The Yachting Fraternity in India might not be very big, but in terms of support & solidarity there is considerable co-operation between the various individuals, clubs & institutions in the country. This is especially true for the Clubs in and around Bombay. There are various events around the year where we have inter-club regattas to enable the members to get together and interact freely. One of the biggest such events is the Thimmaya Quadrangular Trophy.

This is a team event between the Colaba Sailing Club (CSC), Bombay Sailing Association (BSA), National Defence Academy (NDA) and the College of Millitary Engineering (CME), Pune. The trophy was instituted in 1957 with the racing being conducted in the Khadakwasla Lake initially. However, in the year 1975, it was agreed to be conducted at Khadakwasla and Bombay Harbour alternately each year.

Enterprise Class Boats and Whalers are raced in Khadakwasla while in Bombay, the classes raced are Seabirds & Lightnings. The series has been an annual feature since then, barring a few years when it could not be conducted due to administrative/logistical reasons.

This year it was the Bombay Clubs' turn to host the event, which took place between 5th & 6th February 2005. There were a total of 4 races sailed in the Seabirds & Lightnings and the 4 clubs fought hard for each point. Although the event is a team race, the format and scoring system was the same as a fleet race. The Seabirds were flagged off 5 minutes before the Lightnings and each class raced separately. In the end, the team with the best cumulative scores in both the classes was declared the winner.

Each team fielded 3 Entries, 2 in the Seabird class and 1 in the Lightning. The following sailors represented the 2 Bombay Clubs:

Bombay Sailing Association:
1. Rohit Pardesi, Hunoz Mistry & Aparajit Bhandarkar. (Seabird)
2. Manish Kapileshwar, Vikas Aundhkar & Rayo Framroze (Seabird)
3. Bejon Madon (Team Captain), Arjun Erry & Rajesh Desai (Lightning)

Colaba Sailing Club:
1. Jimmy Bandorawala (Team Captain), Chetan Fernandes & Mark Knowsley (Seabird)
2. Sandeep Mhatre, Gulshan Chunekar & Ninad Mayekar (Seabird)
3. Shahid Basheer, Deepak Vaswani & Pia Sanyal (Lightning)

Conditions were a wee bit disappointing with the winds being very light. Moreover, it was a team race and Spinnakers were not in use which just made moving in the slightest of zephyrs that much more frustrating.

The BSA teams won almost every race in the Seabird Class, setting themselves up for a memorable victory in these difficult conditions. In the Lightning Class however, the CSC team of Deepak Vaswani, Shahid Basheer & Pia Sanyal, made the most of the light conditions to win the first 3 races with substantial leads. However, the CSC Seabirds seemed to be having some trouble adjusting to the conditions and a run of pure bad luck especially at the starts ensured poor finishes. Hence, inspite of a win in the lightning fleet, the CSC team was relegated to third place overall.

The last race in the lightning class was won by the CME team skippered by Col. Shekar, which helped them to ensure Second place in the Lightning fleet as well as the Overall standings. The NDA fielded a young team who put up a good show in getting used to the unfamiliar equipment and location and did not give up till the very end.

But Bejon's Warriors were on fire and delivered a consistent performance to a win the Seabird Races which guaranteed an overall win for the team. The Jubilant BSA team took home the Thimmaya Trophy.

In their fine tradition of supporting Sailing in Bombay, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club played host to the event and the presentations were held at the RBYC Lawns on Sunday, the 6th of February. Awards and trophies were given by the RBYC President, Lt. Col. Graham Tullet.