Rufus, Nivedita shine in Indian International regatta

Chennai, Nov 6 : India's Rufus Patrick and Nivedita Ravi Varman clinched the titles in the Optimist class in their respective categories on the concluding day of the Volvo Indian International Regatta here Friday.

Denmark's Kristian Kirkterp and Mathias Sletten emerged winners in the 29er class, having assured themselves of the title with an unassailable lead.

With the North-East monsoon active and the winds dying, the concluding day's programme was truncated with the scheduled afternoon races in the Optimist class cancelled owing to inclement weather conditions.

The 10th race of the Optimist class was almost immediately called off with the winds dropping to about three Knots. Thereafter, the Race Committee decided to call off the event as per rules that prohibit races after 3 p.m.

Thus, the winners were decided on the basis of the nine races that were run during the week with the sailors permitted to discard their two worst results.

Patrick, with a penalty of 13 points, and Nivedita (49 points) were declared winners. Both had built up sizeable leads over the week and that came into account.

Within the harbour premises, the 29er event was completed with the remaining three races being run as scheduled today, although the course for Race 11 was changed in view of the wind direction. Kirkterp and Sletten decided to skip the race as they were way ahead of others.

Overall final results:

29er class: 1. Kristian Kirketerp / Mathias Sletten (Denmark) 11 Points; 2. Xerxes Bamboat / Krish Makhija (India) 23 Points; 3. Aman Vyas / Sachin Singha (India) 25 Points.

Optimist (Boys): 1. Rufus Patrick (India) 13 Points; 2. K C Ganapathy (India) 29 Points; 3. Upamanyu Dutta (India) 32 Points.

Optimist (Girls): 1. Niveditha Ravivarman (India) 49 Points; 2. Zephra Currimbhoy (India) 55 Points; 3. Sidra Sabir (India) 86 Points.

--IANS