KOCHI: Lt Cdr Dilna K and Lt Cdr Roopa Alagirisamy, the two woman officers hand-picked as potential candidates for Sagar Parikrama IV, the Navy’s most ambitious voyage yet, are currently undertaking “their final examination.”
Aboard INSV Tarini, the Navy’s celebrated sailing vessel, the duo are making their way from Goa to Port Louis in Mauritius in a double-handed mode. It is the first-ever transoceanic sortie of its kind by Indian women.
“They are used to being on the water by now. In November 2023, the two had sailed from Goa to Port Blair and back – nearly the same distance as from Goa to Mauritius. Though that voyage too was in double-handed mode, they were still on Indian waters. This time, they are crossing into the ocean,” a Navy source told TNIE.
Even crossing oceans isn’t new for the two women. This time last year, they were part of a six-member crew that went on a sailing expedition to Rio De Janeiro and back on the same vessel.
However, Sagar Parikrama IV will be unlike the voyages they’ve been on. It will see a woman officer sail around the world, solo and unassisted. “Of the two officers, only one will make this journey. After the voyage to Mauritius, we will evaluate and decide who it is,” the source said.
Though India has eight circumnavigators, only two have done it solo -- Captain Dilip Donde (retd) and Cdr Abhilash Tomy (retd). Their voyages, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, were the first two iterations of the Sagar Parikrama series. Interestingly, the two are also the first Indian male pair to undertake a transoceanic sortie (in 2009).
Cdr Abhilash, whom the Navy’s Ocean Sailing Node had tasked with training Dilna and Roopa last year, told TNIE that the duo are “quite well prepared.”
Indeed, the two officers are accomplished sailors, each registering over 21,000 nautical miles to their name. They were picked from a pool of 17 and underwent rigorous training for the past two and a half years.
“This particular journey (to Mauritius) is crucial as it is a continuous voyage of 2,700 miles without breaks. Besides challenging them to settle into a rhythm at sea, the journey also offers various weather conditions - from NE trade winds to doldrums to trade winds,” says Abhilash, who is also the first Asian to sail around the world non-stop.
The Navy’s latest Sagar Parikrama voyage is set to commence in September.