Sunday, December 20, 2009

Old Lightning sailing off Mumbai

I came across this video of an old Lightning sailing off Mumbai (Bombay) India. The Lightning itself looks like a snapshot from the 1950's or 1960's; wooden mast, boom, shrouds lashed to eyes, though the sails look like more recent castoffs. It begs the question of the origin of this Lightning, a quintessential North American dinghy. How did she find her way to India? Was it imported by an American, perhaps State department? or businessman? Or was it built in India?

This crew have to play dodgem with very busy ferry traffic, all of them chock-a-bloc with humanity. Mumbai and it's surrounding townships are estimated to have around 19 million people, making it one of the most populous cities in the world.



My other post about Lightning sailing was also about an old wooden Lightning.

I was on RC duty at SSA late October for a bitterly cold and rainy Lightning regatta. I thought my old Line 7 foul weather gear would be up to the job but I was proved wrong.

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