KOCHI: Atop the Sea Museum in Les Sables d'Olonne (LSO), a coastal town in France, the Indian flag joined two others, signifying the conclusion of the Golden Globe Race (GGR), the toughest yacht race in the world.
Former Indian naval officer Abhilash Tomy had successfully navigated his Rustler 36 masthead sloop, Bayanat, on a solo, non-stop, unassisted voyage around the world and had finished second, creating history.
The 44-year-old is the first Indian and Asian to participate in and finish the nearly 250-day-long race, which saw him navigate unpredictable weather, treacherous seas, and immense isolation.
He touched base at LSO around 7 am (10.30 am IST), where a crowd of people awaited him. Among them was Kirsten Neuschäfer, who emerged as the race winner when her boat Minnehaha docked at around 2 am on April 28. The South African is the first woman sailor to complete a solo, non-stop voyage around the world.
Both Abhilash and Kirsten were neck-and-neck for the majority of the race. While Kirsten’s experience as a professional sailor gave her the edge, Abhilash’s determination and a pinch of ‘jugaad’ saw him keeping close pace with her Minnehaha.
According to Don McIntyre, the race founder and chairman, Bayanat is the most repaired boat in the race. When malfunctions and damages forced other participants to retire from the race, Abhilash’s resourcefulness saw him plough ahead.
"There have been numerous instances in the race where he demonstrated just how good a sailor he is. Abhilash always has a plan,” said Sandra Shipp, his team manager. On one occasion, he chopped up his boat’s toilet door to rebuild the damaged wind vane.
“Though the other entrants are all fantastic sailors, not many were able to tackle the problems with such great ease as Abhilash has,” said Vice Admiral I C Rao (Retd), a Navy veteran.
As equally radiant as his resolve was Abhilash’s propensity for humour. On the lack of a proper toilet door out at sea, he tweeted: "I need a toilet door. Not used to such lack of privacy.” This and his enduring humility had won him admiration from all around the world.
"Abhilash is known for that. His one-liners are famous," recounts Commander (Retd) Vijay K Vadhera, the former skipper of INSV Samudra, which completed the Indian Navy's maiden round-the-world voyage in 1989.
Abhilash won’t be very disheartened by the position. If his tweets are anything to go by, the 44-year-old is at peace on the sea. “He grew up around sailing clubs and the backwaters. For him, there is a natural inclination towards the sea,” said Lt Commander V C Tomy (retd), Abhilash’s father, whose only advice to his son before the start of the race was: “don’t look at the position, just finish it.”
“The race is the culmination of a long-harboured desire,” said Ramesh Menon, who’s known Abhilash for years. “And Abhilash is one hell of a mariner,” he added.
Though Simon Curwen docked his boat, Clara, at LSO at 5 pm on April 27, way ahead of Kirsten, the long stopover he made for repairs meant that he was part of GGR’s Chichester class, robbing him of a place on the podium. Michael Guggenberger is likely to finish third. However, with over nautical miles separating his boat, Nuri, and LSO, the Austrian is expected to dock only by May 14.
Unlike other sailing competitions, GGR does not permit the use of modern navigational instruments. Only what was available to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in the inaugural race of 1968. So, no GPS, electric autopilot, chart plotters, or electronic compasses. Instead, the sailors must rely on celestial navigation, the sextant, and the barometer to guide them.
“That’s perhaps the defining feature of GGR: to man the entire boat single-handedly with limited technological assistance,” Vice Admiral Rao pointed out.
According to Don, this retro-sailing experience is in homage to the ‘Golden Age’ of sailing, when the marriage of traditional seamanship and the sailor’s ingenuity and passion decided the outcome of races.
Abhilash’s victory assumes significance given how five years ago when participating in the 2018 edition of the race, he had a near-death experience. Abhilash's rescue was one of the most dramatic moments in the race's history, highlighting the dangers and challenges sailors face in this iconic event.
With titanium rods in his spine and five vertebrae fused into one, Abhilash had “to learn to walk again” following the incident. Yet despite seemingly unsurmountable obstacles, his eyes were “always set on the far horizon. He longed to race,” said Urmimala, Abhilash’s wife.
Commander H S Rawat, the last commanding officer of INS Vikrant, who had followed the 2018 race closely, calls Abhilash's return to sail and eventual victory "a miracle" and adds that Urmimala's (Abhilash's wife) courage and sacrifice is equally admirable. "Hats off to her for being an absolute champion of Abhilash," Rawat said.
While Abhilash endured the elements at sea, Urmimala steered a different ship - of family and commitment. It was not an easy decision to let her husband race again. "We arrived at it over time. I realised that it was his eagerness to race again that eased the mental trauma of 2018," Urmimala says. In the latest edition of the race, Urmimala is Abhilash’s loudest cheerleader.
At LSO, when Don and his team sailed to meet Abhilash’s Bayanat at sea, the former naval officer said: “The world is indeed very small. It was just yesterday I left.” But so much has changed. With both Abhilash and Kirsten on the podium, GGR 2022 is a watershed moment in the world of sailing, the beginning of a new epoch. It has flayed the long-held notion that the sea and sailing are a white man’s bastion.
When asked if he would race again, the former naval officer, in the quintessential Abhilash way, replied: “Yes, definitely. For 2026. Perhaps an online version.”