Premier CRU sail to glory in C-in-C Cup

Premier CRU sailed to glory, winning the C-in-C Cup, the final event of the 3-day long sailing extravaganza. A total of 17 yachts sailed in the choppy waters off the Mumbai Harbour in this final race for keelboats during the Johnnie Walker sponsored The Festival of Sails, an annual weekend sailing regatta conducted by the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC) along with the Royal Bombay Yacht (RBYC), and promoted by the Sailing Association of Maharashtra (SAM).

As expected the C-in-C Cup, witnessed enthralling and stiff competition for the top honours and after a tight start, the race began over a course across all of Mumbai Harbour covering the Windward Mark, Sunk Rock Lighthouse, Starboard Buoy and Dolphin Lighthouse. Sailors showcased their well-honed skills in crewing their yachts in choppy waters with shifting winds that required precision coordination and high team acumen.

Premier CRU helmed by Aashim Mongia and crewed by Murugan Nadar, Gulshan Chunekar, Rakesh Waradkar and Chetan Fernandes managed to cross the finish line first by a close margin. Coming a close second was Navy J-24 helmed by S S Yadav and finishing third was Wahe Guru helmed by Surinder Mongia.

Vice-Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command sailed on Raika helmed by noted Olympian Cdr (Retd.) Homi Motiwala.

In other classes, Praveen Kumar & Sudhanshu Sekhar won the 470 class honours. Shekhar S. Yadav and son Rahul Yadav won in the Enterprise Class. Rahul Chaudhary won in the Bic Nova surfboards. Ajay Singh Rajput won in Laser Standard class while Ramya Sarvanan won in Laser Radial class. In the Optimist class, Advait Menon came first while Rhea Bhasin came second.