All hands on deck at Mysore Royal Sailing Club

Located in the KRS backwaters, it is the first civil sailing school in the country

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Over 100 sailors from across the country gathered in Mysuru recently, their boats docked at the KRS backwaters. Spectators came from far and wide too - this was the start of the National Regatta Championship, a first of its kind event, organized by the Royal Mysore Sailing Club (RMSC).

“Mine is the first civil sailing school in the country,” smiles Captain Arvind Sharma, founder of the Mysore Royal Sailing Club. “People can come here to learn the sport - as a leisure activity, a hobby sport or to compete in various games, from the Asian Games to the Olympics.

While sailing is still perceived as a leisure sport that is only accessible to a few, Captain Sharma dreams of sending a sailor to to the Olympics. The sport did pique the nation’s interest at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Perceived as a leisure sport that is accessible only to a few, the nation’s interest in sailing was piqued after a stellar performance by the Indian sailing team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The National Regatta Championship gathered great traction for the Club -over 200 candidates had enrolled at the time this article was written and they hope the number will continue to rise. Six boats have been exclusively stationed for training. Captain Sharma believes our days of winning medals aren’t too far away. “We plan to go in search of young talent in rural areas and give them the eight years of training required to enable them to participate in national-level competitions.” It’s a huge effort - “We may get six, or eight good sailors out of 70,000 trainees,” he remarks. “Our aim is to have at least eight sailors who are capable of bringing home medals in the next Olympics.

The reason for India’s lackluster performance in sailing events on the global arena is in part due to parents’ hesitance to send their children to train in adventure sports. They even think twice before teaching kids how to swim, Captain Sharma says. “People expect India to bring home medals in international events but aren’t ready to let their kids train in sports.” The Indian contingent’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics is all set to change that attitude.

On weekdays, Captain Sharma attends to his duties at the court. On weekends, he heads to Jakkur where he doubles as a flying instructor. Planes have been a passion since he was in college - during his second year at BMS College of Engineering in Bengaluru, Sharma received a scholarship to do a flying course in Jakkur. He obtained a pilot’s license in 1991, the first holder of the Microlight flying license, which he received from the Director General of Aviation.

Captain Sharma went on to set up an aerospace academy to train pilots who are interested in flying as a hobby. He has remained an instructor and an examiner in microlight flying. Consequently, Sharma got into manufacturing microlight aircraft and would supply them to the National Cadet Corps. He also got into passenger transport charter of aircrafts. “I was the first to bring cloud seeding technology to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, back in 2003,” he says. The sailing club isn’t his only first - “We started the country’s first skydiving schools to make young people more interested in aviation,” he said.

In 2017, he wanted to explore one more branch of adventure sports and learned to sail at the Royal Madras Yacht Club in Chennai Port. He began sailing in Chennai, Goa and Mumbai. That’s how the idea to set up his own sailing club began - Karnataka lacked one, despite its long coastline.

He does hope to get more government support. “We don’t need financial help,” he remarks. “We just want them to promote the sport.” The Sports Minister, who was invited to the inauguration of the Regatta, has promised to do so.