Surat hosts boat race for coastal villages

The annual boat race among coastal villages of Surat was held on Sunday. Ten boats took part in the competition in which Kanu Patel’s boat of Magdalla finished first after another boat had overturned inches before the finishing point.

Boat racing started in the costal villages near Surat in 1954 and since then it has become an annual event. The race is unique because all boats are non-motored and specially designed for this race only. The vessels are sailed according to the direction of the wind. Seven sailors sit on a boat and guide it with the help of sandbags. Boats can use 20 sandbags at a time.

This year, the event started in the morning and all participating boats began to gather at Aaliya-bet in Dumas. The race was flagged off from Aaliya-bet at 2:30pm.

The 31-km race ended two hours later and the winner Kanu Patel took home a television and cash prize of Rs21,000.

Interestingly, Patel won the race because the boat owned of Babu Patel overturned due to heavy winds near the finishing point.
However, there was low participation in the race despite the many fishermen and sailors in these coastal villages.

Moreover, all ten participating boats have done so since a long time. In fact, apart from Magdalla, others villages neither have special boats nor experienced sailors, which hinders healthy competition.