Nitin Mongia
wins the Monsoon Regatta 2011 Trophy
Hyderabad|India|July'2011:
With awesome weather conditions
the Chief Umpire Pushpendra Garg decided to
conduct the finals "best of 5" series between
finalists Nitin Mongia and Ayaz Sheikh.
Nitin lost the first race to Ayaz and then took
flight to form and turned the pressure on the
favourite Ayaz Sheikh with three consecitive wins
to claim the Tata Photon Trophy. Ayaz had not lost
a single race until then.
Nitin Mongia and Crew Balraj, Hema Mehta and local
girl Alekhya Sudam sailed expertly under pressure
to win gold with three wins on the trot.
The racing was tense with shifty winds between 5-9
knots.
The final race had Nitin marginally win the start
with Ayaz and crew close behind a few tacks later
Nitin drove Ayaz into a penalty but lost a few
boat lengths in the process but keeping at his
tail. The pair probably made about 30 tacks on
each upwind leg neck to neck and Ayaz completed
his penalty close to the upwind mark giving Nitin
a lead of a hairs breadth while rounding.
Both crew displayed great sail handling and
impeccable spinnaker drill with no mistakes even
marginal which led to a dramatic gybing match down
wind.
Ajaz Sheikh despite the intense pressure of the
penultimate race which he had to win to even out
was gaining considerably with a photo finish at
the line and the eitire crew broke into a
jubiliant victory dance on the water relief and
joy writen all over their faces.
Nitin Mongia has won the Monsoon Regatta once
again putting a break to the string of wins by
Ayaz Sheikh across the championship.
The unbeaten Ayaz Sheikh and crew from the Army
Yachting node won every race there was to win but
the last three crucial losses in a trot reduced
him to runners up in what could have been the
straightest win across all Monsoon Regattas.
A releived Nitin says that sailing with two women
crew was the best decision he has made in a long
time.
The Mongia Brothers Nitin and Aashim won both the
finals and the petit finals respectively leading
to a family triumph after a very long time. The
end of the Tata Photon Match Racing Championship
was greeted by some fine showers that raced across
the Hussain Sagar to greet the winners.
Farokh Tarapore, Indias's most celebrated sailor
serving as an umpire said that "the team of Ayaz
Sheikh and crew who looked invicible across the
racing was made to look mediocre by some special
and extremely smart pre-start manouveres that
virtually sealed the fate of the last three races
in favour of Nitin Mongia. As the wind lost its
pressure it seemed that Ayaz was transferring his
pressure to Nitin who triumphed under the lighter
conditions".
July.2011
