Monsoon Regatta 2011 Awards Ceremony

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".