Sailing: Raymond-India International Regatta-Hoareau finishes eighth, Servina 22nd |25 October 2012
Competing in the Optimist class, the teenager was third among female sailors and eighth among 69 sailors after five races disputed in relatively calm sea but with shifting winds at times.
Hoareau’s best finish was a fifth position in the third race, while her worst finish was 17th in the opening race of the regatta. She was 12th in race two, sixth in race four and ninth in race five for a total score of 49 and third place among the female sailors.
With 22 points, Janaki Balachander was the top female competitor and this result earned her the runner-up spot overall. Ramya Saravanan was the second best female sailor with 42 points and was ranked fifth overall and also won the girls’ under-12 trophy.
Vishnu Sujeesh was the overall winner with 9 points after winning the first race and finishing second in the remaining four.
Another Seychellois sailor, 15-year-old Martin Servina, finished 22nd overall with 129 points.
Eighth, 10th, 29th and 12th in the first four races, Servina featured among the top 10 sailors only to be disqualified after reaching the finish line more than 20 minutes after the race winner in very calm condition in the fifth and final race.
The two young sailors were accompanied by Seychelles Yachting Association chairman and coach Alain Alcindor.
Dr V. Ramados sponsored two air tickets and the National Sports Council one, while the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association took care of the three-member delegation’s stay in India.
Going back to Hoareau, she got her feet wet against her four opponents in the Eden Island bay before winning the third Eden Island Optimist Cup with four points. This was her second Eden Island Optimist Cup win in a row after winning it for the first time in 2010. The competition was not organised last year.
In the 2012 International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) African Championships in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, Hoareau finished 54th out of 69 and 12th in the girls’ category.
G. G.