By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Cmde Sanjay Panda Commanding Officer, INS Mandovi flagged off a sailing expedition from Goa to Port Louis, Mauritius at early hours of Saturday . The expedition is being undertaken by a crew of six (incl three women officers), onboard INSV Tarini.
Covering a distance of almost 2500nm (apprpx 45000 km) one way, the crew, over a period of 20 – 21 days is expected to face extreme weather and rough sea conditions of monsoons. In addition to sailing in these conditions the crew will also be undertaking boat upkeep, machinery routines and preparing their meals. The passage would be nonstop once they leave the Indian shores.
The Indian Navy has six ocean going Indian Naval Sailing Vessels (INSVs) viz Mhadei, Tarini, Bulbul, Hariyal, Kadalpura and Neelkanth in her inventory. These yachts regularly undertake expeditionary sailing with a small crew of naval personnel. The crew for the sea sorties are selected from volunteers with adequate sea sailing experience.
Ocean sailing is an extremely tough adventure sport. These Ocean Sailing expeditions help in inculcating spirit of adventure, enhancing risk taking abilities whilst honing essential seamanship skills including navigation, communication, technical operation of engines and onboard machinery, operation of Inmarsat equipment, logistics planning etc.
It also enhances Indian Navy’s ability to project its benign presence across the globe by participating in sailing expeditions like Sagar Parikrama and Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro races, IONS and Bay of Bengal sailing expeditions. Tarini is also known for undertaking circumnavigation of the globe ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’ in 2017 with all women officers crew. In the present expedition, the selected crew is a gender neutral consisting of three men and three women officers each. The vessel is being skippered by one of the most experienced Indian Navy yachtsman Capt VD Meherishi. The crew members include Cdr Vikas Sheoran, Lt Cdr Payal Gupta, Lt Cdr Kaushal Pednekar, Lt Cdr Dilna K and Lt Cdr Roopa A.
