Visakhapatnam: Brijraj Verma of the Indian Navy Watersporstamanship Training Centre (INWTC, Mumbai), with Pankaj Kumar as crew led the first day's races of the eighth National Hobie 16 sailing championship at Ramakrishna Beach on Wednesday.

Cloudy weather with wind speeds between 14 to 21 knots made the first day's races interesting. The boats of Sanjeev Raghav (AWSA) and Siggi Hoff of Germany capsized during the second race.

Verma logged four penalty points in the first two races. K. Yakobu with Rajeev Kumar of Artillery Water Sports Association (AWSA) of Hyderabad with six points was second. He was third last year.

Last year's runner-up Kamlesh Patel with UB Rawankar (Army Yachting Node, Mumbai) had a tough day. He was placed seventh with 13 penalty points. Local sailor Anirudh Vijay and his crew Melville were 15th.