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INS Tarini’s 2 women sailors welcomed back after Goa-Rio de Janeiro expedition
Dilna and Roopa are also shortlisted for a solo circumnavigation of earth that will take place next year
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Two women sailors of the Indian Navy Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini were welcomed back to the country on Tuesday upon their return after a six-month-long journey from Goa to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Town, and back.
Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani and Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant accorded a warm welcome to them.
INSV Tarini, a sailing yacht built in Goa, reached ‘home’ at the INS Mandovi naval base after a journey spanning 17,000 nautical miles over seven months.
Out of the six crew members, the two women sailors-- Lt Cdr Roopa A, and Lt Cdr Dilna K-- were the only ones to complete the entire expedition. The other four sailors completed only one leg of the voyage and changed at Rio de Janeiro. All of them were present at the welcome ceremony.
Dilna and Roopa are also shortlisted for a solo circumnavigation of earth that will take place next year, and are vying to be the first Indian woman to accomplish the task
“It has been a life changing experience for me. We have already covered 17,000 nautical miles in the last six months. We have encountered a lot of challenges on board, during the six months. This training, this journey, this complete voyage has been so important to us, because it is part of our preparatory sorties for the solo circumnavigation,” said Dilna said.
Also Read |Golden Globe Race: Abhilash Tomy returns home to hero’s welcome
Roopa said the storms they encountered with winds of 60 knots and waves as high as 20 feet, rather than discouraging them, gave them confidence that they can indeed sail through the storms.
“We had gone through various seas -- the Indian Ocean, we crossed various latitudes and we got to know about the various weather systems of the world, and it was one-of-a-kind experience. Throughout the journey, I’ve become more confident on the boat. It has become our home for the last six months,” said Roopa.
“We had a 60 knots storm and the various cold fronts of the South Atlantic and there were all gale force winds. It was the first time all of the crew experienced a 60 knots storm, so we tactfully went through it, but it was a one-of-a-kind storm where we experienced humongous waves and the winds and we had a tear in the sail and we had some equipment damages also,” she said.
She said that the storm had left them with a tear in the sail that they had to repair themselves.
The other participants included Capt Atool Sinha, Lt Cdr Ashutosh Sharma, Lt Aviral Keshav, Cdr Nikhil Hegde, Cdr MA Zulfikar, Cdr Divya Purohit, and Cdr AC Doke. They were selected through a rigorous process at the Ocean Sailing Node (OSN), established under the Indian Naval Sailing Association (INSA), at INS Mandovi on Aug 24, 2016.
The Navika Sagar Parikrama, a previous sailing expedition by six women naval officers, had increased the popularity of ocean sailing within the navy and the country. The voyage of INSV Tarini is considered as a significant step towards the Navy’s upcoming endeavour to send a woman on a solo circumnavigation of the globe.
Earlier in 200-10, Captain Dilip Donde had become the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe, followed by Cdr Abhilash Tomy, who became the first Asian skipper to participate in two circumnavigations.
In the recent Golden Globe Race 2022, Cdr Abhilash Tomy (retd) finished second in the race becoming the first Indian and first Asian to complete the Golden Globe race.
