The Padayachi colony in the coastal Devipattinam, near here wore a festive look on Saturday as hundreds of villagers thronged the colony to witness the annual sailing competition coinciding with Vaikasi Utsav festival of Dharma Muneeswarar temple.
After women offered ‘Pongal,’ a rice delicacy to the deity Muneeswarar, praying for safety and prosperity of Padayachi community, engaged in fishing on the occasion of 26th temple festival on Friday, fishermen organised the 17th sailing competition on Saturday.
About 50 fishermen took part in the competition in 12 sailing boats and they sailed for a distance of 10 km from Devipattinam to Panaikulam and back.
Amid cheers and security offered by the Coastal Security Group (CSG) and local police, the fishermen took part in the competition with all enthusiasm.
After setting sail at 1. 30 p.m., a four-member team, led by local fisherman Kanagavel returned at 4. 30 p.m., covering the 10 km distance and won the first prize of Rs. 15,001. Amudharaj and his team won the second prize of Rs. 10,001 and Syed and his team won the third prize of Rs. 7,001, Colony leader U. Muneeswaran said.
Medical test
Both the temple festival and the sailing competition went on well, he said. They avoided taking out procession on the eve of the temple festival as violence broke out a couple of years ago, forcing the police to open fire to quell the clashing groups, he said. The CSG personnel subjected for medical test, those who took part in the sailing competition.
