Royal College’s promising young sailors dominated the Optimist Class with last year’s junior skipper Yusef Hazari winning the ILCA 4 Class at the Navy Cup Sailing Regatta held at Galle Face on April 26 and 27.
PDDS Rajapakse (left-Navy Sailing Club) is presented with the Clancy Fernando Memorial Trophy by Sagala Ratnayake (President’s Chief of Staff) in the presence of Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera (Navy Commander)
In the Optimist Class, Kevaan de Costa clinched gold while Royal’s Luqmaan Aneeq and Binal Perera won silver and bronze respectively in a fiercely fought competition with a large fleet of more than 20 boats battling for titles in the junior category.
In the ILCA 4 category Yusef Hazari who won gold last year, secured the gold medal once more while Kyasha Samarakkody and Kyoshi Samarakkody of Ladies College came in second and third respectively.
Hazari was the only sailor at the Navy Cup to have won all four races in his boat class this year.
Taalya Tranchell of Ladies College won gold in the ILCA 6 Class with PDDS Rajapakse from Sri Lanka Navy Sailing Club winning silver and Tarini de Silva also of Ladies College coming in a close third with bronze.
Royal College’s wonder boy Yusef Hazari in his yacht
The ILCA 7 and Enterprise classes were dominated by the Navy with UD Rajapakse, JS Seneviratne and TDS Perera winning gold, silver and bronze respectively.
KSK de Silva and LAL Gunathilaka won gold while UGD Madushanka and HKKM Nonis won silver with MD Subhasini and WPLT Karunaratne winning gold and silver in the Enterprise Class.
In the GP 14 Double Handed Dinghy Class, Attanayake and de Soysa came in first, with JHMPJ Jayapadma and SPPM Kumara coming in second and the father-daughter duo of Johan and Naadya Tranchell from the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club coming in third.
The Single Handed and Double Handed Open championship was won by the Navy with Windsurfing gold going to KPP Gunawardana and the silver to WAS Weeratunga. Sheran of the Bentota Windsurfing Club won silver.
Royal College winners from left: Luqmaan Aneeq, Yusef Hazari, Omar Hazari (vice captain), V. Satsaruban (master in charge), M.A.M Riyaz (assistant principal and senior games master), Aduda Silva (captain), Binal Perera, Kevaan de Costa
The two-day regatta featured a record-breaking 54 boats and 66 sailors from the Optimist, ILCA 4, ILCA 6, ILCA 7, Wind Surfing, Enterprise and GP 14 Classes, coming together to battle it out on water for the prestigious Clancy Fernando Memorial Trophy, won this year by the Sri Lanka Navy Sailing Club.
The annual Navy Cup Sailing Regatta is one of the few Regattas in Sri Lanka that brings together sailors from all over the island. This year had sailors from Jaffna participating for the first time.
The Ladies College winning team from left: Tarini de Silva, Naadya Tranchell, Kyoshi Samarakkody, Kyasha Samarakkody, Taalya Tranchell and Sohanya de Mel
Sailors representing the Sri Lanka Navy Sailing Club, Royal College, S. Thomas’ College, Ladies College, Bentota Wind Surfing Club, Ceylon Motor Yacht Club, Future Fibres, Royal Colombo Yacht Club, Ruhunu Sailing Association and North Sail School Club from Jaffna participated this year.
The event was presided over by the Navy Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera while Sagala Ratnayake, the President’s Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor on National Security was the chief guest.
Monika Fernando, the wife of the late Admiral Clancy Fernando also graced the occasion.
