One of the years most awaited sailing events, the National Inland Enterprise Championship (NIEC), was conducted from the 2nd to the 6th of June, under the burgees of the NDA Sailing Club & the National Enterprise Association at Peacock Bay Khadakwasla, Pune.

The event has always attracted the largest number of entries in any national championship and this year we saw almost 70 entries, 7 of which were from the Colaba Sailing Club. The organizing authority arranges for accommodation of all participants in the National Defense Academy. The beautiful premises filled with wooded hills and gorgeous wildlife would usually be out of bounds for most civilians. However, at the time of year, NDA is more or less deserted following the Passing Out Parade (POP) of the Cadets. Hence participants are put up in the various Cadets' Squadrons and get to enjoy the NDA experience to the fullest.

Another plus for the event is the fact that all boats are provided by the organizing authority, ensuring an even playing field. Most "Giant Slayings" of Indian sailing have taken place at Khadakwasla Lake.

Considering the Enterprise was originally designed by Jack Holt for Lake sailing, the venue is an ideal location for Enterprise Sailing. The Lake provides for a great variety of sailing conditions: from dogs being blown off chains & capsizing parades to the slightest of zephyrs where sailors prevent frustration by singing songs in pathetic voices and passing snide remarks about each others' sailing (or non-sailing) abilities.. This year, the wind was consistent. Consistently non-existent that is!

The large turnout and the fact that the organizers had only 49 boats earmarked for the championship, meant that 2 elimination races were sailed and 18 Teams were knocked out. Needless to say, all of the CSC sailors qualified. The CSC Team composition was as follows: Shahid Basheer (Team Captain) & Pia Sanyal, Gulshan Chunekar & J Gohil, Ninad Mayekar & Abhishek Parekh, Hema Mehta & Crew, Gaurav Shinde & Crew, Ashok Davit & Amber Sharma and Sanjiv Mhatre & Crew. The members, while being extremely competitive on the water, showed great camaraderie on shore and most evenings were spent out in a group: be it panther watching or dining out, deer spotting or beer dunking.

A total of 7 races were sailed with only 1 discard being allowed which meant that there was little room for error. Most of the CSC teams fared quite well through the series. However, Shahid Basheer had an OCS in the second race which meant that his series was going to be quite tight from that point. Thereafter the wind died totally in Race No: 5 and even though he was lying 12th about 20 seconds from the finish line, was scored DNF along with the remaining 37 boats behind him. The DNF & the OCS put him out of contention. That's where the bad news for the CSC ends. The Club came out with the best team performance and in the end we came back with 4 Prizes, namely: 2nd Place Overall (Gulshan Chunekar & J Gohil), 3rd Place Overall (Ninad Mayekar & Abhishek Parekh), Best Junior Team (Ninad Mayekar & Abhishek Parekh) and Best Lady Helm (Hema Mehta).

Chunekar sailed an extremely consistent series and made very few mistakes to finish 2nd, while Mayekar suffered a few setbacks after a brilliant start to the series to finally finish 3rd. Hema Mehta, was brilliant among the women and had most of her finishes in the top 20. Her only real competitor was Zeal Kapadia of the Army Yachting Node. Hema finally beat Zeal in convincing fashion with a lead of over 25 points.

First person perspective of the racing at NDA:

For the purpose of this report I felt it prudent to discuss Race No: 6, which was the best race for the club teams, in which we finished 1st, 3rd & 5th.

The race was quite interesting since the wind had totally died right in the middle of the race. After a miserable start I rounded the first mark in last place. The wind was not even 1.5 Knots and I was sailing about 20 Kilos heavier as compared to the rest of the fleet. However, good light wind tactics (basically just avoiding the pack) ensured that by the next mark I had passed 47 boats and was 2nd behind Ayaz Sheikh of the Army Yachting Node. At the Mark Rounding, chaos ensued and I found myself pushed back to 10th place due to a poor rounding with boats all around me. It was a beating leg with a dying breeze and my team-mate Gulshan Chunekar was about 4 places ahead at the point and I saw him in a similar predicament. I decided to take a gamble and go for clear air to the left and Chunekar did the same. One of the Army Chaps & one NDA super-lightweight team followed us but the rest of the fleet tacked after rounding and went right. At this point the wind was extremely light and as we went ahead we noticed that it was a persistent shift and a huge one at that. I told my crew "Yes! We have this one in the Bag!" We saw the rest of the fleet stuck in a bunch on the right and then something I'd read in a Frank Bethwaite Book came back to me: "Avoid the bunch in the light stuff, you just slow each other down while the wind bends around the bunch". Anyway, so the NDA guys glide up next to me in a covering position and I tell them politely, in a lighter vein with a smile of course, "Say! How about a push?" Imagine my surprise when they actually reach out to give me a nice little shove forward before I told them I was kidding. Never underestimate the power of politeness!

At this point the race was between Chunekar, the Army Team & myself. The shift kept going right and I found at one stage that I was sailing a beam reach. I promptly raised the centerboard eased sails and glided along steadily. In fact I found that I was playing with the centerboard as much as with the sails to try and prevent the boat from stalling. I tried everything in the book, Max Leeward Heel, Crew and Helm sitting right next to the mast. The idea was to reduce wetted surface as well as get the transom (with its huge drag) out of the water.

At this point I was lying first. However, the other two boats found some wind and the Army team started luffing me up. Inspite of my numerous (very polite) requests to the contrary, he just slowed both of us down and Chunekar sped away to get the Gun.

Surprise Surprise! Politeness doesn't seem to work with the Army types as well as it does with the NDA types. The Army team finished Second while I finished Third. Mayekar, who was among the leaders in the rest of the fleet on the right and finally came in 5th.

There are two ways of looking at the race results, as Chunekar & I discussed on shore. One way is to say that we just got lucky. But I sincerely feel that it takes conviction and belief to split from a 50 strong fleet and go in a totally different direction. You could say it was a gamble, but you still have to be constantly in touch with the changing conditions and know when to cut your losses and head back for the fleet and when to keep going for gold.

In the end it was acknowledged by one and all that the Colaba Sailing Club had stamped it's authority on the event in convincing fashion. It was a very proud moment when the Organising Secretary, Cdr. Srinivas came up and congratulated me and introduced me to the Commandant of the NDA, Lt. Gen. Chopra, as the team leader of the best performing Sailing Club at the event.