Despite protests and heated moments the boys of both schools displayed fine sportsmanship and humility in both victory and defeat :
Royal College sailed to victory over arch rival S. Thomas’ College at the ninth Royal-Thomian sailing regatta held on September 19 and 20, reclaiming the coveted Ranil Dias Trophy for the third time.
The Royal sailing team dominated, securing all except one trophy on offer at the picturesque Bolgoda Lake at Moratuwa.
The first day of the much-anticipated event in Sri Lanka’s maritime calendar sailed off with individual races between the Royalist and Thomian sailing teams. With high winds over nine knots on the first day, the light-weight Laser Royalists were at a disadvantage and yet battled fiercely to win the overall senior event.
The less experience Thomian Optimists too challenged the seasoned Royalists in the Optimist event but Royal College ended as overall winners with 6-0 points in their favour on the first day.
In the exciting team racing event of day two, both schools strategically pitted their racers against one another in the A and B teams. While Royal won the race of the day – the Laser A team races as well as both the Optimist A and B team races, the Thomian Laser B team fought valiantly to win the team racing event.
Royal College won both the Jeremy Bolling Trophy for the winners of the Optimist ‘A’ team and the Perera Challenge Trophy for the winners of the Optimist ‘B’ team.
The Dr. Ray Wijewardene Trophy for the winners of the Laser ‘A’ team went to Royal College while the Sailing Advisory Committee Challenge Trophy for the winners of the Laser ‘B’ team went to S. Thomas’ College.
In individual recognitions, Royal College captain Anuda Silva was awarded the Best Laser Sailor -the first time in their history that a skipper has won the award. Royal’s Minuga Hettigamage was awarded the Best Optimist Sailor.
At the end of the event, which was sponsored by Future Fibres and Ellawala Horticulture, the total points stood at 18-4 in favour of Royal College.
The Royal-Thomian sailing regatta is more than just a sports competition. It is a testimony of how rival schools can display great sportsmanship.
The chief guest at the closing ceremony, Rear Admiral Professor Shemal Fernando, Director General of Sports said he hoped the Royal-Thomian regatta could open new frontiers.
“The same spirit of the Royal-Thomian Sailing Regatta can be spread across to all school sporting events,” he declared.
Despite some heated moments and a record number of protests that went on until late in the night, the spirit of sailing and the friendly rivalry between the two schools that are the pioneers of schools sailing was displayed both on and off water with the sailors from both teams ending the regatta with firm handshakes, pats on the back and promises of meeting up for a game of Futsal next weekend.
Present on the occasion was the warden of S. Thomas’ College Rev Marc Billimoria, the principal of Royal College Thilak Wattuhewa, LWK Silva the Senior deputy principal of Royal College and M.A.M. Riyaz assistant principal-Senior games master of Royal College.
Results of Individual racing events:
OPTIMIST CLASS: 1st place – Minuga Hettigamage – Royal College, 2nd place – Kevaan De Costa – Royal College, 3rd place – Binal Perera – Royal College
LASER CLASS: 1st place – Anuda Silva – Royal College, 2nd place – Omar Hazari – Royal College, 3rd place – Nithik Senaratne – S. Thomas’ College
