The Indian Navy MDL Cup which is a Multi Class Sailing Championship of Olympic Class boats was held between 8th and 15th May 2022 at INWTC Mumbai.
This event was held under the aegis of the Yachting Association of
India and hosted by the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC) - Colaba, Mumbai.
This is one of the ranking events of the YAI that held with absolute precision and to
perfection. The Organising Authority – INWTC Mumbai excelled themselves as one of the premier
sailing centres that could host any type of sailing championships effortlessly. All credit to
Cdr Bakshi and his team.
In the RS:X Women’s category, our ace windsurfer sailor Ishwarya Ganesh clinched the championship with 1st place in all the 12 races and claimed the gold medal ahead of Manaswani Maharana of Orissa Yachting Association (OYA) who was awarded the silver. The wind conditions were challenging varying from light to moderate throughout the Championship.The Race Committee was chaired by International Race Officers Sub. Chatturvdi and Sub. Chandrashekar on course Alpha and course Bravo. The international Jury consisted of Mr. Ilker Bayindir (Turkey), Mr. Leonard Chin (Malaysia), Mr. Mark Pryke (Australia), Maj. Gen Pillai (retd.), Lt. Aman Vyas, Col. Deepak Dikhit (Retd), Col. Satish Kanwar & Capt. A. Patankar. The Technical Committee was chaired by International Measurer Mr Ajit Diaz. The chief measurer for the event was Cdr M L Sharma (Retd) assisted by Vishnu Chandrabose, AN Swamy & Ram Lal – all qualified National Measurers.
The Classes of boats sailed were , NACRA 17, 470, 49er, 49er FX, ILCA 7, ILCA 6, RS:X (Men), RS:X (Women), iQFOiL (Men) & iQFOiL (Women). Total number of 97 sailors participants from across the country.
TNSA had the following participating in the following classes and
their positions in the fleet:
49er – Varun Thakkar & K C Ganapathy – 1st - Gold
NACRA 17 – Jayalakshmi – 1st - Gold
ILCA 6 – Nethra Kumanan – 1st - Gold
iQFoil (women) – Ishwariya Ganesh – 1st - Gold
iQFOiL (men) – Sachin Ganesh – 2rd – Silver
In short, ALL PARTICIPANTS from TNSA were medal winners! Though our participation was in small numbers out medal haul was commendable. Well done TEAM TNSA!