The Kharakwasla Reservoir has been a popular sailing venue since at least 50 years. Many a veteran sailor in India has fond memories of racing in the shifting breeze of the reservoir while their families watched the racing from the view-point up on the hill. The event is sailed in a class of racing boats called the Enterprise Class. The Enterprise is a two-man boat designed in the sixties by Jack Holt and is immensely popular in the Commonwealth countries.. The Enterprise is distinctive the world over as it has blue sails and it was a sight to see hundreds to blue sails flitting around the Kharakwasla Reservoir. The organisers arranged special viewing for spectators and had a lot of the residents of Poona driving up to Kharakwasla to view the races. The Sea Ray 175 Sport Boat and Kawasaki Jet Ski displayed at the venue also generated a lot of interest.
The NIEC has seen the best known names of Indian yachting compete in the waters of the Kharakwasla Reservoir – the Mongia brothers, Brig S Pillai, Capt Homi Motivala, Farokh Tarapore, Gautam Dutta, Naresh Yadav. This year along with the veteran sailors we also had young optimist sailors like Danesh Motiwala, Upamanyu Dutta and Sankalp Kapur giving a good fight. Clubs participating were Royal Bombay Yacht Club (RBYC), Colaba Sailing Club (CSC), Army Yachting Node (AYN) Bombay, Naval Sailing Club (NSC) Bombay, Tamil Nadu Sailing Association (TNSA), Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC), Corps of Engineers Sailing Club (CESC), Bombay Sailing Association, Goa Yachting Association (GYA), Secunderabad Sailing Club (SSC) and several others.

 

 

SPONSORS
Marine Solutions, a Bombay based yachting lifestyle company will be sponsored the event. The company is well known as the dealers of the ultra-luxury brand of Ferretti yachts, which are now a rage with who’s who of India. The sponsors displayed a Sea Ray 175 Sports Boat as well as the world’s most powerful Jetski, the Kawasaki Ultra 260 X, at the sailing venue during the event.