A team of ten young sailors left the island to represent Sri Lanka at the IODA Asian and Oceanian Sailing championship to be held in Bombay this month.The team comprising of school children between the ages of 13 to 15 hail from Royal College, S. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia, Ladies College and Visakha Vidyalaya.

This year’s team has a few firsts. This is the first time Sri Lanka will be fielding four girls at one of the most prestigious sailing tournaments organized by the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA); as well as two pairs of twins –  Tharen and Nikhil Nanayakkara and Kyoshi and Kyasha Samarakkody.

“We are excited to field four girls this year, a first in Sri Lankan Optimist sailing history,” said Asanka Goonawardena, Convener for Yachting Association of Sri Lanka (YASL). “Hopefully, their participation will encourage other girls’ schools to enter the sailing arena,” he said.

The young sailors have been training at the Bolgoda Lake as well as the seas including the Naval Base at Crow Island and Mirissa, the girls competing with the boys on equal footing. The hopeful Sri Lankans will compete with over 100 sailors from across the globe.

“I’m excited about going to IODA because it’s a new experience for me, and we’ve been training really hard the past few months,” said 13-year-old Sohanya de Mel, the youngest of the girls. “It’s a fun as well as a relaxing sport, and I’m so happy to be representing Sri Lanka in something I love doing,” she said.

For some of the seasoned sailors, who missed two years of IODA, this will be their last year before moving on to the senior Laser class.

“This also means we have at least four to five very experienced sailors and we are expecting a Gold or a Silver from this year’s team,” said Krishan Janaka, Sri Lanka’s national coach who is in charge of training the young team. “Sailing is a sport where you need a combination of physical strength, intelligence, quick wit and determination. And this team has been sharpening these skills the past months,” he said.