4th Monsoon Regatta Sailing Championship (Day 1)

4TH MONSOON REGATTA JULY 3 TO 8 2012

For a Clean Hussain Sagar

Shri Suheim Sheikh Founder President, The Yacht Club of Hyderabad

The 4th year in succession, India's largest Sailing regatta is back again with three championships rolled into one.

Match Racing, The Junior Optimist Championship and-the Family Regatta in a revamped format.

This Monsoon Regatta will be in the all new Omega Class of boats, imported specially for the event from the UK, lighter and faster and will prove a whole new challenge to the skippers. Replacing the ageing J24, the Omeqa is the fastest boat used on Indian waters for Match Racing.

Match Racing a the Hussain Sagar is set to take on a whole new dimension where the slow languid, rules obsessive sailing will be replaced with crackling speed, agility and a test of the crew's boat handling and control under severe monsoon conditions, an entirely new horizon to the sport akin to the America's Cup, the holy grail of Match racing, where speed and technology rule the waves. A complete rethink of tactics and strategy will be required.

Reigning National champion and top seed Ayaz Shaikh of the Army Yachting Node (AYN) clearly has an edge over twice Monsoon Regatta Champion Nitin Mongia who will need to take on a whole new challenge with the Omega against Shaikh's experience in racing the 470 Olympic Class: which is very much like the Omega.

With a Silver medal at the recently concluded Nationals in Bombay, second seed ,Commander Atool Sihna of the Indian Navy is gunning for top spot. Losing to Shaikh at the Nationals and beating Mongia, he will seek sweet revenqe to get to the gold and his first ever title in the sport. Interestingly both the top seeds Sheikh and Sinha will be battling for their first Monsoon Regatta title as skippers.

Veteran campaigner and erstwhile World Champion silver medalist, Aashim Mongia is travelling abroad and will be flying in for the Monsoon Regatta for the racing starting on the 3rd of July.

There are 10 entries in the fray including an all women crew skippered by Ayesha Lobo from Bombay, erstwhile National Hobie Class National Champion.

Sponsored by Deloitte the Match Racing in the brand new Omegas will be the closest and keenest and most certainly the fastest racing ever seen at a Monsoon Regatta with three top guns and a line up of dark horses.

Match racing is two boat combat on the water as against Fleet Racing where many boats start the race at the same time.

OPTIMIST OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS - 6th to 8th July 2012 Mornings

Twice National champion Vishnun Sarvanan from Pune will defend his- status in severe, winds and flat inland water at the Monsoon Regatta 2012. Vishnu also won a bronze at an international at Malaysia.

Defending champion and thrice winner Upamanyu Dutta is now sailing the bigger 420 and Laser classes. Brother Aryaman Dutta will take his place to keep the legacy in place.

After 2 years of existence The Yacht Club of Hyderabad will field the largest contingent of 12 sailorswith children from Govt. Market School, DPS Secunderabad and Army School Bolarum participating.

Top contender from Hyderabad will be Raghavendra from Govt. High School Market , Secunderabad who finished 14th at the 2012 Nationals in May and is training hard to give Vishnu and Aryaman a tough fight to a podium finish. Nikhil Kumar and Shivaram also from GHSM are also in top form. The Yacht Club has special programs for Government Schools and works intensively with underserved children.

Youngsters from DPS Secunderabad, siblings Tanishq Desai (12) & Juhi Desai (10) and Aryan Mateti (10) of DPS Gachibowli will also be taking part for the first time. Manjari and Moulshree Shrivastava of Army School Bolarum will join Juhi as the three girl entries from Hyderabad.

The local sailors trained intensively by the founder President of the Yacht Club Suheim Sheikh and top national coaches like Ninad Mayekar and Varun Raj are working hard for the Monsoon Regatta.

The Sea Cadet Core from Mumbai, headed by the legendary Rabi Ahuja, a Padmashree, will be participating in a National level event after a gap of 5 years. The Sea Cadet Core has produced absolutely all the top Indian Yachtsmen including Farokh Tarapore, Homi Motivala both World Championship winners and Farokh Tarapore twice world champion.

Amongst the girls Diya Corea of Cathedral School Bombay is currently standing at National NO.3 contending against the boys and is the top girls' contender for the Gold.

TRANSWORLD FAMILY CHAMPIONSHIPS - 6th to 8th July 2012 Afternoons

Introduced last year the Family championship was designed to broad base the sport of sailing. Having been a big hit amongst sailors the racing will be across three days starting 6th July.

Many more teams specially travelling from across the country from Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore and Pune, just for a chance to participate.

Apart from an experienced skipper the crew will need to have at least one lady on board and one sailor below age 15 with a maximum of 5 on board.

The purpose is to change the landscape of sailing from a medal oriented challenging and competitive sport to one that allows for relaxation and enjoyment for the entire family with just a touch of competition.

The Yacht Club of Hyderabad takes pride in hosting India's second Family Championship at the National level.

About The Yacht Club of Hyderabad

Founded just two years ago by Suheim Sheikh a national medalist in the Laser Class The Yacht club of Hyderabad has risen to be among the largest and most active Yacht Clubs in India. The club was started in 2009 with just 3 boats for kids and has grown to strength of 25. The Monsoon Regatta, is now the Largest Multi Class Yachting Championship in India. Attracting more than a 100 entries across 20 clubs.

The Yacht Club is primarily a training academy for children and is a not for profit organization.

THE MONSOON QUIZ HOSTED BY HARSHA BHOGLE

Ace commentator and Quiz Master Harsha Bhogle, a resident of Hyderabad will conduct an Inter School Quiz on Environmental issues, Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad and Sailing Quiz for the Kids ON JULY 5TH 11 AM at Eat Street, Necklace Road.

Having received entries from Meridian, Sreenidhi, Rockwell, Gitanjali , DPS, Niraj International and many others this year’s quiz wi11 be much bigger and wider
.
Designed by the legendary Quizzing group K-Circle the quiz will serve to sensitize children to the environment and learn to respect their water bodies.

Additionally we will have VVS Laxman visiting the Regatta for an inspection of the fleet on 6th July and Rahul Dravid will participate along with Rana Daggubatti in a Celebrity race on the 7th.

The detailed schedule will be provided at the conference.

Contact Numbers of the Athletes organizers and celebrities

Ayaz Sheikh: 9619536654
Atool Sinha: 9869161346
Nitin Mongia: 9820132158
Aashim Mongia:9820130940, 9833890940
Umpire Pushpendra Garg: 9711510640
Chief Umpire
Lt.Gen KS Rao: 9704123397

PR Agency: Salus Media: 9848042020


A NOTE ON THE CAUSE

"FOR A CLEAN HUSSAIN SAGAR"

Towards a cleaner and healthier environment and the growth of Sailing.

Every year with the advent of the monsoons in July, the gentle ripples on the Hussain Sagar Lake at Hyderabad in India make way for larger waves and forceful winds, transforming the waters into a paradise for Sailing. The Monsoon Regatta celebrates the season with a purpose. The theme of the championship is to protect the environment and steadily improve the quality of the lake. The Monsoon Regatta endeavors to create awareness and helps bring the sailors, the people and the Government on a common platform to solve this problem in perpetuity.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

The Government rises to the occasion and the Monsoon Regatta provides them with a platform for the senior mos functionaries to broadcast progress on all aspects of cleaning the Hussain Sagar and all surrounding lakes in the twin cities. The sailors being closest to the waters are a litmus test of progress on this count.

The sport itself is amongst the greenest and uses only wind, wave and water to take the sailor to the finish line.

In addition to the HMDA, the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, Tourism Department, APTDC and of course the Government itself supports the cause in good measure.

OUR GRATITUDE TO THE SPONSORS

* Deloitte
* Transworld Group of Companies
* HMDA Co - Host
* The Hyderabad Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre for the Press Conference
* Moksh for the Opening Ceremony
* Ohri's for the Closing Ceremony
* Justa The Residence
* West COast Marine
* Liquid Hub as a Solidarity Partner

A NOTE FROM Deloitte

Deloitte supports the effort of The Yacht Club of Hyderabad to highlight the way in which we often tend to ignore and neglect our water resources.

A NOTE FROM Transworld

"It gives Transworld great pleasure to associate with the Monson Regatta and all the events connected with it. The obvious connection is that we are a shipping company and this being a water- based event the fit could not have been any better. Sailing as a sport has long been considered an elitist sport in India and has therefore not gotten the recognition it deserves. However, with the advent of the Monson Regatta and with the efforts put in by The Yacht CLub of Hyderabad, it brings us to the not so obvious fit to the event. Not only do they promote the sport but also make it more accessible for all tiers' of society is what made us agree to sponsor the event almost immediately. Kudos to everyone associated with the event and may the Monsoon Regatta 2012 be a successful event.

Ritesh Ramakrishnan. Director Transworld Group

A NOTE FROM Ramesh Jackson from Mariott Hotel OUR HOSTS

The Marriott is proud to host Waterscapes for the 2nd year in succession. Being on the banks of the Hussain Sagar we are constantly reminded of the sad deterioration of the water here. We salute the idea of using Art as a forum to raise awareness about the importance of keeping our water resources from further decimation.

It is rare to have such a wonderful lake in the middle of the city and I urge the citizens and government to do our very best in improving the quality of the water and level of pollution.