Yadavs to the fore

November 13: It was a spectacular finish to Race Five. Naresh Yadav-Girdharilal Yadav caught up with leaders Ashim Mongia-Pushpendra Garg in...

November 13: It was a spectacular finish to Race Five. Naresh Yadav-Girdharilal Yadav caught up with leaders Ashim Mongia-Pushpendra Garg in the very last tack and pipped them by a few second to the finish line in the Maersk National Enterprise Sailing championships off the Naval Sailing Club on Friday.

Upto that point, Mongia-Garg had maintained a good lead. They, in fact, held a 30-second lead while rounding the windward mark for the third time. In the next two legs 8212; the two reaches 8212; Mongia-Garg slowed down considerably.

8220;We discovered that a chunk of plastic had got stuck in the casket underneath the boat and that was slowing us down on the two reaches,8221; said Ashim Mongia, who admitted that the Yadavs overtook them on the last tack.

The Yadavs were one boat length ahead but were being pushed wide of the mark. They could not have tacked in as they would have obstructed the path of Mongia-Garg. Then, the latter tacked and so did the Yadavs, who got ahead and took the gun a few seconds ahead ofMongia-Garg.

It was the third gun for the Yadavs and they just need to cover Mongia-Garg in the other two races. Mongia-Garg need to win the remaining two races and hope that the Yadavs finish less than second.

The Yadavs duelled with the Mongia-Garg pair in tacking in the final beat. 8220;In fact, immediately after the rounding, we involved them in the duel. During the beat, we tacked at least 30 times,8221; explained Naresh Yadav looking very satisfied after today8217;s victory.

They had a bad start and Mongia-Garg screamed way ahead of the others. During the course of the race, they went about systematically building on their lead. The Yadavs, on the other hand, had a bad start. 8220;We were 30 seconds ahead and had to bear off,8221; Naresh said. A sailor who jump starts has to restart. If not, he is deemed not to have finished the race.

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All the excitement was packed into the finish but through the race Mongia-Garg kept their lead. The Yadavs were pushed to the third after the first triangle by DilipAcharya-Jitendra Rami. But the former took over the second position and stayed there till the final flourish.

Results

Race 5: 1. Naresh Yadav-Girdharilal Yadav 0 penalty points; 2. Ashim Mongia-Pushpendra Garg 3; 3. Dilip Acharya-Jitendra Rami 5.7; 4. Mahul Ashar-Rahul Kansara 8; 5. Amol Rane-Girish Rao 10; 6. Peter Vincent-Rohan Patel 11.7.

Standings after five races with discard: 1. Yadav-Yadav 1,1,dsq,2,1 3 PPs; 2. Mongia-Garg 2,2,dsq,1,2 9 PPs; 3. Acharya-Rami 4,4,1,4,3 21.7 PPs; 4. Ashar-Kansara 3,10,6,3,4 31.1 PPs; 5. Rane-Rao 8,3,4,15,5 37.7 PPs.