All women Indian team to sail around the world
A six-member team of all women from India will start journey in early September to circumnavigate the globe; the voyage will culminate on their return in March next year
The team of the Indian Navy will set sail in early September to circumnavigate the globe on the sailing vessel, INSV Tarini. This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-woman crew.
Titled Navika Sagar Parikrama, the voyage will begin from Goa in the first week of September and culminate on their return in March next year. The distance will be covered in five legs, with stop overs at four ports ”” Fremantle (Australia), Lyttelton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands) and Cape Town (South Africa).
“The Pacific leg between New Zealand and Falklands would be the longest one. Some of the roughest seas are in this stretch,” said Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, skipper of the vessel to the media. The other members of the team are Lieutenant Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P. Swathi, and Lieutenants S.Vijaya Devi, B.Aishwarya, and Payal Gupta. They were selected from about 20 volunteers.
“We will carry all sources of entertainment with us, books and DVDs to keep us occupied,” said Lt Cdr Joshi on ways to fight boredom on the high seas during the eight-month-long journey.
As part of the safety measures, Navy has contacted the search and assistance regions across the globe and the team would update their locations periodically.
“There are enough communication and emergency systems on board to take care of any emergency. In addition all major Navies do patrols. Our aircraft on routine patrols would also swing by to pass over their location,” explained Vice-Admiral A-K- Chawla, Navy’s Chief of Personnel.
INSV Tarini is a 55-foot sailing vessel, which has been built indigenously, and was inducted in the Navy early this year.
On Wednesday, the team had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who asked them to project India’s capabilities and strengths across the world. He also encouraged them to write and share their experiences, after the successful completion of the voyage.
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