Rohini Rau selected for Perth Sailing Camp

Rohini Rau selected for Perth Sailing Camp

Rohini Rau selected for a 3 week sailing camp in Perth. She shares the details of the camp with iSport.

The Emerging Nations Programme (ENP) is an initiative of Perth 2011 intended to increase the participation of nations that were not represented in any sailing discipline at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Twelve international athletes, who are on the cusp of Olympic qualification, will be attending the second Emerging Nations Programme (ENP) Camp. The second camp will be held between 20th November to 11th December, 2009. Two athletes from Camp 1 – Anna Aile and Alex Denisiuc, of Latvia and Moldova respectively – have been recognised as emerging talent and will progress their sailing skills further in Camp 2, in Perth. Ten new athletes: two athletes from India, and one each from Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Bermuda, Paraguay, Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Serbia will join them. They will train under Head ENP Coaches – 2000 Sydney Olympics Gold Medal winner (470s) Belinda Stowell and former 2008 Beijing Olympic Coach and former World Number 1 Arthur Brett.

Rohini Rau of The Royal Madras Yacht Club (Laser Radial Sailor) and Prakash from AYN - Mumbai, (Windsurfer) are the two Indian athletes who have been selected for this intensive training programme.

These athletes come from developing sailing nations and are on the cusp of qualifying at Olympic level in their chosen sailing event, although due to circumstances at home such as a lack of quality training facilities, limited access to quality coaching methods and difficult conditions, they have never quite reached their potential.

Rohini will then go on to participate in Melbourne at the Sail Melbourne Regatta (Grade 1) – which is the first event of the 2010 ISAF World Cup.

iSport had a chat with Rohini on her selection:

What are your expectations? How are your preparations?
Well, Its a great opportunity for me to train with the best coaches and get the best equipment and learning environment. I am hoping to fine tune my sailing skills and work on my downwind technique as I find that is where I lose out the most during races!

If I perform well in this camp, I will be called in for the next one. This is a huge incentive to make sure I work hard.

What milestones have you set to get to 2012?
I aim to get into the top 100 ISAF World rankings by the end of next year and progress to the Asian Championship and Asian Games - in the open category! I will just have to keep training hard and hopefully I will get support from corporates and the federation to fund my campaign.

iSport wishes Rohini all the very best!

The Royal Madras Yacht Club’s “Vestas 420 Sailing Nationals 2009”

The last 3 days at the Royal Madras Yacht Club, Chennai were extremely memorable, for various reasons. Even though my partner (Pallavi Shanbhag) was only 17 and a light weight, we managed to put up a good show against the army and navy men.

The first day was a mixture of highs and lows. The wind was a steady 15 - 18 knots, in the first race of the day we had a bad start and nearly capsized once or twice. We finished 11th. In Race 2, we actually did capsize after rounding the top mark 3rd! My toe strap broke, and I was sent flying into the water. But we still managed to finish 9th. We redeemed ourselves in the next race by sailing a flawless race from start to finish and succeeded in finishing 2nd overall!

The next day we had similar wind conditions but bigger waves. Excellent conditions for surfing! We started off really well in the 4th race rounding the top mark 4th, but a trivial mistake sent us into the water and finished 13th. The day didn’t get any better for us as we finished outside the top 5.

The third day of racing proved that even though our competitors were 40 kilos heavier, weight doesn’t matter. Farokh Tarapore, former 2002 World Champion, gave a few important tips to help us sail faster and smarter. It must have helped because we finished 2nd, 3rd and 3rd overall.

Day four was a thrilling last race. We finished 2nd overall!

Pallavi and I (RMYC) won the women’s title and finished 5th overall. This was great considering we hadn’t practiced much for the event. This is the second consecutive year of winning the Vestas 420 Women’s Sailing National Trophy.

Honourable Member of Parliament Ms Kanimozhi graciously gave away the awards to all the sailors at a Grand Regatta Nite at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai on the night of June 20. It was a wonderful ending to a well organized and fun Regatta. Kudos to the Royal Madras Yacht Club!

Well, I am off to Germany early hours of June 23 for some training and then to Denmark for the European Championships in the Laser Radial from July 9 to 17. My aim is to do well in the Gold Fleet.

A big thank you to everyone for their good wishes and for following my progress! I will strive to make you and India proud….

Winners:

OPEN
1. SANDIP JAIN & SATYARAJAN ROUT (AYN)
2. YADURAJ LAD & AZHAR SHAIK (AWSA)
3. K YAKOBU & GIRISH M (AWSA)

WOMEN
1.ROHINI RAU & PALLAVI SHANBHAGH (RMYC)
2. AYESHA K. LOBO & AISHWARYA CHEZHIYAN (RBYC)
3. SIDRA SABIR & SHAILA CHARLES (NSS-BHOPAL)

YOUTH
1. AMAN M VYAS SARAD & C. SINGHA (NSS-BHOPAL)
2. AYESHA K. LOBO & AISHWARYA CHEZHIYAN (RBYC)
3. SHIVAM SHRIVAS & SACHIN SINGHA (NSS-BHOPAL)

Mumbai Ahoy!

Mumbai Ahoy!
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 09:12 Rohini Rau

After winning the Women’s Laser Radial title for the fifth consecutive year and finishing 4th overall at the Chennai Coastal Nationals last month, I am now off to Mumbai to take part in the Ocean Blue YAI Multi Class Regatta in the Laser Radial class.

This event is also the selection trials to select the top teams for foreign exposure for all the different classes. Winning isn’t enough. The final decision to send or not to send for foreign exposure rests with the selection committee.

I will be sailing the Laser Radial in Mumbai after nearly 2 years! It will be great to sail there again after all the experience I have gained. The monsoons are always challenging in Mumbai, so I am definitely looking forward to some good racing in the coming week. It should be an exciting event as there will be many different classes of boats competing at the same time.

Unfortunately the Laser Radial is an open category at the Asian Games 2010, so I will have to compete against veterans like Rajesh Choudhury from the Army Yachting Node who has already won 2 Asian Games medals. But no matter what the outcome of this regatta, I will be heading off to Denmark to take part in the Laser Radial Europeans slated for July and the Laser Radial World Championship in Japan to be held in August. So I am going into this regatta with no pressure. I know I just have to sail my best.

I am trying to make it a point to take part in all the national events that are being held this year: Chennai Coastal Nationals, YAI Multi class regatta – Mumbai, and the Laser Inland Nationals – Hyderabad. This will make sure that I get good racing practice in home waters which is crucial for important selection trials.

But for now my focus is the 2012 Olympics. I am systematically training towards qualifying India in the Laser Radial Class which is the women’s single hander dingy. It will not be easy but I am determined to give it my best shot!