R NEELANAND is only 11 years old, but in sailing terms he is already top fleet. That means this Chennai schoolboy can be out in the sea with his teacher’s permission when the other kids are doing math at school. Well, that is only one part of the deal. He can also win silverware, like the youngest Indian sailor award that he has won thrice already.

Neelanand, whose day starts in the gym and ends in the sea, is also the current national champion in the under-10 category. Needless to say, all this has taken a lot of work. “I like sailing because it is an intelligent sport,” he says. It is also a ‘scientific sport’, which requires knowledge of aerodynamics, atmospheric pressure, temperature difference, wind speed and movement of clouds—factors that are traditionally learnt in the classroom, not in a boat. However, his national coaches are doing a good job of teaching him how to be in-charge while holding a sail and steering a boat. “Neelanand is a young talent and an Asian Games’ medal prospect,” says Umesh Naiksatam, the national assistant coach from the Yachting Association of India, which is affiliated to the International Sailing Federation.

“He has the advantage of having started sailing at an early age. We have started taking him to international games, which will hone his skills further,” Naiksatam adds.

Laser-sharp

He was eight years old when Neelanand made up his mind to be a sailor in a city known for its champions in chess, cricket and tennis. His parents bought him a second-hand sailing boat, which he promptly named Tigi. “My boat is like a pet,” he says. Tigi, which is accompanied by the sailing paraphernalia of radar, sailing clothes and boots, is anchored at the Chennai Port Trust Harbour, 6 km from his home at Egmore in central Chennai. In sailing terminology, the boat for under-16 sailors is called Optimist. Now, his next bet is the laser-class, single-crew boat for the above-16 category. In certain above-16 categories, a boat can also accommodate two sailors—one taking care of the sail and the other being the helmsman—or more. A member of the Tamil Nadu Champions Development Scheme and a Tamil Nadu Sailing Association protege, Neelanand won the last national sailing championship in Bhopal in 2014, coming first in the 11-race competition for the Optimist class in the city’s Upper Lake. The gold in the race marked a hat-trick of national championship victories, the first coming in Hyderabad in 2013 and the second in Pavana Lake near Lonavala, Maharashtra, also in 2013.

On July 10, Neelanand will carry Tigi to Hyderabad, where the three-day national sailing championship for this year will begin in the 16th-century Hussain Sagar Lake. He will move up the ladder to the under-12 category in the competition, which, he says, will be “easy”. “I will be sailing against the same participants who were with me in under-10 and I have been working harder,” he says with the confidence of a professional. In the past three months, Neelanand and his coaches have been out in the Bay of Bengal thrice a week, preparing for the Hyderabad nationals.

He also gets tips from his friend and role model, Chitresh Tatha, a 14-year-old national sailing champion from Chennai. “He is way better than me,” says Neelanand about his senior, who has already participated in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. “He teaches me new tricks and shares his experience in the Asian Games,” he adds.

Future perfect

Asian Games is open to sailors in the under-16 category, something Neelanand can look forward to in the 2018 event in Jakarta, Indonesia. With its eyes on the future, the National Yachting Association has roped in a foreign coach for its young sailors and has also decided to expose them to more international events. In February this year, Neelanand finished fifth in the Optimist class of the Asian Sailing Federation’s Youth Sailing Cup in Hong Kong and came 21st in the overall category for Optimist class at the tougher Dutch Youth Regatta two months ago in May. In the coming years, he will be bracing for the qualifiers, hoping to seal his place at the Asian Games competition for the first time.

Next will be the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo when Neelanand would have turned 16 years old, the eligibility bar for the top competition. If he qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics, Neelanand could also fulfill his dream of meeting his “sailing hero”, Tom Slingsby, the 30-year-old current world champion and Olympics gold medalist in the laser class from Australia. Only, he would prefer the winners’ podium for a proper meeting.

Sailor-made
* Won the under-10 national sailing championship in 2013 and 2014
* Three-time winner of youngest Indian sailor award
* Finished fifth in the Optimist class of the Asian Sailing Federation’s Youth Sailing Cup in Hong Kong in February
* Came 21st in the overall category for Optimist class at the Dutch Youth Regatta in May

Faizal Khan is a freelancer