performance clinic.
Right on arrival, I met with the team TNSA-TCS and we got on to business on the water and on shore sessions. I had 6 optimist sailors, Vishnu was freshly returning from a disapointing worlds and was eager to adress his difficulties. Janaki, Mahesh, Aniketh were there again and I saw the return of Ahad in the group and welcomed Aravind. 3 lasers 4.7 also joined, Pritivi has not missed a camp and he was joined by freshly retired opti sailors Nicholas and Tarun who made the journey all the way from Hyderabad. The clinic had various focus but with an extra push on racing situations and decision making in close quarters. The idea was to help the sailors to be more rules aware but more importantly making the right decision depending on the situation. Many drills were creating these situations. We of course did a lot of boat handling and attempted to have a better understanding of the boat kinetics; what is allowed by R42 and what is not and effectively sail on the edge. So much more work has to be done but we are slowly getting there and Vishnu in particular was starting to match his body actions with the edge of the rule upwind. We concluded the clinic with a shore based day on strategy and how to make the plan... Speed testing, information collecting and sharing with the team and the coach was the main focus of the session. Overall it was successful enough... we will just regret the lack of wind as we rarely got more than 8-10kts! |
TNSA-TCS team at the national squad trials, Chennai
The clinic led up to the national squad trials. 36 optimists and 12 laser 4.7 tempted their luck in getting one of the coveted place opening up to national squad training and possibly selection to various Asia based international events. Rapidely, it transpired the title would be a "Vishnu's" fight in the optimist class! Indeed TNSA-TCS Vishnu Sujeesh and Vishnu Saravanan from Pune showed early it was going to be between them two and the smallest mistake would cost dearly. Day 1 saw 3 races, the first one was won by Aryaman Dutta before Saravanan striked back on two occasion. Despite being protested for a race incident on the startline he escapped unhurt. Sujeesh took the lead with 3 second position. Janaki was top girl in 4th after a solid day. The second day was Sujeesh turn to take guns with 2 solid bullets giving him a marginal lead over Saravanan who took the other race of the day. The duo was now slowly pulling away from the rest of the field. Janaki had a dreadful day giving the top girl spot back to Ruqayya, freshly returing from the worlds. Mahesh continued his good form with two extra top 10 settling comfortably inside the top 10. Day 3 saw some very light conditions and only one race could be sailed. The mano a mano continued with Saravanan collecting another gun just ahead of Sujeesh. Mahesh with a solid 7th climbed up to 6th overall ahead of his sister who faded well behind the top girl spot. Day 4 was a great entertaining day sailing with 3 more races sailed. The Vishnu's might have felt a bit of pressure as they dropped the two initial races to RMYC sailor Deer and local Ruqayya. Sujeesh will surely regret the second race when he comfortably led before missing completely his final beat playing two massive headers in a row to drop to 4th, and as it transpired a very costly 4th... He reacted like a champion winning in incredible style the final race. However the damage was done and depite join point, he was now behing Saravanan. the day was also very interesting in the girls with Janaki putting the fight back on the table catching right up to ruqayya with a 6th and two 2nd. So the last day started with the top two boys on 14 points and the top two girls on 42 with 2 races to go... could it be more exciting? Unfortunately for Sujeesh, he made the mistake which was going to cost him the event right after the start of the first race. Tacking on top of his opponent, he forced him to tack away... to the right side of the beat giving him the win. He kept his honour in winning the final race in style... but too little to late he had to settle with 2nd. Saravanan had to defend himself once more in front of the jury which he managed successfully comfirming his title. In the girls, Janaki started well overtaking Ruqayya with a solid 8th but her poor starting skills eventually caught up with her and Ruqayya snatched it back on the final race! The day was to be the day of the midgets with Mahesh collecting a 2nd and a 4th so he just about snatched 8th overall ahead of his friend and IIR TNSA-TCS squad member Citresh who also had a superb day with a 5h and a 3rd. There is quality in the 10 year olds! Aniketh was a bit up and down eventually finishing 15th, Ahad could not find pace and finishing 21st he made the decision to moove out of optimist. Aravind had a couple of solid results and a good final race in 14th taking 24th overall. In the lasers, Tarun sailed a consistent series for his first event to end up in 6th position overall just ahead of our corner banging specialist Nicholas. Pritivi is showing progress finishing 9th but still work has to be done! |
