The third edition of the Unifi Capital Offshore Regatta, featuring J80 sailboats, was flagged off this morning. The event, being held from the 1st to 5th May ’24 will conform to the safety standards of World Sailing, the world’s governing body for the sport of sailing.
The regatta was flagged off at 9:30AM at the Club House inside the Chennai Port Trust. The Chief Guest at the event was Thiru J. Meghanath Reddy IAS – Member Secretary of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Dr. Malini V Shankar IAS, VC of IMU was the Guest of Honour.
Also present at the flagging off were heads from the Indian Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Sports Ministry TN, Chennai Port and Yachting Association of India.
The J80 class sail boats – the most popular boats in the world for offshore sailing – will race first between Chennai Port and Mahabalipuram and back, a distance of 50 kms each way, and should take about a total of around 10 hours. They then race between Chennai Port and Kamarajar Port, a distance of 20 kms each leg, and will take a total of around 5 hours.
The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy are providing support and logistics for a safe event.
“The dual objectives of this event are the promotion of the sport of sailing and to raise the awareness of marine environment in order to help preserve our oceans and coasts from man-made pollution, said Captain Jitendra Dixit, Jt. Hon. Secretary, YAI.
Commander Abhilash Tomy (retd.), Kirti Chakra, Nau Sena medal, Vice-Chairman, Offshore Sub-committee, YAI, said that Tamil Nadu, with a coastline of over 1,000 kms and many ports and harbors, has a huge potential for promoting offshore sailing. He further said that a series of such events are to be conducted.
Mr. Sravan Raghunathan, Organizing Secretary said that in the six teams competing in the event were some Indian sailors of high international repute. A team from the CRPF which made their debut at the J/80 World championship 2023 at Spain, is also competing.
Some of the prominent participants are:
Commander Abhilash Tomy – has many sailing achievements to his credit, among which is the solo non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in 236 days; he also came in second in the Golden Globe Race 2022.
Murugan Nadar – was ranked 3rd at the World Championship 2019 in Spain in the Mixed Category.
Chinna Reddy – has won many national championships and gold at the Sail the Gulf International Regatta, Qatar.
Ayaz Shaikh – has won many national championships and the gold at the Qatar Regatta.
AN Swami has been in the winning team at both the earlier Unifi Capital Offshore Regattas.
Capt. Vivek Shanbhag, RMYC said, “The boats are being provided with satellite trackers from Elektronik Labs for continuous coverage. The public can view this race from anywhere in the world on the www.trackanything.in website.
The user name is ‘rmyc’ and the password is ‘offshore’.”
The event is under the aegis of Yachting Association of India (YAI), and organized by the National J/80 Class Association (NJCA), Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) and the Royal Madras Yacht Club Ennore Centre (RMYC EC).
YACHTING ASSOCIATION OF INDIA – The YAI is the governing body for sailing, windsurfing, motor boating, powerboat racing and personal water craft, at sea and on inland waters in India. The YAI is affiliated to World Sailing, the world governing body for the sport of sailing.
ROYAL MADRAS YACHT CLUB – The Royal Madras Yacht Club (estd 1911) is the first Accredited Training Centre of YAI in South India. This is the only Club in the country with a fleet of the contemporary J80s sail boats. The Club’s primary purpose is to promote the sport of sailing and takes pride in being an active, inclusive and family friendly sailing club.
ROYAL MADRAS YACHT CLUB ENNORE CENTRE – The Royal Madras Yacht Club Ennore Centre (estd 2019) is located inside the Kamarajar Port Limited. The Club is actively promoting offshore sailing in the Bay of Bengal and conducts sailing courses to maritime students. The Club has huge potential to hold mega sailing championships.
