sailors and brought Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, competing either as a team or as individuals at a number of international events that included 2004 South Asian Yachting Regatta in Colombo, 2005 ASEAN Open Optimist Championship in Malaysia and 2005 South Asian Yachting Regatta in Karachchi, Pakistan.

With the assistance from the YASL, the squad has also been benefited enormously with coaching by three world-class sailing coaches. Inclusion of Optimists at the Sailing Nationals 2012 is also expected to boost interest amongst young generation of Sri Lanka of taking part in a sport with greater potentials at the international standard.

With more Optimist sailors reaching their 15th year of age, the Laser is set to increase rapidly in popularity in Sri Lanka. It is also the only Olympic class boat presently being sailed regularly in Sri Lanka and therefore, is seen as a key class for sailors in the late teens and twenties, especially given its heavy demand on sailing skill, fitness and stamina.

Although at four metres in length and is only marginally longer than a Laser, the Enterprise sailing boat at the Sailing Nationals – 2012 is big enough to carry a crew of two, being rigged with two sails. Although the class is no longer growing rapidly in international sailing, it continues to figure prominently in the local scene, with 24 boats registered in Sri Lanka, many of them at the Navy Sailing Club.

This was the class in which Lalin Jirasinha and W.P.K. Janaka of SL Navy won a bronze in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, and in which Sri Lanka’s sailing legend, Ray Wijewardene, won an Asian Games Silver in the 1960s.

The fleet of 49 GP14 boats at this year’s championship has become Sri Lanka’s most popular sailing dinghy. The class which stands highly stable in heavy weather on any kind of inshore or near-shore water is also the official class of CMYC. At the 2010 GP14 World Championship in Sri Lanka Dimitri Goonewardena defended the Youth Trophy which was earlier won by his brother Devin Goonewardena in Abersoch, Wales.

Events and awards

Each class of boat at the Sailing Nationals 2012 will sail a total of six races, of which the best four results out of six will count towards the final score. While the Optimists will sail three races on the morning hours of the first day of the competition, and three on the second day which is the final day of the competition, the Lasers, Enterprises and GPs will sail two races on the first day afternoon and three races on the second day afternoon.

Racing will commence by 11 a.m. on the first day and 12 noon on the second day with the awards ceremony being scheduled at 3.00pm on the second day, upon initiative of the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage.

An institution with a course

The Yachting Association of Sri Lanka (YASL) was established in 1958 with the aim of improving and promoting the sailing sport in Sri Lanka making it the most popular and foreign exchange earning sport. Prior to the formation of YASL, the Royal Colombo Yacht Club (RCYC) was the pioneer institution engaged in the sport in Sri Lanka.

The RCYC was established in 1898 and its club house was located in the Port of Colombo. The development of the Port forced the RCYC to leave the club house and the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club (CMYC) reached with timely assistance to RCYC by allowing the sailing sports club to utilize CMYC facilities at Bolgoda Lake to continue monthly water racing events.

The association since inception has continued to collaborate with other clubs, namely, Sri Lanka Navy Sailing Club (SLNSC), Bentota Windsurfing Club (BWSC), and recently the Ruhunu Sailing Association (RSC) that joined YASL to promote and protect the sailing sport in Sri Lanka. Members from all Clubs have also represented Sri Lanka and brought glory to the motherland at a number of international events.

From history to future prospects

Sailing is an integral part of Sri Lankan culture that originated with the fisher community of the island. Competitive sailing races were originated at the port of Colombo where most races were conducted off-shore. At present, CMYC has come up as the most prominent club that conducts races every Sunday on Bolgoda Lake.

In 2008, CMYC conducted Sri Lanka’s first passage race of 47.3 nautical miles over 3 days from Panadura to Galle with stops overnight at Bentota and Hikkaduwa. Bentota in southern Sri Lanka also provides an ideal location for windsurfing either on river or off-shore. The SLNSC also conducts regattas in several locations around the island. The regattas which were usually off-shore were originated in Trincomalee and Galle harbours.

With a number of waterways, rivers, reservoirs and lakes in addition to the oceanic surroundings in the island, it is much hoped that improving, promoting and encouraging sailing as a sport, undoubtedly, would attract more foreigners to visit Sri Lanka making the destination an ideal tourist resort bolstering the national economy.

Hans Svenedsen – Chairman of the Media Committee of YASL, Chandima Gunawardena – President of YASL, Joseph Kenny – Chairman of the Organising Committee of YASL, Manjula Premaratne – Head of Marketing of the Automotive Division of Debug Auto Exclusive (Pvt) Ltd.; and Thushal Gunawardena – a former wind surfing champion and the Sea Doo Brand Ambassador, were also present at the press briefing held to acknowledge of the Sailing Nationals 2012.