Trinco sailing comes alive

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

One of the best tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, Trincomalee was out of bounds to tourists and even local visitors for almost two decades due to LTTE activities.

The city suffered a further blow when some European countries also clamped adverse travel advisories requesting their citizens not to visit one of Sri Lanka’s foremost tourist destinations.

However, after the liberation of the East and subsequent provincial council elections, normalcy was fast returning to Trincomalee.

With the ending of the war last May local travellers in large numbers started visiting the area awithcheckpoints also relaxed.

Countries like Britain also relaxed their travel advisories and tourists too started pouring in and hotels were once again boasting of high occupancies.

To strengthen the transport sector Sri Lanka Air Force also launched domestic passenger flights while private bus operators were set to resume the air-conditioned inter-city services once again.

Some of the greatest attractions in Trincomalee are the seven hot springs in Kanniya, the ruins of Fort Frederick or the Dutch Fort leading to Koneswaram. The fort was actually built by the Portuguese. The Dutch took over it in 1639. Swami Rock stands in one of the oldest Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. Legend has it that Swami Rock, a rocky outcrop, was once a colossal Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Koneswara. A new temple is now built near the location. Friday evening pujas here are very colourful.

Point of Lover’s Leap is located within the Swami Rock.

In addition, the unpolluted and sandy beaches of Nilaweli and Uppuveli considered among the best beaches in Sri Lanka, are two other key attractions for tourists.

The dividends of peace were there for all to see in Trincomalee last weekend when 26 boats competed in the sea, a short distance north of Koneswaran and off the beach of Club Oceanic Hotel in the ‘2009 Royal Colombo Yacht Club (RCYC) Club Oceanic Sailing Regatta’.

Last held in 2004, the event was not held for the past five years because of the difficulty of transporting large numbers of sailboats to and from Trincomalee during the period of unrest.

With normalcy returning, Commodore of the RCYC, Lalin Jirasinha said that they intended to make this regatta Sri Lanka’s premier annual sea sailing event.

Following a brief practise race the previous day, the fleet, comprising 9 Optimists, 9 Lasers and 8 GP/Enterprise class boats were on the water on Saturday morning.

Despite a forecast for showers, clear skies and a south-westerly Force 4 katchan wind, for which Trincomalee is famous at this time of the year, seemed to provide ideal conditions for sailing as the fleet was launched from the picturesque beach off Club Oceanic Hotel.

The event was action packed as within minutes, winds increased to Force five gusting to over 25 knots, raising ‘white horses’ in the otherwise calm sea. With sailboats capsizing on all sides and many boats experiencing gear failures, the rescue service provided by the Sri Lanka Navy divers kicked in to do a very professional job of ensuring no one was hurt (for which eventuality volunteers from the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society were standing by).

Eventually, Officer of the Day, Lalin Jirasinha ordered the fleet ashore and postponed the racing for the afternoon which provided ideal sailing conditions in reduced wind.

It was acknowledged that while the larger Laser, Enterprise and GP dinghies could have handled the morning’s weather quite well, the junior Optimist-class boats, some helmed by children as young as 9, should not be put to risk.

Four races in all were sailed for three fleets, comprising Optimists, Lasers and GP/Enterprise sailboats. Sailing their GP-14 dinghy, Devin Goonewardena (helm) and Sarith Pethiyagoda (crew) emerged champions of the regatta and carried away the Club Oceanic Challenge Trophy.

They took first place in every one of their four races despite stiff competition from Akshan Jirasinha and Sacha Gunaratne (1st runner up) and the Navy Sailing Club’s W.M.C Marambe and A.S.P.K. Soyza (2nd runner up) in their blue-sailed Enterprises.

In the laser class, Meleena Awn (Ladies’ College) was the winner, with Navy’s T.T.B. Kodituwakku runner up. Dimitri Goonewardena (Stafford International School) was first in the Optimist class and Kimberly Karpinski (Lyceum International) coming second.

The award for Best Novice went to 9-year old Armand Flamer Caldera (Colombo International School) who despite being relatively new to sailing, handled the morning’s weather with exceptional pluck and went on to compete fiercely in the afternoon’s racing too.

The best Navy Sailor Trophy was awarded to T. T. B. Kodithuwakku and the Masters Trophy was awarded to Ernst Prachatik.

Speaking at the awards ceremony that followed the races, RCYC’s Commodore Lalin Jirasinha commended Club Oceanic for sponsoring the event and expressed hopes that the event will be sailed annually from now on.

He also thanked the Sri Lanka Navy for supporting the event and for the participation of the Navy’s own sailing team.

“Club Oceanic was pleased to host such a successful event and we look forward to this being held annually with Royal Colombo Yacht Club,” said Srilal Mendis, Head of Operations John Keells Hotels.

Events of this nature would also go a long way for other sport bodies to host events of this nature. Already, both SriLankan Airlines and Ministry of Tourism are looking at hosting an international wind surfing championship end of the year in Arugam Bay.