India's First Coracle Regatta (Putti Race) by Yacht Club of Hyderabad, Telangana Tourism

India’s First Coracle Regatta is planned at Hussain Sagar Lake by Yacht Club of Hyderabad to mark and celebrate Telangana State Formation Day

This Coracle Regatta will be a pre-cursor for Telangana Open Coracle Racing to be conducted during the Bathkamma Festival: said Burra Venkatesham,IAS Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture

Hyderabad, May 31, 2016 India’s first Coracle (Putti in Telugu) Regatta is about to happen as part of the Telangana Formation Day celebrations at Hussain Sagar at the Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

Organised by the Yacht Club of Hyderabad and supported by Telangana Tourism and Pinkee Events , this festival of Coracle racing is all set to be an annual feature and part of the tourism calendar of the country.

The specially illuminated Coracles will be placed between the iconic Buddha statue and Tank Bund on June 2 to mark the Telangana Formation Day.

The Coracles Regatta will be a significant part of the Telangana Day celebrations and will be on an illuminated display near the Buddha Statue at night and a flowers display during the day.

We thought that the newly formed state of Telangana needs to start something on the lines of the Kerala snake boat race and given that all tourist centers from Hampi, Srisailam, Nagarjun Sagar, Warangal etc have Coracles, it made sense to conduct India’s first traditional Coracle Regatta in the state of Telangana. Coracle Racing is inexpensive and has the potential to be a nation wide sport.", said Suheim Sheikh the President of the Yacht Club who came up with the idea.

We loved the idea of a Coracle Regatta and display when it was presented to us and feel that it will become a major tourist attraction for Hyderabad in the long run. This display and racing that is being organised during the Telangana Formation Day is just a small pre-cursor to the final Telangana Open Coracle Racing to be conducted during the Bathkamma Festival. The government plans to invite all constituencies across the state to participate and we will conduct special training programs and provide the Coracles for the athletes to participate. We look forward to the racing taking root across the state in all water bodies and becoming an international event in the long run.” said Burra Venkatesham,IAS Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture who is overseeing the preparations.

‘We are proud to be associated with this completely out of the box idea “ said Maneck Debarra of Pinkee Events who have been selected to manage the entire event.

Indian Coracles are known to have been used since pre-historic times across water bodies and are mostly found in South India. A Coracle is a small round lightweight boat traditionally used in Wales, Ireland and Scotland for centuries and also used by Julius Caesar for his Spanish Campaign. Coracles are also used extensively in India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq and Tibet for fishing, transportation and tourism.

Coracles are eco-friendly primitive, light, bowl-shaped boats with a frame of woven grasses, reeds, or saplings covered with hides. Although these boats were originally designed for general transport, they have recently been used mostly for giving tourists rides. Given that the State Government is in the process of reviving water bodies across the state this eco friendly sport can become a major rural and urban rage. Coracles are also called: Putti in Telugu.

Paddling a circular Coracle is not as easy at it seems and being symmetric most beginners end up just going around in circles instead of forward and it requires practiced symmetric paddling or a swishy figure of 8 kind of paddling to make it move forward in a straight line a skill that needs to be preserved and encouraged. 10 expert Coracle paddlers have been invited from Srisailam for this very special event and they will be racing in traditional costumes on the 1st of June at 7 AM at the Yacht Club.

Coracles are used across the world and this simple festival has the potential to become a massive international tourist attraction at Hyderabad.