3 years of prep, 25K nautical miles: The sea odyssey of an all-women Tri-Services group

Nine women officers, led by Lt Col Anuja Varudkar, completed a circumnavigation expedition, "Samudra Pradakshina," sailing 25,500 nautical miles.

It took over three years to preparefor the all-women Tri-Services group to prepare for its circumnavigation expedition, said Lieutenant Colonel Anuja Varudkar of the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers.

Lt Col Varudkar was back home till Sunday to spend some time with family in Ghaziabad. She has a 12-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son. (HT Photo)

Sharing her experience with HT, Lt Col Varudkar, who led the expedition, said, “The preparation for it commenced much before the actual expedition. For four years, including the expedition period, we all worked towards it. About three years before the expedition started, 42 officers (from services) voluntarily came for the trials.”

Varudkar was back home till Sunday to spend some time with family in Ghaziabad. She has a 12-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.

Including herself,the expedition, “Samudra Pradakshina”, involved nine women officers — four from the Indian Army, four from the Indian Navy and one from the Indian Air Force.

Sailing nearly 25,500 nautical miles while meeting the World Sailing Speed Record Council’s criteria for circumnavigation, the team crossed the three great capes — Cape Leeuwin in Australia, Cape Horn in South America, and the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa — and crossed the equator twice.

The group started off on September 11, 2025, from Mumbai, finishing at Mumbai on July 5, 2026. The expedition was officially flagged-in on July 22 in the presence of Union defence minister Rajnath Singh.

These volunteers underwent three rounds of trials, Varudkar said.

“Everybody had to be brought to one platform to get proper training for this assignment. These 42 officers underwent an initial training of about 20 days. Later, they were short-listed depending on how they fared in each aspect of sailing. By the next trial, 27 officers were left and by the third trial only 18, in the end we were a team of nine.”

At any given time, six officers were aboard the vessel, with five permanent crew members and one rotational member. The rotational officers joined the expedition at four ports of call: Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and South Africa.

“When you go into the sea, you have to face all the winds and the weather, and the sea state is also a challenge. If you are facing a storm, the winds are going to be heavy, and the seas are going to be bad. We used to have about seven to eight metres of waves and winds of about 30 to 40 knots. That was the norm in the southern seas,” Varudkar added.

“It was our responsibility to take the boat safely everywhere. We had to steer it through the storms also. The sea doesn’t differentiate between gender, rank or any other criteria,” she signed off.