The First Capital Sailing Nationals 2025 concluded at the Crow Island navy base with Royal College dominating the junior boat categories and the Sri Lanka Navy sweeping away the senior categories.
This year saw 83 sailors in 68 boats competing fiercely on an unpredictable sea on March 25 and 26, with Rear Admiral G.S.D Weerasuriya, Director General of Services, Sri Lanka Navy, presiding as chief guest.
Expectations were high this year with a large number of participants training for weeks preceding the Nationals at the Crow Island Navy base under the guidance of National Coach Krishan Janaka and the National ILCA coach Roshil Nisantha.
However in an unexpected turn of events, after weeks of fair winds, the weather was not destined to play ball and so it was with the winds gusting over 20 knots, challenging seasoned and novice sailors on the first day.
With high number of boats in all classes capsizing – sometimes multiple – times in the high winds, even seasoned sailors called this year’s sailing nationals an “unforgettable one.”
The second day of sailing saw another kind of weather pattern with winds falling as low as five knots and gusting up to 20 between races.
“This time the Nationals was not just a competition of skill and technique, but also one of stamina and endurance,” said coach Janaka.
With first time nationals sailor Mickyla Karunarathna of Ladies College beating veteran juniors to clinch second place on the first day, Royalists and Thomians fought back on day two, with Royalists finally dominating the under 15 Optimist and ILCA 4 classes.
In the Optimist class, Binal Perera of Royal College was placed first with Akaine Ubayasiri of S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia in second place and Royalist Vonal Boteju claiming third place.
In the under 17 ILCA 4 class Royalist Muazzam Imtiaz beat defending champion Yusef Hazari to finish first. Hazari and Minuga Hettigamage also from Royal came in second and third respectively.
The ILCA 6 class witnessed PDDS Rajapaksha, JS Senavirathna and UD Rajapaksha of Sri Lanka Navy claiming first, second and third places respectively, while PDDS Rajapaksha also won the ILCA 7 class with JS Senevirathna coming in a close second, with Kethaka Weerasuriya of the Ceylon Motor and Yacht Club sailed in third.
Sri Lanka Navy won the two-manned Enterprise and GP 14 classes with KSK de Silva and MDS Subhashini; AGP Ashanka and AS Jothipala, SPPN Kumara and PSS Gomas were placed first, second and third respectively in Enterprise class.
KC Zoysa and TDS Perera; WAS Weerathunga and JPS de Silva and AMJP Aththanayaka and ASK de Soyza were placed first, second and third respectively in the GP14 class.
Chief Guest Rear Admiral GSD Weerasuriya lauded the sailors for performing under extreme weather conditions and said that Sri Lanka has the potential to take sailing “to the world platform.”
With the Janashakthi Group sponsoring the sailing nationals 2025, this year saw the most diverse junior sailors representing schools and clubs from all parts of the country including the Jaffna Optimist Team, the Mirissa Optimist team, Royal College, S. Thomas’ College, Ladies’ College and Methodist College. Besides the large contingency of the Sri Lanka Navy, sailors from the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club, Royal Colombo Yacht Club, Ruhunu Sailing Club, North Sails Sailing Club and Future Fibres Sailing Club also participated.
