With a view to gain experience for the gruelling circumnavigation of the globe in 2017 in sailing vessel INS Mhadei, the first ever all-women officers team on Tuesday sailed for Mauritius from Goa. The boat is expected to complete the 2,500 nautical miles(5,000km) voyage in about 25 days and return to Goa in mid July.
The first open-ocean voyage by the six-member crew led by lt Commander Vartika Joshi is part of the training to face ordeals in the sea for the forthcoming expedition. For the ongoing voyage, the crew will have to negotiate rough seas and heavy weather in the Arabian Sea due to south-west monsoon thereby testing the navigation skills of the officers.
Giving details of the voyage, Navy officials said here on Tuesday, this training will expose the crew including lt P Swathi, lt B Aishwarya, lt Pratibha Jamwal, lt Vijaya and lt Payal Gupta to weather that would be faced by them during the circumnavigation in 2017.
All the women officers are keen sailors who took to the sport after joining the Indian Navy. The skipper Vartika Joshi and Swathi were part of Mhadei crew on earlier voyages. The officers have undergone theoretical training in Navigation, Communication, Meteorology and Seamanship at the navy’s training schools in Kochi. The crew is undergoing training under Commanderdr Dilip Donde, India’s first circumnavigator, who undertook his voyage on the same boat, in 2008-09.
The all-women crew circumnavigation of the globe would be undertaken on board the new sailing vessel of the Navy presently under-construction at M/s Aquarius Shipyard Pvt ltd, Goa. The yet-to-be-named boat is expected to be delivered to the Navy by February 2017.
The Navy is in the process of setting up an ocean sailing node at Goa to promote ocean sailing and a spirit of adventure amongst young naval officers and sailors. Mhadei and her sister vessel would be based at this node in Goa. The exploits of this all-women crew on board Mhadei,along with accounts of their voyage and photographs, can be followed on the Facebook page ‘Mhadei’. The boat is expected to enter Port louis on June 11-12 and return to Goa by early July.