Tanuja, Divyanshi hog the limelight

Only 14 out of 28 finish the treacherous fourth race in the morning session

K. Tanuja of Telangana and Divyanshi Mishra of Madhya Pradesh hogged the limelight in winds of up to 24 knots in the Monsoon Regatta at the Hussain Sagar Lake here on Wednesday.

The morning session saw only 14 out of 38 finishing the treacherous fourth race. The rest retired or were barely able to finish a few legs, according to Suheim Sheikh, president of Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

However, Tanuja and Divyanshi stole the show with some spirited heavy wind sailing. The girls led the fleet at the penultimate leg, with Tanuja at the top. Divyanshi with some excellent planning edged into the lead and gybed at the last mark to consolidate, while Tanuja shipped water and dropped to fourth.

“It was thrilling to see two girls racing well ahead of all the boys for a significant portion of the last leg and Divyanshi winning the race,” Suheim said.

Eklavya and Shashank continue to lead the fleet amongst the boys. Hrithik Jaiswal of Trishna Sailing Club was in the lead when he broke his rudder and had to retire. He still stands third overall.

In the age group of 11 to 15 years, most kids were much too light and inexperienced and many had to be rescued

The Laser fleet with 16 entrants again saw Vaishnavi Veeravamsham of Telangana leading at the end of three races. The top three are tied in terms of points, with two boys from the NBSC Navy from Goa trailing her.